Willow Wakeley-Smith

Willow Wakeley-Smith is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (MO LCSW) with five years of clinical experience working with adults. She focuses on stress, anxiety, parenting challenges, depression, ADHD, motivation, confidence, and other common life pressures. Willow’s work also includes supporting people through relationship and grief concerns, sleep problems, and career questions.

She draws on a mix of approaches that match what a person needs in the moment. That can look like practical skills from cognitive behavioral therapy to shift thinking and behavior. It can also mean using client-centered listening to clarify values and priorities. Mindfulness practices and motivational interviewing ideas are used when helpful to build focus and momentum.

Willow has a background working in schools and with children and families, which informs her understanding of parenting stress and adoption or foster-related concerns. She describes five years of direct clinical work with adults who face moderate to significant mental illness. Those years shape how she supports people managing mood disorders, bipolar challenges, addictions, and obsessive-compulsive concerns.

Her approach is collaborative and goal-oriented. Sessions are used to set clear steps, practice new skills, and review what’s working. Willow also pays attention to practical life needs like improving sleep, managing burnout, and sorting out career uncertainty.

She practices in Missouri and offers services in English. Before booking, readers should confirm the current session options and scheduling process.

How Willow’s approaches shape online sessions

Willow uses client-centered therapy to focus on what matters most to the client. This approach emphasizes listening, reflecting, and helping someone name their priorities so they can make concrete choices. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) provides practical tools to change unhelpful thoughts and habits, useful for anxiety, depression, and sleep problems. Mindfulness therapy introduces brief attention and breathing practices that can reduce stress and improve focus.

Finding the right mix of approaches is part of the work. Willow will collaborate with each person to decide which methods suit their goals and circumstances. That means trying things, reviewing results, and adjusting methods based on what helps the person move forward. The client and therapist set goals together and pick techniques that fit those goals.

The biography does not specify session formats, so confirm current options before booking. Ask whether sessions are scheduled by video or phone and how to manage timing around work or caregiving. Online sessions can make it easier to fit therapy into a busy day, shorten travel time, allow brief check-ins during a break, and reduce the need to arrange childcare or time off work.