Theresa Presley

Theresa Presley is a Licensed Specialist Clinical Social Worker (LSCSW) and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with 16 years of social work experience. She practices in Missouri and has worked across inpatient and outpatient mental health, domestic violence services, and private practice. Theresa focuses on helping people manage stress, anxiety, depression, trauma and abuse, and issues related to LGBTQ+ identity. Theresa centers her work on strengths. She helps people see how thoughts, feelings, and actions connect. She uses elements of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy while drawing on attachment ideas and trauma-focused care when relevant. Sessions aim to build clear coping strategies and steady emotional support. Theresa keeps the therapy space warm and nonjudgmental. She listens closely and returns practical observations that help people make small changes. Parents often come for help with parenting strain, grieving losses, intimacy and relationship concerns, or career and life transitions. Her background includes work with survivors of domestic violence and people living with complex mood and stress-related issues. That experience informs how she approaches safety, pacing, and respect for each person’s story. She helps clients set goals that are realistic and measurable. Theresa treats compassion fatigue, addictions, ADHD, bipolar concerns, and anger in ways that connect to everyday routines and relationships. She encourages people to use their existing strengths while learning new tools. If someone needs support, she suggests starting with a brief matching questionnaire and scheduling a first session.

Therapeutic approaches for online work

Theresa draws on Trauma-Focused Therapy to help people process and reduce the ongoing effects of past harm. This approach looks at how traumatic events affect thoughts, feelings, and day-to-day reactions and uses paced work to build safety and coping skills.

She also uses Attachment-Based Therapy to look at how important relationships shape emotional responses and behavior. This helps people who want clearer patterns for connection and steadier relationships. Theresa incorporates elements of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to identify unhelpful thinking and create concrete behavior changes that ease anxiety and depression.

Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. Theresa will work with each person to match methods to their goals, needs, and preferences. Together they set priorities and try strategies for a few sessions to see what helps most.

Confirm the exact online session formats before booking, as those options are not listed here. Online work can make therapy easier to fit into daily life - for example, shorter check-ins between appointments, options that avoid travel time, or sessions that better match a work break. Therapists can adapt exercises and pacing to online sessions so progress fits real-world routines.