About Karen
Karen Jurls, LICSW, helps people who feel overwhelmed by stress, anxiety, depression, or big life changes. She focuses on practical steps that make daily life easier and calmer. Karen speaks plainly, listens closely, and helps parents and individuals who are trying to find better ways to cope.
She brings 35 years of experience in mental health and public health to her work. Much of her career involved supporting people through loss, relationship change, and trauma.
Background and approach
She has also worked closely with adoptive parents and their children, and she understands the complexities that can arise in family life. In sessions she and the client set realistic goals together. Karen uses straightforward tools to build coping skills, increase confidence, and reduce symptoms that interfere with daily routines.
She aims to help people notice small changes that add up over time. Her approach borrows from several evidence-based methods to match a person’s needs. That can mean focusing on thoughts and behaviors, strengthening emotional awareness, or practicing acceptance and values-based choices.
She places emphasis on respectful listening and practical problem solving. People often come to her for help with sleep and eating problems, addiction concerns, parenting strain, anger, career stress, or ADHD-related challenges. Her work also covers grief, bipolar disorder, trauma and family-of-origin issues.
Karen encourages steady progress and a clearer sense of direction.
How therapeutic approaches translate to online care
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, focuses on helping people notice their thoughts and feelings without getting stuck in them. It helps when someone wants to live more in line with their values despite anxiety or stress. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, CBT, looks at the link between thoughts, feelings, and actions and teaches concrete skills to change unhelpful patterns. CBT is useful for anxiety, depression, sleep problems, and many everyday challenges.Choosing the best approach is a team effort. The therapist will talk with the person about goals, what has helped before, and personal preferences. Together they try methods and adjust the plan based on what actually helps in day-to-day life.
Online formats offer real flexibility. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation and visual cues. Phone sessions are useful when bandwidth is limited or a quicker check-in is needed. Live chat and text-based messaging make it possible to send brief updates, practice skills between sessions, or check in without scheduling a full video visit. These options help people fit therapy into busy schedules and keep momentum between meetings.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Grief
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Coaching
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Hoarding
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intellectual disability
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Self esteem
- Sexuality
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Narrative Therapy
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
- Experience
- 35 years
- Licensed
- Alabama
- Languages
- English
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