About James
James Wankel helps people facing stress, anxiety, addiction, trauma, ADHD, and major life transitions. He is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, LCSW, practicing in North Carolina and uses straightforward, practical talk to address problems that feel overwhelming. He keeps sessions focused on what matters to each person.
Conversations are plain and goal-oriented. James uses strategies that help people manage symptoms, build routines, and make steady changes over time. His background includes five years of clinical work with a range of concerns.
Background and approach
He draws on methods like cognitive-behavioral techniques, mindfulness practices, and client-centered ways of listening. He also uses motivational interviewing and narrative approaches to help people clarify values and move toward their goals. James works with issues such as communication problems, body image, chronic pain and illness, addiction, and dissociation.
He also supports people dealing with abandonment, autism and Asperger syndrome, kink and alternative sex culture questions, blended family strains, fatherhood challenges, and stress from first responder roles. Sessions are conversational and practical. James aims to help people leave with small, doable steps between meetings.
He balances empathy with clear guidance so clients can make progress at their own pace.
Online approaches that work for everyday life
Client-Centered Therapy puts the person at the center of the work and emphasizes listening and understanding. It helps when someone needs a calm space to be heard and to make sense of what they want to change.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, focuses on how thoughts and behaviors affect feelings. It helps people with anxiety, stress, and addiction by teaching skills to change unhelpful patterns and try new responses.
Mindfulness Therapy brings attention to the present moment through simple practices. It can help reduce reactivity, support focus for people with ADHD, and ease tension that comes with chronic pain.
Finding the right approach is part of the process, and this is done together. The therapist will talk with each person about their goals, try methods that fit, and adjust as needed based on what helps most.
Online sessions are offered by licensed professionals using video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging. Video is useful for in-depth conversation and visual cues, phone can be a good option when bandwidth is limited, and chat or text work well for brief check-ins or between-session support. These options make it easier to fit therapy into work, family life, or other routines.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
Also works with
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- BDSM, kink, and alternative sex culture
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Coaching
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dissociation
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating and food-related issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- First responder issues
- Gender dysphoria
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Men's issues
- Multicultural concerns
- Narcissism
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Personality disorders
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-harm
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Smoking / vaping cessation
- Traumatic brain injury
- Trichotillomania
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 5 years
- Licensed
- North Carolina, South Carolina
- Languages
- English