- Stress and anxiety
- Addiction support
- CBT and mindfulness
About Laverne
Laverne Santangelo is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in Michigan with 10 years of counseling experience. She focuses on common early-adulthood pressures such as stress, anxiety, relationships, career worries, and coping with life changes. She also works with mood disorders, addiction, grief, trauma, and identity concerns listed under LGBT topics.
She brings a mix of counseling and coaching into her work. She uses person-centered planning to build treatment goals with each person. She draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, motivational interviewing, and mindfulness-based methods alongside life coaching tools and yoga-informed practices.
Her background includes long experience in mental health settings and service as a veteran in the Army National Guard. That history includes inpatient substance use work, community mental health, and group facilitation for women going through life transitions. She has worked with people affected by addiction and with families trying to understand substance use.
Sessions are described as collaborative and goal-focused. She helps people talk through shame, guilt, forgiveness, impulsivity, and issues around self-esteem and intimacy. Practical skills, coping strategies, and short-term goals often form part of the plan.
She also integrates life coaching to support personal aims like career direction, financial stress, or finding purpose. People who want both therapeutic support and practical goal work may find that combined approach useful.
How her approaches work in online sessions
Client-Centered Therapy focuses on listening and building goals together. It helps people who feel stuck or unsure by letting them set the pace and priorities while the therapist follows their lead.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at how thoughts, feelings, and actions connect. It uses practical exercises and small behavior changes to reduce anxiety, manage mood, and address unhelpful patterns.
Mindfulness Therapy brings attention to present-moment experience and simple awareness practices. It can help with stress, rumination, and sleep difficulties by teaching short attentional skills.
Finding the best approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will talk through needs, goals, and preferences and adjust methods over time. That means sessions can include talking, skill practice, short coaching tasks, or homework as agreed.
Confirm the specific session formats available before booking, since formats are not listed here. Online work can make it easier to fit appointments around study, work, or errands, and it can reduce travel time. Some people use shorter check-ins or avoid video when that better fits their day. The focus is on making therapy practical and doable alongside everyday life.
Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Also works with
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
10+ years
Listed in
Michigan
Languages
English
Frequently asked questions
What issues does she help with?
She works with stress, anxiety, addiction, mood concerns including bipolar and depression, relationship and family problems, grief, trauma, self-esteem, ADHD, and related topics.
What is her therapy style like?
She uses person-centered planning with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, motivational interviewing, and mindfulness approaches. Sessions mix talking, skills practice, and goal-setting.
How much experience does she have?
She has 10 years of professional counseling experience and additional work across mental health settings and group facilitation.
What are her credentials and location?
She is an LPC (Licensed Professional Counselor) practicing in Michigan.
Can people who live outside the United States work with her?
International clients are accepted and sessions are offered in English.
What session formats are offered?
Session formats are not specified here; please confirm the current online session options before booking.
How are fees handled?
Costs vary with location and sessions use a subscription that can be canceled at any time.
How do I begin working with her?
Select the See online therapy options button, complete the short matching questionnaire, and schedule a first session.
Online talk therapy through BetterHelp is for adults aged 18 and over and is not emergency care. If you are in danger, use the emergency numbers. Find someone else by name.