About Karen
Karen Garraputa is a licensed clinical mental health counselor based in North Carolina with 25 years of experience. She helps people who are feeling overwhelmed by stress or anxiety and those facing depression, trauma, or life changes. Karen also supports people dealing with LGBT concerns, guilt and shame, and questions about life purpose and self-love.
She approaches sessions in a down-to-earth way. She listens first, then helps people notice how thoughts, feelings, and actions connect.
Background and approach
Conversations are practical and focused on small, doable changes that make daily life easier. Karen often uses tools from cognitive behavioral therapy, helping people spot unhelpful thinking and try new behaviors. She also draws on skills from dialectical behavior therapy to teach emotion regulation and coping techniques.
Her approach blends thinking, skills practice, and mindful awareness so people can experiment and find what helps them most. People come to her when they need steady support during big transitions or when old patterns keep causing pain. Sessions aim to clarify goals, reduce distress, and build reliable ways to handle hard moments.
She frames therapy as a collaborative process where the client is in charge of the direction. Karen emphasizes small steps and realistic practices. She describes the work as riding shotgun together while clients figure out what their next moments will look like.
Her focus is on practical progress and helping people regain a sense of agency.
CBT and DBT approaches for online care
Karen uses cognitive behavioral therapy to help people identify unhelpful thoughts and try different behaviors. CBT focuses on practical strategies to change patterns that keep stress and anxiety active, and it often includes simple exercises to practice between sessions. She also uses dialectical behavior therapy skills to teach emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness for people who need stronger coping tools.Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with each person to choose methods that match their goals, needs, and preferences. Together they will track what helps and adjust the plan as progress unfolds.
Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to make therapy fit different routines. Video calls are helpful for face-to-face conversation and skills practice. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth or camera use is an issue. Live chat and text messaging allow shorter check-ins and ongoing connection between sessions. These options give flexibility to fit therapy into busy days while focusing on the same practical skills used in in-person care.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
Also listed
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 25 years
- Licensed
- North Carolina
- Languages
- English
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