Valerie Keller Gates

Valerie Keller Gates is a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in Oklahoma with seven years of experience. She works with adults facing stress, anxiety, depression, grief, trauma, relationship and intimacy concerns, parenting strains, and questions about life purpose. She also supports people coping with bipolar symptoms, ADHD, and issues tied to blended families, infidelity, and finances.

Valerie trained with a Master of Human Relations focusing on licensed professional counseling from the University of Oklahoma. She also holds a Bachelor of Science in Family Studies and Gerontology from Southern Nazarene University. Those educational steps inform how she plans sessions and talks through problems with clients.

Her everyday style leans toward client-centered work. That means she begins where a person is and works forward from there. She combines that with cognitive-behavioral strategies and other methods to address thinking patterns, coping skills, and relationship habits.

In sessions she is direct and transparent. Conversations often include setting clear goals, looking at how thoughts influence behavior, and practicing small changes between meetings. For people managing trauma, she can include approaches aimed at processing painful memories.

Valerie has worked with individuals, groups, and families in prior roles. She emphasizes respect and practical support while people sort through change. To start, she asks people to complete a short matching questionnaire and schedule an initial session to see how to move forward together.

Therapeutic approaches and online sessions

Client-centered therapy focuses on listening and responding to what the person brings to each session. It helps when someone feels unsure where to begin or needs a steady, respectful presence while they sort through options.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at how thoughts influence feelings and actions. It is practical work that breaks problems into manageable steps and is useful for anxiety, depression, and coping with life changes.

EMDR is an approach used to process traumatic memories and strong emotional reactions. When appropriate, it is combined with other techniques to reduce the intensity of distressing memories and their effects on daily life.

Finding the right approach is part of the work together. The therapist will discuss a client’s goals, needs, and preferences and recommend methods that fit. That choice is collaborative and may evolve as sessions progress.

Confirm the therapist's current session options before booking, since formats are not listed in the profile. Online work can make it easier to fit therapy into a busy week, reduce travel time, and allow shorter check-ins when schedules are tight. Some approaches adapt well to remote sessions, and the therapist will help figure out what works best for each person.