About Tonya
Tonya Wacker is a Licensed Professional Counselor with 14 years of clinical experience. She works with people who feel overwhelmed by stress, anxiety, grief, relationship strain, or struggles with identity. Her style is direct and creative, aimed at helping clients uncover strengths and practical ways forward.
She uses a mix of client-centered care, cognitive behavioral ideas, and mindfulness practices to address everyday problems. Conversations are focused on identifying patterns, learning coping skills, and trying small experiments that can change how someone feels day to day.
Background and approach
Tonya emphasizes clear steps and real-world practice over long abstract talk. Her approach also draws on dialectical behavior therapy techniques and existential conversations when people want to explore values and meaning. That helps when someone is rethinking life goals, facing loss, or processing painful past experiences.
She frames therapy as a collaborative process where the client directs what matters most. Tonya respects diverse identities and sexual orientations and is experienced supporting people through intimacy-related issues, addiction concerns, family problems, and career stress. She also helps with parenting questions, compassion fatigue, and the challenges that come with medical or life changes.
Sessions aim to be practical and approachable. Tonya tailors each plan to the person in front of her, mixing coping tools, behavioral experiments, and reflective work so clients can feel steadier and more purposeful over time.
Therapeutic approaches and how they work online
Tonya often draws on cognitive behavioral therapy and dialectical behavior therapy in sessions. Cognitive behavioral therapy focuses on identifying unhelpful thoughts and behaviors and replacing them with practical alternatives, which can reduce symptoms like anxiety and low mood. Dialectical behavior therapy emphasizes building emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal skills to manage strong feelings and improve relationships.She also uses client-centered techniques that prioritize the client's goals and lived experience. Finding the right mix is collaborative - the therapist and client will try approaches, check what is working, and adjust plans together based on needs and preferences.
Online therapy offers flexible ways to meet those goals. Video calls make it possible to have in-depth conversations and practice skills together. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth or screen fatigue is an issue. Live chat and text-based messaging support brief check-ins, skill coaching between sessions, or ongoing support when schedules are tight. These options help fit counseling into work, family, or caregiving routines while keeping the focus on practical strategies and steady progress.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- LGBT
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- BDSM, kink, and alternative sex culture
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Coaching
- Commitment issues
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- HIV / AIDS
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Multicultural concerns
- Parenting issues
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-love
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Stress, Anxiety
- Trauma and abuse
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 14 years
- Licensed
- Kentucky, Tennessee
- Languages
- English
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