Elizabeth McKinley

Elizabeth McKinley is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in Colorado with 27 years of clinical experience. She works with people facing depression, trauma and abuse, grief, anxiety, and major life changes. She also lists family concerns, parenting strain, and issues around self-esteem and compassion fatigue as frequent reasons people come to her.

Her sessions focus on practical conversation and skill building. She draws from client-centered work to listen and reflect back what matters most to the person. She uses cognitive behavioral techniques to identify unhelpful thinking and test small behavioral changes.

Elizabeth also uses existential ideas to help people examine values, meaning, and direction when life feels unsettled. For relationship-focused concerns she incorporates elements of the Gottman Method to address communication and recurring conflict patterns. Mindfulness practices are used to reduce emotional reactivity and support coping with stress.

She has particular experience with mood disorders, trauma recovery, and complex family-of-origin issues, including adoption and foster care, blended family dynamics, and caregiver stress. She works with people managing bipolar disorder, separation and divorce, domestic violence recovery, and dissociation, among other concerns.

Sessions emphasize clear goals, small experiments, and building sustainable routines. People usually leave with concrete strategies they can try between meetings and a plan for the next steps. To begin, clients follow the listed intake process to match and schedule a first session.

How her approaches translate to online work

Elizabeth uses client-centered practices to listen, reflect, and help people name what matters. This approach emphasizes straightforward conversation and collaborative planning, which can work well in an online setting for those sorting out life purpose or identity questions.

She also uses cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to identify unhelpful thoughts and test behavioral changes. CBT sessions often focus on clear homework or short experiments that fit into daily routines and can be tracked between meetings. Existential therapy is used to examine values, meaning, and choices when someone faces major life transitions or uncertainty; these conversations are iterative and aim to clarify direction rather than promise answers.

Finding the right mix of approaches is part of the process. Elizabeth will work with each person to decide which methods suit their goals and preferences. That decision is collaborative and may shift as progress unfolds.

The therapist's biography did not list specific session formats. Confirm current session options before booking so you know what mode is offered. Practically, online sessions can make scheduling easier, allow shorter check-ins during a busy day, and remove travel time so sessions fit into everyday life. Ask about format details when you complete the matching questionnaire to plan sessions that work with your routine.