Dr. Ashley Ascherl Pechek, LPC

Therapeutic approaches for online parenting support

Client-centered therapy focuses on listening and understanding each person’s experience. The therapist follows your lead, reflects what she hears, and helps you name priorities so sessions feel relevant and respectful. This approach is useful for parents who want a steady, nonjudgmental space to talk about stress, identity, or relationship shifts.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, breaks concerns into thoughts, feelings, and actions. Sessions include practical exercises to test unhelpful thinking and build new coping skills. This method often helps with anxiety, depression, and managing overwhelming parenting moments.

Emotionally-Focused Therapy looks at patterns in close relationships and how emotions affect interactions. It helps people notice triggers, express needs clearly, and try different ways of responding to connection struggles. That can be useful when parenting stress affects intimacy or communication with a partner.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with each person to identify goals, try approaches, and adjust based on what helps most. Clients are encouraged to give feedback so therapy stays practical and goal-oriented.

Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video is good for full conversations and visual cues, phone sessions work when bandwidth is limited, live chat suits shorter check-ins, and text messaging helps with quick support or between-session reminders. These options make it easier to fit sessions into busy family schedules and to keep momentum between meetings.