- Years in practice
- 18
- Credentials
- LPC
- Licensed in
- Michigan
- Languages
- English, Spanish
- Focus
- Stress, Anxiety
- Focus
- Relationship issues
- Focus
- Family conflicts
About Cathy
Cathy Smith is a Licensed Professional Counselor who focuses on helping people manage stress, anxiety, depression, and parenting concerns. She brings 18 years of practical experience and a down-to-earth style to sessions. Cathy speaks English and Spanish and offers therapy to clients in Michigan and beyond.
She began her career after undergraduate studies in sociology and Spanish, then moved into work at a residential treatment home for people with emotional and mental health challenges.
Background and approach
That early experience led her to earn a master’s degree in special education and later a master’s in counseling psychology. Cathy has taught in institutional, public, personal, and alternative education settings prior to focusing on counseling. Cathy emphasizes the relationship between therapist and client.
She learns about a person’s culture, beliefs, work, and life context before shaping a plan together. She also acknowledges professional boundaries and knows when to adapt approaches to fit an individual’s needs. Her clinical work draws on several practical methods.
Cathy uses client-centered listening, solution-focused planning, mindfulness practices, and cognitive behavioral techniques to address symptoms and everyday problems. She tailors tools to each person’s goals and strengths rather than relying on a single method. Across her work Cathy leans on a strengths-based outlook.
She aims to help people notice skills they already have and build on them. That focus often shows up when addressing grief, trauma, relationship strain, addiction concerns, sleep and eating issues, or career stress.
What Cathy works with
Everything Cathy lists, in the therapist's own terms. Parenting is the reason this directory exists; the rest shows what else Cathy helps people with.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
- Trauma and abuse
- Depression
- Addictions
- LGBT
- Grief
- Intimacy-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Sleeping disorders
- Parenting issues
- Anger management
- Self esteem
- Career difficulties
- Bipolar disorder
- Coping with life changes
- Coaching
- Compassion fatigue
- ADHD
- Abandonment
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Domestic violence
- Emptiness
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Phobias
- Postpartum depression
- Post-traumatic stress
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-harm
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Smoking / vaping cessation
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Women's issues
- Young adult issues
Approaches Cathy lists
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
Listing an approach is not evidence of training in it. This directory copies what each therapist names and does not check training records.
How Cathy’s Approaches Work Online
Client-centered therapy focuses on listening and understanding a person’s experience. The therapist reflects what she hears, helps people name their concerns, and supports them in finding their own solutions. This approach works well for people who want a calm space to talk and to feel heard.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at the links between thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Cathy uses CBT tools to help people notice unhelpful thinking, try small experiments, and build new habits. That method is often useful for anxiety, mood shifts, sleep problems, and parenting stress.
Finding the right approach happens together. Cathy will talk with each person about goals, preferences, and what has or hasn’t worked before. She blends methods when helpful and adjusts the plan as progress is made, keeping the client involved in decisions.
Online therapy offers practical flexibility. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation when a fuller interaction is helpful. Phone sessions work well when bandwidth is limited or a shorter check-in fits the day. Live chat and text-based messaging make it easy to exchange brief updates, try coaching-style prompts, or check in between longer sessions. These options help people fit therapy into busy routines and different time zones.
Questions people ask about Cathy
What issues does Cathy commonly address?
Cathy works with stress, anxiety, depression, parenting concerns, trauma and abuse, relationship and intimacy challenges, grief, addictions, sleep and eating issues, and related concerns.
What is her therapy style like?
She uses client-centered listening combined with practical tools from cognitive behavioral therapy, mindfulness, psychodynamic ideas, and solution-focused work. Sessions are collaborative and goal oriented.
How much experience does she have?
Cathy has 18 years of clinical and teaching experience across residential, institutional, public, personal, and alternative education settings.
What credentials and location are on file?
She is a Licensed Professional Counselor with an MI LPC credential and practices from Michigan.
Which languages are supported for sessions?
Sessions are offered in English and Spanish, and she is available to work with international clients.
What session formats are available?
Therapy can take place via video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to fit different needs and schedules.
How are costs and billing handled?
Cost varies with location and therapist availability; sessions use a subscription model that can be canceled at any time.
What are the steps to begin working with her?
Start by selecting the Start Therapy button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and then schedule appointments according to the therapist's availability.
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