About Katherine
Dr. Katherine Qubain Ernst offers calm, practical support for people feeling overwhelmed by anxiety, stress, or life changes. She writes plainly and checks in with small, doable steps so clients do not feel buried by therapy tasks.
Katherine is a psychologist licensed in North Carolina (NC Psychologist 6461) and has nine years of experience working with a range of concerns related to mood, identity, and daily functioning. She uses short, clear goals and steady skills practice rather than long lectures.
Background and approach
Sessions focus on what is happening now, what matters to the person, and small skills to try between contacts. Messaging, phone, video, and chat options are available so conversations can fit busy schedules. Katherine trained in psychology at Swarthmore College and earned her masters and doctoral degrees from Widener University’s Institute for Graduate Clinical Psychology.
Her doctoral training included Diversity and Cross-cultural Psychology, Children, Adolescents, and Families, and School Psychology. Practicum and internship work included public schools, a community mental health center for youth and families, and an inpatient substance use treatment program. Her clinical approach blends Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Dialectical Behavior Therapy along with compassion-focused ideas and family systems.
That mix is aimed at building skills for distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and clarifying values. Katherine also brings attention to cultural identity, gender concerns, and neurodiversity when those topics matter to a person’s goals. She prefers a warm, accepting stance and uses straightforward language.
Katherine uses she/her pronouns and may be called Katherine or Dr. Ernst.
How ACT and DBT shape online care
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, helps people clarify what matters most to them and then take small actions toward those values even when anxiety or difficult thoughts are present. It focuses on noticing thoughts without getting stuck and choosing meaningful steps forward. Dialectical Behavior Therapy, or DBT, teaches concrete skills for handling intense emotions, tolerating distress, and improving communication. DBT skills are useful for panic, strong mood swings, and relationship stress.Choosing the right approach is collaborative. The therapist will talk with the person about goals, preferences, and what has worked before. Together they try approaches, track results, and adjust the plan so the work matches the client’s needs and pace.
Online therapy formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video lets people meet face to face without travel. Phone sessions can be easier when internet bandwidth is limited. Live chat and messaging allow brief check-ins, step-by-step skill coaching, and ongoing support between sessions. These options make it simpler to fit therapy into work, school, or caregiving routines while using ACT and DBT skills in daily life.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- LGBT
- Parenting issues
Also listed
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Bipolar disorder
- Body image
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Family conflicts
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sleeping disorders
- Trauma and abuse
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 9 years
- Licensed
- North Carolina
- Languages
- English
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