About Tonya
Tonya Wacker is a licensed professional counselor with 14 years of clinical experience based in Tennessee. She guides people who feel stuck by helping them name problems and build realistic steps forward. Her work focuses on practical change and on helping clients reconnect with what matters to them.
She uses a mix of approaches to meet each person where they are. Sessions are client-centered and often include cognitive behavioral strategies to shift unhelpful thinking.
Background and approach
Mindfulness and dialectical skills are added when people need tools to manage intense emotions or stress. Tonya pays attention to identity and life context. She works with people facing relationship strain, grief, trauma, addiction, mood disorders, and challenges tied to sexual identity or alternative lifestyles.
She also supports concerns such as parenting stress, career transitions, compassion fatigue, and midlife questions. Her style is straightforward and collaborative. Tonya helps clients set clear goals and practices concrete skills between sessions.
She mixes creativity and structure so therapy fits the client rather than the other way around. People who choose her often want practical coping skills and a chance to explore deeper questions about meaning and values. Tonya aims to help people recover calm, handle everyday pressures better, and rebuild a sense of purpose and connection.
How therapeutic approaches translate to online care
Client-Centered Therapy focuses on listening and building on what a person already knows about themselves. It’s about creating space to be heard and using a person’s strengths to guide change, which can work well over video or chat since it centers on conversation and reflection.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, teaches concrete skills to change thinking patterns and behaviors. CBT works well online because it often uses short exercises, worksheets, and between-session practice that can be shared through chat or during a video call.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy, DBT, brings skills for managing intense emotions and improving relationships. Online sessions can include coaching around using those skills in real life, plus brief check-ins by text or live chat to reinforce practice.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with the client to choose methods based on goals, needs, and what feels comfortable. That might mean trying a mix of strategies and adjusting as progress is made.
Online formats offer practical flexibility. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation and visual cues. Phone sessions require less bandwidth and can be easier to fit into a work break. Live chat and text-based messaging support quick check-ins, skill reminders, or shorter exchanges when a full session isn’t possible. These options help people access consistent support while fitting therapy into busy lives.
Questions people ask
What kinds of concerns does she help with?
How would you describe the therapy style?
What is her professional background?
Where is she licensed and based?
Can I work with her if I live outside the United States?
What session formats are available?
How are sessions paid for?
How do I begin working with her?
What this counselor works with
Most often
- LGBT
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- BDSM, kink, and alternative sex culture
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Coaching
- Commitment issues
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- HIV / AIDS
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Multicultural concerns
- Parenting issues
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-love
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Stress, Anxiety
- Trauma and abuse
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 14 years
- Licensed
- Kentucky, Tennessee
- Languages
- English