Kristie Pagel-Compagner, LMSW

Kristie Pagel-Compagner is a licensed social worker with 25 years of clinical experience. She focuses on practical strategies to reduce anxiety, manage mood symptoms, and help people cope with trauma and stress.

Her style is collaborative and straightforward. She listens first, then helps clients identify patterns in thinking and behavior that make life harder. She often uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy alongside client-centered discussions to set small, realistic goals.

Kristie also draws on dialectical behavior ideas and psychodynamic perspectives when they fit a person's needs. That can mean learning emotion regulation skills, improving how someone communicates, or looking at past experiences that keep repeating in relationships.

She works with common concerns such as depression, bipolar-related mood swings, panic attacks, low self-esteem, and the fallout from past abuse. Additional areas include caregiver stress, chronic illness or pain, family of origin issues, and feeling isolated or empty.

Kristie offers sessions through video calls, phone, live chat, and text-based messaging to fit different schedules. She holds a Michigan LMSW, and conducts therapy in English for people located in Michigan.

To begin, a short online questionnaire helps match a person to her and the scheduling system lets clients pick times that work for them.

How therapy approaches work online

Kristie commonly uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and client-centered methods in online work. CBT focuses on identifying unhelpful thoughts and changing behaviors that keep problems going, which helps with anxiety, panic, and depression. Client-centered work emphasizes listening and building a trusting relationship so someone can explore feelings and set personal goals.

She may also use elements of Dialectical Behavior Therapy for emotion regulation and coping skills when strong emotions are a concern. DBT-style skills teach concrete techniques for managing intense feelings, improving relationships, and tolerating distress without acting impulsively.

Finding the right approach is a shared process. The therapist will talk with each person about their goals, try approaches that fit those aims, and adjust as therapy progresses. Clients help guide what feels most useful and practical for their life.

Online sessions are offered via video calls, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to increase flexibility. Video lets people work face-to-face when convenient, phone can be easier when bandwidth is limited, live chat supports shorter check-ins, and text messaging lets people share thoughts between sessions. These options help make therapy fit into busy schedules and different day-to-day needs.