Stephanie Petersen, LCSW, LMSW

Stephanie Petersen is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and a Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW) with 14 years of practice. She focuses on helping people manage anxiety, stress, grief, relationship and family concerns, and life transitions. Stephanie brings a straightforward, skills-based approach to sessions and centers practical tools in her work.

Her background includes a Bachelor of Social Work from Oakland University and a Master of Social Work from Wayne State University. She has experience in medical social work, hospital settings, and home health. Since 2020 she has been providing telehealth therapy while working with a wide range of concerns.

Stephanie uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and mindfulness as central parts of her approach. She helps people learn coping strategies, notices how thoughts affect feelings and behavior, and practices ways to respond differently in stressful moments. She also draws on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, motivational interviewing, and psychodynamic ideas when helpful.

Sessions are practical and collaborative. Stephanie will work with a person to identify small, manageable steps toward goals. She often mixes skill teaching with reflection on past experiences to build insight and new habits. Her aim is to help clients feel more capable and clear about next steps.

Outside of work she enjoys reading, travel, movies, music, martial arts, gardening, and time with her French bulldogs. Her style is encouraging and down-to-earth, focused on real change through steady effort.

How CBT, ACT, and Mindfulness work online

Stephanie commonly uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and Mindfulness Therapy. CBT focuses on identifying unhelpful thoughts and testing them against real-life evidence, which helps with anxiety, depression, and stress by teaching concrete coping skills. ACT emphasizes values and committed action while learning to accept difficult feelings, which can be useful for life changes, grief, and chronic struggles. Mindfulness Therapy teaches present-moment awareness and simple attention practices to reduce reactivity and improve emotional regulation.

Finding the right mix of approaches is part of the process. The therapist will collaborate with each person to set goals, try techniques, and adjust methods based on what fits their needs and preferences. Clients and the therapist decide together how much emphasis to place on skills practice, values work, or exploring past patterns.

Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video is helpful for in-depth sessions and interactive skill practice, phone works well when bandwidth is limited, live chat can be a shorter check-in option, and text messaging supports ongoing reminders and brief coaching between sessions. These options make it easier to fit therapy around work, caregiving, or travel while keeping consistent momentum.