About Laverne
Laverne Santangelo is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Michigan who focuses on practical support for everyday problems. She helps people manage anxiety, stress, mood concerns, addiction-related struggles, and ADHD. Her style is down-to-earth and goal-focused so conversations stay useful and clear.
She draws on ten years of clinical experience and many more years in helping roles. That background includes work in inpatient settings, community mental health, and group programs. She also served in the Army National Guard for 23 years which shaped her commitment to steady, direct care.
Background and approach
Laverne often uses client-centered planning so each session follows the person’s needs and goals. She also uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people change unhelpful patterns and motivational interviewing to support shifts in behavior. Mindfulness and holistic practices like yoga inform parts of her approach when clients want them.
Her work has included supporting people facing substance use, family and origin issues, grief, shame and forgiveness, and life transitions. She talks with clients about concrete steps they can try between sessions. That might include small behavior changes, new routines for sleep and eating, or short mindfulness practices.
Sessions aim for collaboration and clear next steps. Laverne combines psychotherapy with life-coaching elements when clients want help setting and reaching personal goals. She offers video, phone, chat, and text-based sessions for people in and beyond Michigan.
Approaches that translate well to online care
Client-centered therapy places the person’s goals and preferences at the center of each session. It involves listening closely, shaping an agreed plan, and checking in on what is working. This approach is useful for stress, life transitions, and figuring out priorities.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying unhelpful thinking and changing behaviors. CBT uses short exercises and practical homework that can be reviewed in video or messaging sessions, which helps with anxiety, mood challenges, ADHD strategies, and sleep problems.
Mindfulness Therapy brings simple attention and breathing practices into daily life. These practices can be taught in a session and then practiced between meetings to reduce reactivity and improve focus.
Choosing the right approach is a team effort. The therapist will listen to current needs, try different techniques, and adjust the plan over time so methods fit the client's goals and preferences.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video lets people work face-to-face for longer sessions and interactive exercises. Phone sessions require less bandwidth and can fit into a work break. Live chat and text-based messaging are useful for brief check-ins, tracking progress, and getting support between meetings. These options make it easier to schedule consistent work on real-life goals.
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What this therapist works with
Most often
Also listed
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Codependency
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Intimacy-related issues
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexuality
- Sleeping disorders
- Trauma and abuse
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 10 years
- Licensed
- Michigan
- Languages
- English
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