About Cathy
Cathy Smith is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) who centers her practice on building strong therapeutic relationships. She listens carefully and helps people name what matters to them. Sessions focus on practical steps that fit daily life and personal goals.
Cathy began her path with undergraduate degrees in sociology with a criminology focus and Spanish. Early work in a residential treatment home for youth sparked an interest in counseling. She later earned a master’s degree in special education and taught in institutional, public, personal, and alternative settings before completing a master’s in counseling psychology.
Background and approach
Across an 18-year career, Cathy has worked with a wide range of concerns. She supports people managing anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, addictions, ADHD, bipolar challenges, and relationship and intimacy issues. She also helps with career stress, caregiver strain, body image, and issues tied to abuse and domestic violence.
Her style draws from client-centered therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, psychodynamic ideas, and solution-focused methods. Cathy adapts tools to each person’s goals and strengths rather than using a single fixed approach. She emphasizes building on what already works for the client.
Cathy offers services in English and Spanish from Michigan and accepts international clients. Her background in education and long clinical experience shape a practical, strengths-based way of working that aims to help people move toward clearer routines, better coping, and steadier relationships.
Approaches that guide online sessions
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps people identify unhelpful thoughts and try new behaviors to change mood and stress. It is often used for anxiety, depression, sleep problems, and coping with life changes.Client-Centered Therapy centers on listening and the therapeutic relationship. The therapist follows the client's lead and helps them find solutions based on their own strengths and values.
Mindfulness Therapy teaches simple attention and breathing practices to reduce reactivity and improve focus. It can help with stress, emotional regulation, and staying present during difficult moments.
Choosing the right approach is part of the work. Cathy will review goals, preferences, and the issues you bring and then suggest methods to try. That decision is collaborative and can change as progress is made.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video works well for in-depth conversations and seeing nonverbal cues. Phone sessions need less bandwidth and can fit a break at work. Live chat and text messaging are useful for shorter check-ins, quick coping strategies, and ongoing support between longer sessions. These options make scheduling more flexible and help therapy fit into busy lives.
Questions people ask
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What this counselor works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Domestic violence
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sleeping disorders
- Smoking / vaping cessation
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 18 years
- Licensed
- Michigan
- Languages
- English, Spanish