Denise McNicholas , LCPC

Denise McNicholas is an Illinois-licensed counselor with five years of clinical experience. She focuses on relationship concerns, self-esteem, career challenges, and coaching. Denise encourages people to use their own strengths to move forward and acknowledges that starting therapy can take real courage.

Her approach is straightforward and goal-oriented. She uses practical tools from cognitive behavioral therapy to spot thought patterns that get in the way. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy ideas help people clarify values and take small steps toward what matters to them.

Denise also draws on dialectical behavior therapy skills for emotion regulation and distress tolerance. Motivational interviewing is part of her work when clients want help finding motivation or changing habits. Solution-focused techniques are used to set short-term goals and notice progress quickly.

She often supports people dealing with chronic pain, illness, disability, traumatic brain injury, and struggles around forgiveness, life purpose, and self-love. Denise frames these issues in everyday terms and helps clients break them into manageable tasks.

Sessions are practical and conversational. Denise helps clients build plans they can try between meetings and checks in on what works. Her style suits people who want clear strategies and a collaborative partner as they work toward change.

Therapeutic approaches that translate well online

Denise often uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, which focuses on helping people clarify their values and take small actions toward them. ACT can be useful for people who feel stuck by unhelpful thoughts and want to make meaningful changes in daily life.

She also uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help identify and change thinking patterns that feed low mood or anxiety. CBT offers practical exercises and behavioral steps that clients can practice between sessions to build momentum.

Finding the right approach is part of the work together. Denise will discuss goals, preferences, and what feels most useful, and then try techniques collaboratively. She adjusts methods based on what a client reports back after trying new skills.

Online therapy is offered through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging to fit different routines. Video is good for in-depth conversations and skill demonstrations, phone sessions work when bandwidth is limited, live chat can be a quicker check-in, and text messaging makes it easy to touch base between meetings. These options make it simpler to fit therapy into a busy life and to keep practicing new skills regularly.