About Dorenda
Dorenda Schmidt is a licensed clinical social worker who helps people facing stress, anxiety, depression, relationship strain, family conflict, and effects of trauma and abuse. She offers steady support for parents and caregivers coping with heavy responsibilities and for people dealing with major life changes like divorce or end-of-life issues. She keeps sessions straightforward and focused on practical steps.
Conversations explore what's causing pain, how habits and relationships keep it going, and which small changes could help.
Background and approach
She listens for patterns of guilt, shame, abandonment, and attachment that often underlie emotional distress. Over a decade of work in New York has exposed her to a wide range of situations. That experience informs her approach when addressing blended family issues, adoption and foster care concerns, and communication breakdowns.
She also supports people managing grief, hospice-related stress, and caregiver burnout. Dorenda helps clients who struggle with anger around narcissistic relationships, impulses toward self-harm, and the challenge of quitting smoking or vaping. She also works with those affected by natural or human-caused disasters to rebuild routines and coping strategies.
Her style is compassionate and practical. Sessions focus on clear goals, doable coping skills, and better communication habits. She aims to help people move from feeling stuck to having usable tools for daily life.
Approaches that guide online sessions
Many therapists use evidence-based techniques to address specific problems. One common approach focuses on identifying unhelpful thinking and testing different ways of responding to stress and anxiety; this method helps people spot patterns and practice clearer thinking in daily situations. Another useful approach centers on building stronger communication and problem-solving skills to reduce conflict and improve relationships, which can be helpful for family and relationship strain.Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with each person to choose methods that fit their goals, concerns, and comfort level. That means trying tools, checking what helps, and adjusting plans together as needs change.
Online therapy offers flexible ways to connect. Video calls allow a face-to-face conversation when that feels important. Phone sessions can be simpler when bandwidth is limited or a shorter check-in is needed. Live chat and text-based messaging can fit into busy schedules and help people stay consistent between sessions. These options make it easier to keep therapy going around work, caregiving, and other daily demands.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also works with
- Abandonment
- Adoption and foster care
- Blended family issues
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Communication problems
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Midlife crisis
- Narcissism
- Self-harm
- Smoking / vaping cessation
- Trauma and abuse
- Experience
- 10 years
- Licensed
- New York
- Languages
- English