Paula Leapheart

Paula Leapheart is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) based in Michigan with 16 years of experience in behavioral health. She centers sessions on the person's own goals and strengths. Her style aims to help people gain clearer choices and practical steps for change.

Paula works with people facing stress, anxiety, depression, and substance use concerns. She also supports those coping with relationship strain, parenting challenges, grief, trauma and abuse, and intimacy-related worries. Women's issues are listed among her areas of focus when relevant to a client’s goals.

Her approach begins by building a trusting working relationship. Paula emphasizes meeting people where they are and recognizing the client as the expert in their life. Early sessions often involve listening closely, identifying what matters most, and setting small, manageable goals.

Therapy sessions blend mindful awareness with goal-focused conversation. Paula uses client-centered methods alongside solution-focused strategies and motivational techniques to help people make changes they want. She also brings mindfulness practices into sessions to reduce stress and improve emotional regulation.

Many clients come to her for help with codependency, attachment issues, addiction, postpartum concerns, and life transitions. She also addresses practical topics like communication, money issues, and rebuilding self-esteem. The work aims to be down-to-earth and applicable to everyday life.

How her approaches work in online therapy

Client-centered therapy focuses on listening and responding to what matters most to the person. It helps when someone wants a space to be heard and to find their own solutions. Mindfulness therapy uses simple practices to increase present-moment awareness and reduce stress; it can help with anxiety, depression, and emotional reactivity. Motivational interviewing is a conversation style that helps people clarify their reasons for change and strengthen their own motivation for steps like reducing substance use or starting healthier habits.

Choosing the right approach is a collaborative process. Paula will work with each person to decide which methods feel most useful based on goals and preferences. That means trying ideas, checking what helps, and adjusting the plan together rather than prescribing a fixed path.

Online therapy can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy life by removing travel time and allowing people to meet from convenient locations. It can also allow shorter check-ins when schedules are tight and offer options for sessions that rely less on video if bandwidth or camera use is difficult. Please confirm current session formats before booking to know which specific online options are offered.