About Mary
Mary Widseth uses a client-centered approach to help people understand themselves and the people in their lives. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor and draws on seven years of clinical work with adults and youth. Her style is practical and direct, focused on clear steps a parent or individual can try between sessions.
She has a master’s degree in Community Psychology and Rehabilitation Counseling from Saint Cloud State University and a bachelor’s from the University of Wisconsin - Stout.
Background and approach
Early work involved supporting adults with cognitive, physical, and communication challenges in employment settings. That work included on-the-job training, coordinating with employers, and using tools like picture boards and basic sign language to bridge language gaps. After graduate school she provided in-home therapy for children ages 7 to 18 and their families, then worked in an office setting with adults and children.
She has experience with anxiety, depression, ADHD, autism, addictions, and issues around gender and body changes. She emphasizes building everyday skills for emotional regulation and communication. Mary often blends cognitive-behavioral techniques with emotionally-focused and mindfulness-based strategies.
She also uses EMDR when appropriate for trauma-related concerns, and DBT skills for emotion regulation and distress tolerance. Sessions aim to teach specific tools for sleeping, stress, anger, and relationship struggles. Her background includes supporting people facing life transitions, grief, caregiving stress, and end-of-life situations.
Mary speaks English and has experience working with hearing-impaired individuals using adapted communication methods. She practices in Minnesota and offers several online session formats.
How Mary’s Approaches Work Online
Client-centered therapy focuses on the person in the room and their goals. The therapist listens closely and helps guide each person toward solutions that feel right for them. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, breaks problems into thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and teaches concrete steps to change patterns that cause distress. Dialectical Behavior Therapy, or DBT, offers practical skills for emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and better communication in relationships.Choosing the right approach is part of the early work. Mary will talk with each person about symptoms, goals, and preferences and then recommend techniques to try. That decision is collaborative and can evolve as people see what helps most in day-to-day life.
Online sessions are available as video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to fit different needs. Video is useful for deeper, interactive work and exercises. Phone sessions can be simpler when bandwidth or hands-free time matters. Live chat and text allow shorter check-ins, quick skill coaching, or ongoing support between longer sessions. These options make it easier to fit therapy into work, caregiving, or busy schedules while using the approaches above to address trauma, mood, relationship, and stress-related concerns.
Questions people ask
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What this counselor works with
Most often
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
- Trauma and abuse
Also listed
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Communication problems
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Family problems
- First responder issues
- Grief
- Hearing impaired
- Hoarding
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Infidelity
- Intellectual disability
- Intimacy-related issues
- LGBT
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Post-traumatic stress
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Stress, Anxiety
- Traumatic brain injury
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 7 years
- Licensed
- Minnesota
- Languages
- English