Olayinka "Mary" Akeju, LPC

Olayinka "Mary" Akeju is a licensed professional counselor who uses practical therapy approaches to help people manage stress, anxiety, and relationship challenges. She combines Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with other methods to address mood, behavior, and thought patterns. Mary keeps sessions straightforward and focused on what the client wants to change. Mary has 17 years of experience working with issues such as trauma and abuse, parenting and family concerns, grief, addiction, and mood disorders like depression and bipolar. She also helps with anger, sleep and eating problems, self-esteem, ADHD, and work or career stress. Her background includes work with attachment-related problems and complex coping challenges like dissociation and co-morbidity. Her style is collaborative and client-centered. She listens first, then offers tools and strategies that fit the person’s goals. Techniques from acceptance and commitment therapy and dialectical behavior therapy are used when they match the situation. Sessions address concrete skills such as thought tracking, behavior experiments, emotion regulation, and values-based action. Mary helps people break down problems into small steps and build practical routines that support change. She emphasizes strengths and clear goals rather than long lectures. Mary practices in New Jersey and communicates in English. She accepts international clients and offers multiple online formats for working together. To begin, users complete a short matching questionnaire and schedule sessions that fit their timing.

Online approaches that teach practical skills

Mary often uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people identify unhelpful thoughts and change behaviors that maintain anxiety or depression. CBT focuses on clear steps such as tracking thoughts, testing beliefs, and experimenting with new behaviors to reduce symptoms and improve daily functioning.

She also draws on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, which helps people clarify their values and commit to actions that matter despite difficult feelings. ACT is useful for stress, chronic worry, and when someone wants to live more in line with what they value. Attachment-Based Therapy is used to look at how early relationship patterns affect current connections and to build healthier ways of relating to others.

Finding the right mix of approaches is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with the client to choose methods that match goals, preferences, and the problems at hand. This means trying practical strategies, reviewing what helps, and adjusting the plan together.

Online therapy offers flexibility through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video sessions allow face-to-face interaction and visual cues. Phone sessions can fit into a busy day or avoid bandwidth issues. Chat and messaging work for brief check-ins, coaching-style support, or when writing feels easier than talking. These options make it simpler to maintain regular work on goals without major travel or schedule disruption.