About Kathryn
Kathryn Dunleavy is a licensed professional clinical counselor with 23 years of experience in mental health. She brings a calm, straightforward style to sessions and focuses on building trust so people can begin to heal. Her work includes supporting people who are dealing with stress, anxiety, depression, grief, relationship and intimacy concerns, and ADHD.
Kathryn has practiced across many care settings including inpatient, partial, outpatient, community care, crisis residential, and programs for co-occurring mental health and substance use recovery.
Background and approach
That range has shaped a practical approach that emphasizes strengths, mindful awareness, and hopeful problem solving. She uses motivational interviewing and solution-focused techniques to help people find steps that fit their lives. Sessions aim to reduce isolation and increase self-compassion.
Kathryn emphasizes unconditional positive regard and gradual change rather than perfection. Conversations are grounded and direct, with room for grief, frustration, and small wins. She often blends narrative work with mindfulness to help people rewrite unhelpful self-stories and notice present-moment habits.
That combination can help when dealing with eating or sleeping issues, compassion fatigue, addiction recovery, or adjustment after loss and life changes. Kathryn’s goal is to help people reconnect to values and strength. She encourages realistic goals and practical skills that people can use between sessions.
Her style is collaborative, steady, and focused on building resilience one step at a time.
Using collaborative approaches in online sessions
Client-centered therapy focuses on listening closely and reflecting what matters to a person. It helps when someone needs understanding, validation, and a space to sort priorities. Emotionally-focused therapy (EFT) looks at patterns in relationships and how emotions drive behavior. It can help people notice how attachment and feelings affect connection and intimacy. Mindfulness therapy teaches attention skills that reduce reactivity and improve sleep and focus. Practicing small awareness exercises can be useful for stress, anxiety, and ADHD-related restlessness. Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will discuss goals and preferences and try methods that match the client’s needs. That collaborative process helps shape a plan that feels doable and relevant. Online formats offer practical benefits for busy lives. Video calls make it possible to have face-to-face conversations without travel, phone sessions work when bandwidth is low, live chat can be used for shorter check-ins, and text-based messaging lets people send notes between sessions. These options provide flexibility so sessions can fit into work, caregiving, or recovery routines.Questions people ask
What concerns can Kathryn help with?
How does she approach therapy?
What is her background in mental health?
What credentials and location are listed?
Are sessions offered in other languages or internationally?
Which session formats are available?
How are sessions paid for and what does cost look like?
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Grief
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Attachment issues
- Blended family issues
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Co-morbidity
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Eating and food-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Hoarding
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexuality
- Sleeping disorders
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 23 years
- Licensed
- Minnesota
- Languages
- English
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