Rita Ham , LMHP

Rita Ham is a Licensed Mental Health Practitioner (LMHP) with four decades of clinical work. She began her career in community-based substance use treatment and has continued providing therapy since then. Rita focuses her practice on adults and brings long experience with mental health and substance-related concerns.

Rita’s style is warm, interactive, and straightforward. She builds trust early and invites honest conversation about goals. She balances compassion with respectful challenge to help people move toward the changes they want.

Her background includes years in residential treatment followed by outpatient community programs since 1995. That history gives her a practical view of addiction, trauma, mood disorders, and relationship problems. Rita draws on a range of effective techniques to match what each person needs.

In sessions she helps people build life skills and practice tools to manage symptoms. She treats each person as more than a diagnosis and focuses on everyday steps that make a difference. When appropriate and with permission, she involves supportive people from a client’s network.

Rita works with common concerns such as stress, anxiety, depression, grief, anger, and relationship strain. She also addresses substance use, codependency, communication problems, eating-related issues, and women’s issues. Her approach is practical, steady, and rooted in long experience.

Therapeutic approaches used in online care

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice painful thoughts and feelings without getting stuck in them and commits to actions that match personal values. It can be useful for anxiety, depression, and coping with life changes.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying unhelpful thinking patterns and trying new behaviors to change mood and reactions. It is often used for anxiety, mood disorders, and stress management.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) teaches practical skills for emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and improving communication. Those skills can help with intense emotions, relationship strain, and impulsive behaviors.

Choosing an approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will talk with each person about goals, preferences, and what has or has not worked in the past. Together they decide which methods to try and can adjust the plan as progress is made.

Online therapy offers flexible ways to connect. Video calls let people use visual cues and real-time conversation. Phone sessions work when bandwidth is limited or a simpler check-in is needed. Live chat or text-based messaging can fit between busy obligations and allow brief updates or reflections. These options make it easier to keep therapy going around work, family, or travel.