Kristi Rachal , LCSW

Kristi Rachal is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 23 years of experience helping people face a wide range of concerns. She supports people coping with addiction, anxiety, depression, grief, relationship and intimacy issues, parenting stress, LGBT concerns, ADHD, and career or life transitions. She also works with people navigating blended family challenges, caregiver strain, and complex sexual culture questions such as BDSM and kink.

Her style is informal and down-to-earth. Sessions are intended to feel calm and approachable so people can talk honestly. She emphasizes practical steps and personal accountability rather than long theory talks.

Kristi draws on cognitive behavioral techniques to help people notice unhelpful thought patterns and practice different responses. She blends that with mindfulness strategies to lower stress and solution-focused work to set small, achievable goals. Together these methods aim to create everyday changes someone can use right away.

Her background includes work in prisons, hospitals, home health and hospice, and private practice. She has experience with veterans, active duty military members, anger management, sex offender treatment, and addictions counseling. Those settings shaped her straightforward approach to problem solving.

Kristi is based in Louisiana and provides sessions in English. Her work is practical and goal oriented, aimed at helping people regain control of daily life and relationships.

How her approaches translate to online therapy

Kristi uses cognitive behavioral techniques to help people spot and change unhelpful thought patterns. That approach is useful for anxiety, depression, and managing addictive behaviors because it focuses on specific thoughts and actions to try between sessions.

She also incorporates mindfulness therapy to teach simple breathing and attention practices that reduce stress and increase present-moment awareness. Mindfulness can be practiced in short exercises during a phone call or through guided practices in messaging between sessions.

Solution-focused work rounds out her approach by setting small, measurable goals and tracking progress. This helps when someone wants quick, practical changes rather than long-term exploration.

Finding the right mix of methods is a collaborative process. Kristi will discuss goals, preferences, and what has or hasn’t worked before, then adjust techniques together so they fit the person’s life and needs.

Online sessions offer flexibility in how people connect. Video calls allow face-to-face interaction, phone sessions work when bandwidth is limited, live chat suits quick check-ins, and text messaging supports brief daily progress updates. These options make it easier to fit therapy into work, caregiving, or busy schedules while keeping the focus on practical steps and progress.