About Denise
Denise O Connor uses a practical, person-centered approach that keeps the client's goals central. She is a Kentucky LPCC with seven years of clinical experience. Her style is direct and goal-focused so families can see progress in measurable steps.
She helps people who are struggling with anxiety, depression, bipolar symptoms, and sleep problems. She also works with those affected by trauma, addiction, grief, anger, low self-esteem, and compassion fatigue. Additional areas she addresses include adoption and foster care concerns, attachment or personality issues, and substance-related problems.
Background and approach
Denise favors approaches that fit the individual rather than one rigid method. She commonly uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to help people clarify values and take meaningful action. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques are used for insomnia and sleep concerns.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy skills are offered to improve emotion regulation and distress tolerance. Her background includes work at a community mental health center and with the Veterans Health Administration. That experience shaped her interest in brief, goal-oriented care that measures progress over a set number of sessions.
She aims to respond to messages promptly and values clear communication about steps in therapy. Practical scheduling options include evenings and weekends for live sessions. Denise works collaboratively to set goals and build skills people can use between sessions.
She welcomes questions about how her approach might fit a specific situation.
Therapeutic approaches adapted for online care
Denise often uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help people identify what matters to them and take steps toward those values. ACT can be useful for anxiety, depression, and life transitions by focusing on actions rather than on eliminating every uncomfortable thought.She also draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for insomnia to address sleep problems with simple behavioral and thinking changes. CBT techniques help adjust habits and bedtime routines and teach practical ways to reduce nighttime worry.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will discuss options and tailor methods to the person's goals and preferences. This is a collaborative process with regular check-ins to see what is and isn’t helping.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging to fit different schedules and needs. Video is useful for deeper conversations and skills practice, while phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited. Live chat or messaging can support brief check-ins, homework reminders, and follow-up between sessions. These options make it easier to schedule therapy around work, caregiving, or other responsibilities.
Questions people ask
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What this counselor works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Trauma and abuse
- Sleeping disorders
Also listed
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Antisocial personality
- Attachment issues
- Avoidant personality
- Bipolar disorder
- Body image
- Co-morbidity
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Impulsivity
- Intellectual disability
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Traumatic brain injury
- Trichotillomania
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 7 years
- Licensed
- Kentucky
- Languages
- English