Matthew Kiefer, LPC, LCPC

Approach choices and how online therapy fits

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people identify what matters most to them and take small actions toward those values despite difficult thoughts or feelings. It is often useful when someone feels stuck or uncertain about life direction. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on recognizing unhelpful thoughts and testing them with real-world changes to reduce anxiety and depression symptoms. It tends to be practical and goal oriented for problems like worry, low mood, or work stress. Attachment-Based Therapy looks at early relationship patterns and how they shape current connections and reactions; it can help people who struggle with trust, abandonment concerns, or repeating relationship patterns.

Finding the right mix of approaches is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with each person to choose methods that match their goals, needs, and preferences. That may mean trying a skill-focused plan first, then shifting to deeper attachment work as trust grows.

Online therapy makes these approaches easier to fit into real life. Video calls allow a full conversation when visual cues matter, phone sessions can work when bandwidth is limited or a quieter check-in is needed, and live chat or text-based messaging can support short updates, homework review, or more frequent contact between longer sessions. These flexible formats help people maintain continuity of care while balancing family, work, and other demands.