About Valerie
Valerie Schmude is a licensed professional counselor (LPC) in Wisconsin with 12 years of experience. She helps people who are dealing with stress, anxiety, grief, and the effects of trauma and abuse. Valerie aims to listen carefully and respond with respect and compassion from the start.
Valerie focuses on practical conversations that fit each person's life. She works with concerns about relationships, family problems, codependency, and phobias. Her style is straightforward and adaptive, shaping sessions to the needs someone brings in that week.
Background and approach
In sessions she uses approaches that include cognitive behavioral ideas, existential questions about meaning, and trauma-focused methods when needed. That means she will help identify unhelpful thinking patterns, look at values and choices, and address symptoms tied to past hurt. The plan is adjusted as progress is made.
Valerie supports people through specific events like sexual assault and abuse as well as longer-term struggles such as ongoing family conflict. She combines practical strategies with space to process feelings. Expect clear goals, homework when it helps, and time to talk through what matters to you.
When someone is ready to begin, she works with them to set a pace that feels manageable. Valerie emphasizes collaboration and respect, helping each person move toward clearer thinking, calmer reactions, and better ways of handling relationships and stress.
Therapeutic approaches and online care
Valerie uses cognitive behavioral therapy to help spot and change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors. CBT often involves setting clear goals and trying small experiments between sessions to see what brings relief.She also draws on trauma-focused therapy when past hurt affects daily life. That work focuses on reducing symptoms tied to traumatic events and building skills to manage strong reactions and upsetting memories.
Finding the right approach is part of the work together. She will discuss goals and preferences, try methods that fit, and adjust the plan as needed so the approach matches each person's needs.
Online sessions are offered by video calls, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to make therapy more flexible. Video works well for deeper conversations and visual cues, phone can be simpler when bandwidth is limited, live chat or text-based messaging can fit quick check-ins or those who prefer typing. These options make it easier to schedule sessions around work, caregiving, or other commitments.
Questions people ask
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What this counselor works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also listed
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 12 years
- Licensed
- Wisconsin
- Languages
- English