Anna Murphy , LMHC

Anna Murphy is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) practicing in Iowa with nine years of clinical experience. She has worked across a range of settings including psychiatric hospitals, schools, community mental health centers, and private agencies, bringing a broad perspective to supporting people through diverse life challenges.

Her work spans clients from early childhood through older adulthood, and she has developed experience addressing persistent and chronic mental illness, trauma and abuse, mood and anxiety disorders, substance use, grief and loss, codependency, and emotion regulation concerns. Anna also supports people facing relationship and family issues, career and life transitions, compassion fatigue, ADHD, bipolar disorder, and intimacy-related difficulties.

Anna earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Iowa in 2012 with majors in Psychology and Studio Arts and a minor in Sociology, and she completed a Master of Science in Art Therapy and Counseling at The College of New Rochelle in 2015. Her approach is warm, interactive, and client-centered - she views clients as experts on their own lives and aims to empower them to build the skills and coping strategies that fit their unique situations. She draws from trauma-informed work, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), motivational interviewing, and solution-focused techniques, and she uses expressive therapy modalities when clients are open to those methods.

Therapeutic Approaches and Online Care with Anna Murphy

Anna Murphy integrates several evidence-informed methods into online work to meet each client's needs. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) focuses on helping people clarify their values and take meaningful action while learning to accept difficult thoughts and feelings - it can be useful for anxiety, stress, and chronic emotional challenges. Client-Centered Therapy emphasizes empathy, active listening, and a nonjudgmental stance so clients can explore their experience and build self-understanding and self-worth - it is often helpful for relationship concerns, identity work, and self-esteem issues. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) targets the links between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and teaches practical skills to manage mood and anxiety symptoms and cope with life changes.

Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. Anna will work with each person to identify which methods fit their goals, preferences, and unique circumstances, adjusting techniques as needed to support progress.

Online therapy options include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging, offering flexibility around work, family, and location. Those formats make it easier to access licensed professionals and therapists from home or on the go, accommodate different communication preferences, and support continuity of care when in-person visits are not feasible.