About Elizabeth
Elizabeth McKinley is a licensed professional counselor in Colorado with 27 years of experience. She sees people who are coping with anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, and major life changes. Her style is straightforward and compassionate, focused on helping clients find practical steps forward.
She blends client-centered listening with tools from cognitive behavioral therapy to help people notice unhelpful thoughts and try different behaviors. Mindfulness practices are used to reduce stress and increase present-moment focus.
Background and approach
When relationship issues arise she incorporates principles from the Gottman Method to improve communication and reduce conflict. Many clients come for help after a loss, a breakup, or during a difficult family transition. She also supports those dealing with mood disorders, compassion fatigue, and the long work of healing from abuse or abandonment.
Sessions concentrate on building coping skills and clearer thinking for day-to-day life. Elizabeth aims to create a calm, nonjudgmental space where people can speak honestly about what is hard. She offers practical homework between meetings so new habits can take hold.
Progress is measured in small, real changes like improved sleep, better boundaries, or fewer panic moments. Her practice treats each person as an individual. She listens for values, strengths, and goals, then pairs those with methods that fit.
The result is goal-focused work that stays grounded in everyday realities.
Therapeutic approaches for online work
Elizabeth often uses Client-Centered Therapy to start sessions by listening closely and following what matters most to the person. This approach focuses on understanding a client's experience and building a trusting working relationship before moving to techniques.She also uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people identify unhelpful thoughts and test different behaviors. CBT is useful for anxiety, depression, and stress because it breaks problems into concrete steps that can be practiced between sessions.
Finding the right approach is part of the work together. She will discuss goals and preferences and try methods that fit a person's needs, adjusting the plan as progress is made. The process is collaborative, with the client helping to shape what happens in sessions.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video sessions offer face-to-face conversation for skills practice and deeper interaction. Phone sessions can be a good choice when bandwidth is limited or a quieter check-in is needed. Live chat and text messaging make brief check-ins and between-session support easier to fit into a busy day.
Questions people ask
What kinds of problems does she help with?
What is her general therapeutic style?
How much clinical experience does she have?
Where is she licensed and based?
Which languages are supported for sessions?
Can international clients schedule with her?
What session formats are available?
How are fees and scheduling handled?
What this counselor works with
Most often
- Family conflicts
- Trauma and abuse
- Bipolar disorder
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Avoidant personality
- Blended family issues
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Narcissism
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Stress, Anxiety
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 27 years
- Licensed
- Colorado
- Languages
- English