Kristine Donaldson, LCSW

Kristine Donaldson is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) based in Illinois with 14 years of clinical experience. She draws on long experience in mental health to help people facing stress, anxiety, depression, and related struggles. Kristine aims to build a respectful relationship where clients feel heard and understood.

She focuses on thoughts and everyday habits as part of making changes people can use day to day. Sessions often include practical strategies from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and skills drawn from Dialectical Behavior Therapy. She also uses approaches that address traumatic memories and emotional processing.

Kristine works with a wide range of concerns, including grief, compassion fatigue, addictions, parenting strain, workplace stress, and relationship challenges. She also supports people dealing with panic, obsessive thinking, seasonal mood shifts, and self-esteem issues. Her background includes many years helping people cope with life changes and find clearer direction.

In sessions she collaborates on a plan that fits each person's needs. That plan may combine short-term skill-building with deeper work on trauma or emotional patterns. Kristine uses motivational interviewing when people want to change habits like smoking or managing compulsions.

Her approach is straightforward and practical. Kristine encourages small experiments between sessions, and she helps people notice what works. She invites those who are ready to select the Start Therapy button and begin a brief matching questionnaire to schedule a first appointment.

How specific approaches can work in online care

CBT, or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, focuses on the links between thoughts, feelings, and actions. It helps people notice unhelpful thinking and test new behaviors that reduce anxiety and low mood.

DBT, or Dialectical Behavior Therapy, teaches concrete skills for managing emotions, coping with crisis moments, and improving interpersonal effectiveness. These skills are useful for stress, mood swings, and self-regulation challenges.

EMDR is an approach that looks at how distressing memories are stored and uses structured processing to reduce their intensity. It is often used when trauma or painful past events are part of the current problem.

Finding the right approach is something the therapist will do together with the client. Kristine will discuss goals, preferences, and the problem behind the appointment, and then suggest which methods to try first. The plan can shift as progress is made and needs change.

If you are considering online therapy, confirm the session formats offered before booking. Kristine's use of approaches like CBT, DBT, and EMDR translates well to remote work because they emphasize clear instructions, skill practice, and step-by-step processing. Online sessions can make it easier to fit therapy into a busy day, allow shorter or more frequent check-ins when useful, and reduce travel time. Ask about the current scheduling and session options when you start the matching process so you can pick what fits your routine.