Lori Brinkley , LCSW

Lori Brinkley is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with 25 years of clinical experience supporting people through trauma, anxiety, depression, relationship challenges, parenting concerns, career stress, grief, and related life changes. She brings a warm, nurturing presence to therapy while remaining direct and willing to challenge unhelpful patterns when needed. Her approach blends Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, mindfulness practices, strength-based problem solving, and practical skill-building, and she also offers a specialized option she calls "couple's counseling for one" when only one partner is ready to participate in therapy.

As an advanced generalist, she works with a wide range of issues including adoption and foster care concerns, blended family dynamics, caregiver stress, codependency, communication problems, infidelity, and anger or impulse control. Lori helps parents, busy professionals, adoptees, people in transition, and those navigating separation or divorce to build clearer boundaries, improve communication, and regain a sense of balance. She combines compassion with purposeful intervention, using humor and real-world strategies to make therapeutic work engaging and practical.

Outside of her clinical work she is a mother of two college-aged children who values time outdoors - especially at the beach - and enjoys travel, waterfall hunting, suspense novels, and movies. She draws on life experience, resilience, and curiosity to help others explore new perspectives and move toward their goals. Lori invites prospective clients to reach out to explore whether her style and tools are a good fit for their needs.

Therapeutic Approaches Adapted for Online Care

Lori Brinkley draws from client-centered therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and mindfulness-based techniques to tailor care to each person. Client-centered therapy emphasizes empathy, active listening, and collaboration so individuals feel heard and supported while exploring relationship, parenting, or identity concerns. CBT focuses on identifying unhelpful thoughts and behaviors and replacing them with skills that reduce anxiety, depression, and stress in daily life. Mindfulness therapy teaches present-moment awareness and emotion regulation practices that can lessen reactivity and improve coping with grief, trauma, or ongoing stress.

Choosing the right approach is part of the therapeutic process. Lori works collaboratively with each person to assess needs, goals, and preferences and then blends methods to create a plan that fits their situation and values. That exploration is ongoing and adjusts as progress is made.

Online therapy with Lori uses flexible formats - video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging - to make it easier to fit therapy into busy lives and across geographic constraints. These options allow licensed professionals to deliver therapy adapted to the medium, offer continuity during transitions, and provide practical ways to practice skills between sessions.