About Laverne
Laverne Santangelo is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) based in Michigan who focuses on helping people manage stress and anxiety. She brings ten years of clinical experience plus a long history of community and service work. Laverne aims to create practical steps clients can use right away.
She meets people where they are and works alongside them to find what helps. Laverne draws on methods that center the client and build useful skills.
Background and approach
Sessions often combine problem-solving with mindfulness practices and goal-focused conversations. She has experience in settings that include inpatient care, community mental health, and group programs. That background shapes a straightforward style that values clarity and steady progress.
Her personal and professional history includes long military service and years supporting people affected by addiction. That lived experience informs how she talks about stigma, recovery, and resilience. She also offers life coaching techniques to help people move toward personal goals.
In practice, Laverne uses Client-Centered Therapy to listen and respond to each person's priorities. She also uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to identify unhelpful thoughts and mindfulness to ease moment-to-moment stress. Motivational Interviewing and Solution-Focused Therapy often guide short-term planning and behavior change.
People commonly bring concerns such as anxiety, depression, substance use, grief, relationship stress, parenting strain, ADHD, or career and life transitions. Laverne supports exploration of emotions, practical coping skills, and steps toward healthier routines. Her approach is steady, compassionate, and action-oriented.
How online approaches and tools support therapy
Client-centered work focuses on listening and responding to each person's needs. This approach means sessions start with what matters most to the client and build a plan together. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps identify patterns of thought and behavior that worsen anxiety or depression and provides practical exercises to change them. Mindfulness Therapy uses simple breath and attention practices to reduce reactivity and increase calm in daily life.Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with clients to decide which methods fit their goals and preferences. That might mean starting with solution-focused steps, adding CBT exercises, and using mindfulness practices between sessions. Plans are adjusted as progress and needs change.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging to make therapy flexible. Video lets people interact face to face and use screen-shared worksheets. Phone sessions work well when video is not possible or when bandwidth is limited. Live chat and messaging are good for brief check-ins, short skill practice, or when writing feels easier than talking. These options help people fit therapy into work, caregiving, and travel schedules while keeping continuity of care.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
Also listed
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Codependency
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Intimacy-related issues
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexuality
- Sleeping disorders
- Trauma and abuse
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 10 years
- Licensed
- Michigan
- Languages
- English
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