Susan Kates, LMFT

Susan Kates is a licensed marriage and family therapist with 30 years of experience in Wyoming. She helps people who are struggling with addiction, trauma, depression, anxiety, grief, anger, and relationship or family stress. She aims to make the first step feel manageable and supportive for anyone ready to try therapy.

Her style is straightforward and practical. Sessions focus on clear goals and small steps that can be used between meetings. She listens for what matters most to each person and builds an approach around those priorities. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, solution-focused work, and trauma-informed thinking are part of her practice.

Susan has worked across settings including outpatient care and hospital programs. Her background includes supporting people affected by homelessness and children who have experienced trauma. Those experiences shape how she responds to crisis, loss, and complicated life transitions.

In sessions she encourages honest talk about feelings and behaviors without judgment. She helps people identify patterns that keep problems going and then test simple changes. Therapy can involve skill-building, problem solving, and practical strategies for stress, panic, or mood swings.

Susan also addresses issues around adoption and foster care, caregiver stress, aging concerns, compulsive behaviors, and impulse control. She offers help for parenting challenges, communication problems, and the ripple effects of substance use on families. Her approach centers on steady, achievable progress.

Practical approaches for online care

Susan often uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people notice thoughts and behaviors that keep problems alive and then try different, practical actions. CBT works well for anxiety, depression, panic, and compulsive behaviors because it focuses on small, testable changes.

She also uses Client-Centered principles to make sessions feel respectful and supportive. That means the therapist listens without judgment and works at the clients pace to clarify goals and build trust. Solution-Focused Therapy is another part of her approach and emphasizes immediate steps and strengths that move people toward clear goals.

Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will discuss how these methods might fit a person's needs and adjust plans based on goals and preferences. Clients help shape the focus and pace of work so it feels useful and realistic.

Online therapy offers flexible ways to connect: video calls for a face-to-face feel, phone sessions when bandwidth or camera use is a concern, live chat for shorter check-ins, and text messaging for ongoing support between appointments. These options make it easier to fit therapy into work, caregiving, or travel schedules while keeping treatment consistent and practical.