About Jonathan
Jonathan 'Riley' Murdock offers a steady, nonjudgmental presence for people feeling overwhelmed by stress, anxiety, grief, addiction, or major life changes. He introduces small, manageable steps so clients can try new ways of coping without feeling crushed by the idea of sudden change. Riley aims to be plainly in the client’s corner and to make the work feel straightforward and doable.
He frames challenges as patterns that can be understood and altered one step at a time.
Background and approach
Sessions often use visual metaphors and practical language to help ideas stick. Riley emphasizes recovery time as much as effort, comparing emotional growth to building physical strength with gradual tension and rest. Riley brings four years of professional experience as a licensed clinical social worker, LCSW, and draws on broader years of social work practice in his approach.
He blends Client-Centered Therapy with cognitive tools and motivational techniques to move people toward workable goals. He also uses mindfulness and narrative work to help clients reframe painful memories and daily habits. Clients who reach out typically want help with mood, self-esteem, relationships, sleep, or coping with trauma and loss.
Riley also supports people navigating identity questions and addictions, and he addresses complex issues that often occur together, such as chronic illness and mood concerns. Sessions are offered in English and Riley works with international clients. He offers a mix of short-term focused work and longer exploration depending on what a person needs.
The tone in sessions is practical, visual, and down-to-earth, with an emphasis on measurable steps and steady progress.
Practical approaches for online healing and change
Client-Centered Therapy is about meeting the person where they are and following their priorities. The therapist listens closely, reflects what matters most, and helps the client set the pace for change. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, teaches simple skills to notice unhelpful thoughts and shift behaviors that feed anxiety, depression, or sleeplessness. It is useful when someone needs practical tools to manage mood and daily functioning.Mindfulness Therapy adds short exercises to notice the present moment without judgment. These techniques help reduce reactivity to stress and improve focus for people who feel overwhelmed or stuck. Riley typically blends these approaches so the work fits the person’s goals and style rather than pushing a single method.
Choosing the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will discuss options, try techniques, and adjust based on how a client responds. Together they set goals and track whether the tools are helping, shifting direction when needed to find the best fit.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging, which makes therapy more flexible around busy lives. Video is useful for deeper conversational work, phone sessions are an easier option when bandwidth is limited, and chat or messaging can fit brief check-ins or coaching between sessions. These options let people connect in ways that suit their schedule and comfort while working toward clear, measurable steps.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
Also works with
- Abandonment
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Antisocial personality
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Bipolar disorder
- Body image
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Co-morbidity
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexuality
- Sleeping disorders
- Smoking / vaping cessation
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 4 years
- Licensed
- Idaho
- Languages
- English