Barbara Vernon, LMHC

Barbara Vernon is a licensed mental health counselor in Indiana with 15 years of experience. She focuses on adults and young adults who are feeling overwhelmed by anxiety, depression, grief, or mood instability. She speaks plain language and aims to make a first step feel manageable for a worried parent reading on a phone.

Barbara helps people work through stress, trauma and abuse, low self-esteem, and the ups and downs of bipolar and other mood disorders. She also supports those dealing with relationship strain, panic, and long-standing patterns such as codependency or family of origin issues. Her approach centers on practical changes people can try between sessions.

Her style draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and client-centered work. She helps people notice thoughts and behaviors that get in the way and then practices small experiments to test new ways of responding. Mindfulness and existential ideas also shape conversations about meaning, purpose, and what matters most.

Barbara intends to create a calm, straightforward setting where clients can name what’s hard and set real goals. She treats each person as the expert on their life and builds on existing strengths while offering new skills. Sessions can include short exercises, problem-solving, and gentle challenges to shift unhelpful habits.

She works by video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to fit busy schedules. Sessions use a subscription model that can be canceled at any time, and she practices from Indiana where she holds an Indiana Licensed Mental Health Counselor credential (LMHC).

How therapeutic approaches translate to online care

Barbara uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people identify unhelpful thoughts and try new behaviors. CBT is often useful for anxiety, panic, depression, and mood symptoms because it focuses on concrete steps and experiments people can do between sessions.

She also draws on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, which emphasizes noticing difficult thoughts and feelings without getting stuck in them, then choosing actions that match personal values. ACT can help with shame, low self-worth, and feeling stuck in painful patterns.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. Barbara treats therapy as a collaboration - she will listen to goals and preferences, try methods that fit the person, and adjust based on what helps. Clients and therapist decide together which strategies to keep.

Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging. Video is useful for longer conversations and visual connection, phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited, and chat or messaging can fit quick check-ins or times when typing feels easier. These options make it simpler to fit therapy into a busy life and keep progress moving between sessions.