About Donna
Donna Sarvela is a licensed clinical social worker with 13 years of practice. She focuses on helping people manage stress and anxiety and supports those facing addictions, trauma, depression, and major life changes. Donna aims to make the first steps feel less overwhelming and more manageable.
She uses a strengths-based, client-centered stance to help people notice what already works for them. Sessions are a place to talk through difficult feelings without judgment.
Background and approach
Donna encourages practical steps that fit each person’s life and pace. Her approach also draws on cognitive behavioral therapy to spot unhelpful thinking patterns and try small behavior changes. Mindfulness techniques are used to help people calm intense feelings and stay present during stressful moments.
Motivational interviewing can help when someone feels stuck and wants to find the motivation to change. Donna brings experience supporting people through addiction and recovery concerns, including smoking or vaping cessation and drug or alcohol challenges. She also assists with family of origin issues, codependency, isolation, and guilt or shame that often accompany trauma and mood struggles.
In sessions she listens for goals and barriers, then helps craft simple, realistic steps forward. Her style is collaborative and practical, aimed at lowering distress and increasing clarity about next moves.
How Donna’s approaches translate to online therapy
Donna uses client-centered therapy to prioritize each person’s goals and pace, focusing on listening and reflecting so the client feels understood. This approach helps with anxiety, life transitions, and the emotional work that often follows trauma.She also uses cognitive behavioral therapy to identify unhelpful thoughts and try practical behavior changes. CBT is useful for anxiety, mood concerns, and patterns that feed impulsivity or avoidance. Mindfulness techniques are offered to help manage intense feelings and develop calmer reactions over time.
Choosing the right approach is a team effort. Donna works with clients to decide which methods feel most useful and adjusts as needs change. That collaborative process helps people try new skills without pressure and see what fits their life.
Online therapy offers flexible ways to connect. Video calls allow face-to-face conversations when visual cues matter. Phone sessions can be easier when video would be distracting or bandwidth is limited. Live chat and text-based messaging provide brief check-ins or ongoing support between sessions. Together these options make it easier to fit therapy into work, school, or caregiving schedules while working on anxiety and related concerns.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Also listed
- Co-morbidity
- Codependency
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Mood disorders
- Self-harm
- Smoking / vaping cessation
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Women's issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 13 years
- Licensed
- Utah, California
- Languages
- English
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