About Valerie
Valerie Rutherford is a Licensed Independent Social Worker (LISW) based in Ohio with 18 years of practice. She focuses on everyday struggles like anxiety, stress, depression, relationship strain, and parenting challenges. Valerie also helps people dealing with ADHD, grief, and substance concerns.
She keeps language simple and meets people where they are. Valerie offers a warm, nonjudgmental space for people to talk through what feels hard. She uses a collaborative, client-centered stance so clients help shape the work.
Background and approach
Sessions are practical and focused on changes that fit each person’s life. Her approach draws on methods that teach skills and build clarity. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps identify unhelpful thoughts and test new behaviors.
Mindfulness-based ideas support noticing feelings without getting overwhelmed. Valerie blends those methods with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy tools to clarify values and set manageable goals. Dialectical Behavior Therapy skills are used when emotion regulation and distress tolerance are needed.
She adapts techniques to the problem at hand rather than following a rigid script. She works by offering video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging to fit varied schedules. Conversations are focused and paced to meet real life demands like work and parenting.
Valerie encourages small, measurable steps so progress is visible and sustainable.
Therapeutic approaches that translate well to online care
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people clarify what matters to them and then take small steps toward those values. It emphasizes accepting difficult thoughts and feelings while committing to meaningful actions, which can help with life changes and motivation struggles.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on spotting unhelpful thoughts and testing new behaviors. It breaks problems into concrete steps and is often used for anxiety, depression, and stress management because homework and skill practice fit well with remote sessions.
Client-Centered Therapy creates a respectful, nonjudgmental space where the person’s goals guide the work. This approach supports building trust and exploring difficult topics at a pace the client chooses.
Finding the right approach is part of the process, and the therapist will collaborate with the client to choose what fits best. Goals, preferences, and day-to-day demands shape the plan so techniques are practical and realistic for each person’s life.
Online formats such as video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging offer flexibility. Video sessions allow face-to-face conversation, phone works for lower bandwidth or when being on camera is difficult, and text or chat can suit short check-ins or people who prefer writing. These options make it easier to fit therapy into busy schedules, parenting routines, and work breaks.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Parenting issues
- Self esteem
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Co-morbidity
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Eating and food-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexuality
- Smoking / vaping cessation
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 18 years
- Licensed
- Ohio
- Languages
- English
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