About Bret
Bret Patterson is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) based in Mississippi who centers his work on practical, person-focused therapy. He often helps people manage stress and anxiety, cope with grief, work through anger, and address depression. He aims to make the first steps toward change feel doable and supported.
He uses direct conversation to shape a plan that fits each person. Sessions focus on everyday problems and clear steps to try between meetings.
Background and approach
He draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to spot unhelpful thoughts and on Mindfulness practices to slow things down when emotions run high. Bret also brings strategies from Dialectical Behavior Therapy to help with emotional intensity and from the Gottman Method to address relationship difficulties. He explains techniques in plain language and practices them together with the person in session.
The goal is to build skills that carry over into daily life. Before counseling, Bret spent 25 years as a paramedic and clinical educator. That background influences his calm approach in stressful moments and his focus on practical problem solving.
He uses that experience to listen for what feels most urgent and helpful in a session. He tailors conversations and treatment plans to each person's needs. Bret emphasizes respect, sensitivity, and compassion while working toward clearer coping tools and better daily functioning.
Therapeutic tools and remote care that fit your life
Client-Centered Therapy focuses on listening and responding to what matters most to the person. The therapist follows the client's lead, offers empathy, and helps clarify goals and priorities. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at how thoughts, feelings, and actions connect and teaches practical steps to change unhelpful patterns; it is often used for anxiety, depression, and stress. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) offers skills for managing strong emotions, improving distress tolerance, and strengthening interpersonal effectiveness when feelings run high.Finding the right approach is part of the work. Bret will collaborate with each person to match techniques to their needs, goals, and preferences. That means trying methods, checking what helps, and adjusting the plan together until it fits.
Online sessions make it easier to fit therapy into busy days. Video calls are useful for face-to-face conversation and visual cues. Phone sessions require less bandwidth and can be easier to schedule during short breaks. Live chat and text-based messaging let people check in between sessions or use written communication if that feels more comfortable. These options increase flexibility and make it simpler to keep working on goals over time.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Grief
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- Anger management
- Avoidant personality
- Bipolar disorder
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Co-morbidity
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Narcissism
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Post-traumatic stress
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Trauma and abuse
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 4 years
- Licensed
- Mississippi
- Languages
- English
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