Makini Leno, LPC

Makini Leno is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) practicing in Texas with five years of experience. She focuses on practical help for relationship and intimacy concerns, parenting challenges, ADHD-related attention and focus issues, and major life transitions. Makini aims to make the first step toward change feel safer and more manageable for each person who reaches out.

She creates a calm space where people can speak openly about their thoughts and feelings without judgment. Sessions are conversational and goal-oriented, with attention to whatever matters most to the client in that moment. Makini emphasizes clear steps people can try between sessions to test what helps in everyday life.

Her work draws from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and Attachment-Based ideas. That means she helps people notice unhelpful thinking patterns, clarify personal values, and understand how relationships shape feelings and behavior. Techniques are chosen to fit a person’s needs rather than follow a fixed script.

Makini also uses client-centered and dialectical skills to balance acceptance with change. She supports people dealing with family of origin issues, blended family concerns, adoption and foster care matters, and caregiver strain. She is familiar with topics such as BDSM and kink culture, commitment and control issues, and recovery from separation or domestic violence.

Sessions are offered in English and conducted online by phone, video call, live chat, or text messaging. Makini helps people map small, practical steps toward steadier focus, clearer communication, and better daily coping.

How her approaches translate to online therapy

Makini commonly uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy during online work. CBT focuses on noticing thoughts and behaviors that get in the way and trying concrete behavior changes to test new ways of responding. ACT helps people clarify what they care about and take actions that match those values even when upsetting thoughts or feelings arise.

She also draws on Attachment-Based ideas to look at how relationship patterns shape emotions and communication. Those approaches help with relationship and intimacy issues, parenting questions, attention and focus problems, and coping with life transitions. Makini views choosing a therapy approach as a collaborative process. She will talk with each person about their goals, try methods that fit their needs, and adjust the plan together if something isn’t working.

Online delivery includes video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging to increase flexibility. Video is useful for deeper conversations and nonverbal cues, phone sessions can fit into a busy schedule or use less bandwidth, and chat or messaging allow for shorter check-ins and written tools between sessions. These options make it easier to work on your goals around work, parenting, and daily life without extra travel.