Maureen O’Connell, LCMHC

Maureen O’Connell is a licensed clinical mental health counselor in North Carolina with 21 years of experience. She focuses on anxiety and obsessive-compulsive concerns and brings a trauma-informed perspective to her work. Maureen aims to help people find more calm, clarity, and alignment with their values.

Her practice emphasizes practical skills that reduce anxiety cycles over time. She uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), mindfulness exercises, psychodynamic ideas, and trauma-focused techniques where appropriate. Sessions often include skill practice, behavior changes, and gentle reflection on patterns that keep problems going.

Maureen describes her approach as compassionate and rooted in attachment and family systems thinking. She pays attention to how one’s family of origin and early relationships affect current habits. That background often helps explain patterns of guilt, shame, isolation, and repeated relationship hurts.

Clients can expect a steady pace and clear tools for panic, social anxiety, compulsions, and post-traumatic stress symptoms. She also addresses issues like infidelity, loneliness, and family-related stress. Work in therapy blends symptom-focused techniques with exploration of deeper emotional patterns.

In practical terms, Maureen helps people learn skills, try new behaviors, and notice what matters most to them. The goal is more consistent functioning and a greater sense of inner harmony. She invites people to take a first step when they feel ready.

Approaches that guide online care

Maureen uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people identify unhelpful thoughts and try new behaviors. CBT is often used for panic, social anxiety, obsessions, and compulsions because it focuses on clear skills and step-by-step practice.

She also uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to help clients clarify what matters most and build actions that match those values. ACT emphasizes mindfulness and willingness to feel difficult thoughts while still moving toward chosen goals. Mindfulness therapy supports noticing thoughts and sensations without immediate reaction and can reduce reactivity in anxiety and trauma symptoms.

Choosing an approach is a collaborative process. Maureen will work with each person to decide which methods fit their needs and goals. She often combines techniques, adjusts pacing, and checks in about what is or isn’t helpful so the plan changes with the client.

Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video lets people practice skills in real time and see nonverbal cues, while phone sessions can be simpler when internet bandwidth is limited. Live chat or text messaging can suit brief check-ins, skill reminders, or people who prefer typed communication. These options make it easier to fit therapy around work, school, or caregiving responsibilities and support steady progress without long travel.