About Wendie
Wendie Vanderwater is a licensed clinical social worker with more than two decades of experience helping people manage anxiety and stress. She takes a straightforward and down-to-earth approach so conversations stay simple and useful. She says she is honest and nonjudgmental and encourages clients to choose how they want to work.
Wendie adapts methods to fit each person. She combines techniques when that makes sense, for example using parts of cognitive behavioral work alongside dialectical behavior approaches.
Background and approach
She often includes mindfulness and brief homework like journaling when clients want that option. Sessions start with questions to identify what feels most useful. Wendie focuses on practical steps clients can take between meetings, such as staying active, volunteering, or joining social groups.
These activities are offered as tools to help shift daily mood and build momentum. She uses dialectical behavior skills regularly and pairs them with other strategies to address mood, relationships, parenting stress, grief, and other challenges. Her style blends direct feedback with listening and collaboration.
Wendie works from Montana and communicates in English. She has experience across a wide range of concerns, including trauma, depression, ADHD, LGBT matters, and caregiver stress. The aim is to find realistic skills and small changes that make life feel more manageable.
Approach and online options for practical skills work
Client-centered work focuses on understanding each person's priorities and building a respectful, collaborative relationship. It helps people clarify what matters to them and choose the methods they want to try. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at patterns of thought and behavior that keep problems going and teaches concrete techniques to change them, which can help with anxiety and mood. Dialectical Behavior Therapy, or DBT, emphasizes skills for managing intense emotions, improving distress tolerance, and strengthening relationships; it often includes mindfulness practice to notice feelings without judgment.Deciding which approach to use is a joint process. The therapist will ask questions, try different techniques, and adapt based on what the person prefers and needs. This collaborative tone means clients can opt for more homework like journaling or for gentler, talk-focused sessions as they wish.
Online therapy is offered by video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to increase flexibility. Video calls work well for face-to-face interaction; phone sessions suit those with limited bandwidth or who prefer not to be on camera. Live chat and text messaging let people check in between sessions or fit brief conversations into busy days. These options make it easier to use skills and supports when life is busy or schedules change.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Trauma and abuse
Also listed
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Co-morbidity
- Coaching
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Intellectual disability
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Traumatic brain injury
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 22 years
- Licensed
- Montana
- Languages
- English
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