Catherine Pettus, LCSW

Catherine Pettus is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 15 years of experience. She uses practical, evidence-informed methods to help people manage stress, anxiety, grief, anger, self-esteem struggles, and life changes.

She favors clear, down-to-earth conversations instead of clinical jargon. Sessions focus on daily problems and workable steps people can try between meetings. Catherine listens first and then helps shape goals that fit each person's life and values.

Her background includes long-term social work practice in Arkansas and work with a broad range of concerns such as caregiver stress, abandonment, attachment issues, and family of origin problems. She also addresses issues like codependency, communication problems, guilt and shame, and navigating divorce or separation.

Catherine draws on cognitive behavioral ideas alongside attachment-based and client-centered approaches. She also uses dialectical behavior skills and mindfulness tools when those methods suit a person's needs. Treatment plans are adapted to what the person wants to work on and how they prefer to approach change.

In sessions she aims to be respectful, direct, and steady. She does not use stigmatizing labels and seeks to support people with dignity. Her goal is to help people find practical steps forward and build the inner strength needed to face hard moments.

People who prefer straightforward talk, short-term strategies, and a compassionate yet goal-oriented style may find her approach useful.

Therapeutic approaches for online care

CBT, or cognitive behavioral therapy, focuses on identifying unhelpful thoughts and testing them with small experiments and behavior changes. It is often useful for managing anxiety, stress, and problems with mood by teaching concrete skills to change thinking and actions.

Attachment-based therapy looks at patterns in close relationships and how early connections affect current trust and closeness. It can help people understand repeated relationship struggles, feelings of abandonment, and patterns of dependence or avoidance.

Client-centered therapy centers the person in the room and emphasizes being heard and understood. The therapist follows the client’s priorities and supports self-directed growth through empathic listening and reflection.

Choosing the right approach is part of the early work. Catherine will talk with each person about goals, try methods that fit their situation, and adjust the plan together if something isn’t working. That collaborative process helps match tools to what the person needs and prefers.

Online formats available include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video sessions allow face-to-face conversation and visual cues, phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited, live chat works for quick check-ins, and messaging supports brief updates or ongoing reflection between appointments. These options make it easier to fit therapy into busy lives and keep continuity when schedules change.