Barbara Lefdal, LPC-MH

Barbara Lefdal is a licensed professional counselor with 30 years of experience in South Dakota. She helps people manage anxiety, depression, grief, and the stress that comes with major life changes. Her work focuses on practical steps people can use each day to feel steadier and more capable.

Barbara often supports caregivers and older adults who are facing the strain of care, loneliness, or end-of-life concerns. She also helps people coping with abandonment, communication problems, codependency, and financial stress. Sessions address emotional pain as well as everyday challenges that get in the way of living well.

Her approach draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to notice and change unhelpful thinking and behavior. She blends client-centered listening with mindfulness practices to help people calm intense feelings. Motivational interviewing and psychodynamic ideas are used when understanding patterns and building motivation matter most.

In sessions she focuses on clear, manageable goals. People leave with skills they can use between meetings, such as grounding techniques, communication strategies, and steps to reduce overwhelm. The pace is set by the person seeking help and what feels useful in the moment.

Barbara works with a wide range of concerns including mood disorders, post-traumatic stress, compassion fatigue, and hospice or end-of-life questions. Conversations are tailored to each person's situation and cultural background. She speaks English and provides therapy through several online formats.

How her approaches work online

Barbara uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people identify unhelpful thoughts and change daily habits that increase stress or low mood. CBT often focuses on short-term, practical steps to reduce anxiety and improve mood.

She also uses client-centered therapy, which emphasizes listening and understanding the person's experience. That approach helps people feel heard and guides conversations toward what matters most to them.

Mindfulness therapy is included to teach simple attention and breathing practices that reduce reactivity and ease intense feelings. These practices pair well with CBT when the goal is to manage strong emotions in the moment.

Finding the right approach is part of the work together. Barbara will discuss goals and preferences and help figure out which methods to try first. That decision is collaborative and can change as needs evolve.

Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to fit different rhythms of life. Video is useful for in-depth conversations and visual cues, phone is good when bandwidth is low, live chat supports shorter check-ins, and messaging lets people reflect between sessions. These options make it easier to schedule therapy around caregiving, work, or mobility limits.