About Cathy
Cathy Smith, LPC, brings 18 years of clinical experience to her counseling work. She focuses on helping people who are dealing with stress and anxiety, along with depression, trauma, relationship strain, and a wide range of life challenges. Cathy speaks English and Spanish and offers services to clients in Michigan and beyond.
Her background includes undergraduate studies in sociology with a focus on criminology and Spanish, followed by many years working in residential care and education.
Background and approach
Cathy later completed a master's degree in counseling psychology and shifted from classrooms to one-on-one therapy. This mix of education and hands-on experience shapes her compassionate style. Cathy believes relationship is the core of effective counseling.
She aims to learn about each person’s culture, beliefs, and life situation before choosing ways to work together. She also recognizes limits and partners with clients to set realistic goals. In sessions she uses flexible methods that match each person’s needs.
Common tools include client-centered conversation, cognitive behavioral techniques, mindfulness practices, psychodynamic ideas, and solution-focused strategies. Cathy emphasizes building on strengths and practical skills readers can use between sessions. Her prior roles included residential treatment for youth and many years teaching in public, personal, institutional, and alternative settings.
Those experiences contribute to her comfort with diverse concerns such as ADHD, autism spectrum issues, parenting stress, addiction, grief, and compassion fatigue. Cathy aims to create an approachable space where people can talk through problems and practice new ways of coping.
Approaches that guide online sessions
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy focuses on the link between thoughts, feelings, and actions. It teaches practical skills to shift unhelpful thinking and change behaviors that keep anxiety or depression going. This approach is useful for specific patterns like worry, sleeping problems, or unhelpful routines.Client-Centered Therapy emphasizes listening, empathy, and building trust. The therapist follows the person’s pace and priorities and helps them discover their own solutions. This style works well when someone needs support processing emotions or clarifying values.
Finding the right approach is part of the work together. Cathy will collaborate with each person to identify goals and blend methods that fit those goals and preferences. This happens through conversation and short check-ins so adjustments can be made as needed.
Online therapy offers practical flexibility. Video calls are close to an in-person session and let the therapist observe nonverbal cues. Phone sessions use less bandwidth and can be easier for check-ins. Live chat and text-based messaging suit brief updates, coping tips, or people who prefer typing. These options make it simpler to fit therapy around work, caregiving, or travel while keeping the focus on steady progress.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Domestic violence
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sleeping disorders
- Smoking / vaping cessation
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 18 years
- Licensed
- Michigan
- Languages
- English, Spanish
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