Susan Trefts

Susan Trefts offers a calm, practical approach for people facing stress, anxiety, trauma, grief, and concerns about self-esteem. She names client strengths early and helps people draw on those strengths to handle what feels overwhelming. Susan emphasizes small, concrete steps so the work feels doable from session to session.

Susan is a licensed clinical social worker in Oregon and Washington with 21 years of professional experience. She centers the person telling their story and treats each session as a chance to notice what is working and what needs to change. Her manner is collaborative and respectful rather than directive.

In sessions she listens for patterns that keep people stuck and offers tools to manage intense emotions. She uses techniques from client-centered therapy to follow each person’s priorities. She also brings skills from dialectical behavior therapy to teach emotion regulation and coping strategies.

Susan works with concerns often experienced by women, including body image, self-love, compassion fatigue, and life purpose. She also addresses trauma, post-traumatic stress, grief, guilt, and forgiveness in straightforward language that people can act on.

Therapy with Susan focuses on practical change and on recognizing the strengths someone already has. She supports people while they practice new ways of coping and communicating. The aim is clearer direction and more manageable days.

How Susan’s approaches fit into online therapy

Susan uses client-centered therapy to follow what matters most to each person. That approach means the therapist listens closely and helps people set goals that feel right to them. It works well for concerns like life purpose, self-esteem, and relationship communication.

She also draws on dialectical behavior therapy or DBT skills to teach concrete tools. DBT techniques focus on emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and mindful awareness. These skills can help with anxiety, trauma reactions, and compassion fatigue.

Choosing the right approach is part of the work. Susan will talk with each person about their goals and preferences and then suggest methods to try. The plan can change as needs evolve, so the process remains collaborative.

Many people find online therapy helps fit sessions into busy lives by removing travel time and making it easier to schedule around work or caregiving. Before booking, confirm the current session options with the platform so you know what formats are available. The main benefit is often greater flexibility to make therapy a regular part of everyday life.