About Ruth
Ruth Westfall is a Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW) with 30 years of clinical experience. She focuses on practical support for people dealing with stress, anxiety, trauma, depression, and ADHD. Her work aims to help people build skills to manage hard moments and reconnect with what matters to them.
Ruth has extensive experience supporting people who have experienced trauma and victims of crime. She has also worked in public health settings alongside psychiatric nurse practitioners, where she observed how long-term stress affects daily life, work, school, physical health, and relationships.
Background and approach
Those patterns can last for years, and Ruth concentrates on breaking them down into manageable steps. Her approach is straightforward and person-focused. She uses client-centered techniques to follow each person's priorities and mixes in cognitive behavioral tools to change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors.
Mindfulness and dialectical skills are used when people need ways to regulate strong emotions and tolerate distress. Ruth emphasizes learning concrete skills rather than only talking about problems. Sessions often include practice exercises, simple behavioral plans, and short mindfulness or grounding strategies to use between meetings.
She also draws on motivational interviewing when people want help with change and stuck points. Ruth works with adults in Michigan by video, phone, chat, or text-based messaging. She aims to make therapy direct, practical, and focused on restoring daily functioning and hope.
Therapeutic approaches and how they work online
Client-centered therapy means the therapist listens closely and shapes sessions around what matters most to the individual. It helps people set their own goals and feel heard. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying unhelpful thoughts and changing behaviors with practical exercises; it is useful for anxiety, depression, and stress-related problems. Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) teaches skills for managing strong emotions and improving distress tolerance, which can help with anger, mood swings, and trauma reactions.Finding the right mix of approaches is part of the process. The therapist will collaborate with each person to identify goals, try techniques, and adjust methods based on what helps most. Treatment is flexible and can combine skill training, homework exercises, and short in-session practices to match individual needs.
Online therapy appointments are offered by video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to give options that fit different schedules and preferences. Video works well for face-to-face conversation and guided exercises. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited or when someone prefers not to be on camera. Live chat or text messaging can support brief check-ins, daily skill coaching, or people who prefer written communication. These formats help make regular care more accessible and easier to fit into busy lives.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Trauma and abuse
- Parenting issues
Also listed
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Domestic violence
- Family conflicts
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Isolation / loneliness
- LGBT
- Mood disorders
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Post-traumatic stress
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Women's issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 30 years
- Licensed
- Michigan
- Languages
- English
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