Susanna Cheatham , LPC

Susanna Cheatham is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) with 30 years of experience helping people facing stress, anxiety, depression, grief, trauma, and relationship or intimacy concerns. She also supports people dealing with parenting strain, caregiving stress, addiction, sleep problems, and challenges related to self-esteem or life transitions. She works with issues that affect daily life, including panic, post-traumatic stress, and chronic illness or pain.

Her approach is collaborative and straightforward. Sessions focus on what matters most to each person and on practical steps they can try between meetings. She values compassion and respect while helping people build skills for coping and decision making.

Cheatham draws on client-centered methods to create a space where people can be heard. She also uses cognitive behavioral techniques to address unhelpful thoughts and behaviors, and dialectical behavior strategies for emotional regulation and distress tolerance. Mindfulness and existential ideas are used when they fit a person’s goals.

Susanna practices from Alabama and conducts sessions in English. She says therapy is a team effort and centers client choices and self-determination. Her work aims to reduce symptoms and increase day-to-day functioning through practical tools and steady support.

Outside of practice she enjoys family time, travel, and hobbies with her husband and their five pets. The mix of long experience and a down-to-earth style shapes how she partners with people to meet their goals.

How therapeutic approaches translate to online care

Client-Centered Therapy is built around the person in the room - or on the screen. It focuses on listening, understanding each person's values, and letting them guide the pace and goals of therapy. This approach helps with relationship issues, self-esteem, grief, and finding direction.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at how thoughts and actions affect feelings. It uses clear steps and exercises to change patterns that worsen anxiety, depression, panic, or sleep problems. People often leave sessions with specific strategies to try between meetings.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy, DBT, adds skills for managing strong emotions and improving coping. It teaches techniques for distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and better communication, which can help with impulsivity, anger, and relationship strain.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will talk with each person about goals, needs, and preferences, and then recommend methods that fit. That planning is collaborative and can change as progress is made.

Online therapy offers flexibility through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging. Video is useful for full discussions and visual cues. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited or a quick check-in is needed. Live chat or text messaging can work for between-session support, short updates, or when writing feels more comfortable. These options make it easier to fit therapy into busy schedules and to keep steady contact with a licensed professional.