About Wendie
Wendie Vanderwater welcomes people who are feeling overwhelmed by stress, anxiety, depression, or major life changes. She is a licensed clinical social worker with 22 years of experience and a straightforward, nonjudgmental style. She helps people sort through relationship and intimacy concerns, grief, parenting strain, and issues around identity and self esteem.
Wendie listens first and asks practical questions to figure out what will help most. She invites clients to choose how they want to work - whether that means homework between sessions or focusing on conversation in the room.
Background and approach
Many plans blend skills practice with reflective work so progress can be both steady and realistic. Her practice commonly uses cognitive behavioral ideas to spot unhelpful thoughts and DBT skills to manage intense feelings and reactions. Mindfulness and journaling are often added to help people notice what they feel and respond rather than react.
Motivational interviewing can be part of the plan when someone is ready to make a life change. Wendie also brings experience supporting people with trauma, eating concerns, ADHD, bipolar challenges, and caregiver stress. She pays attention to family of origin issues, adoption and foster care questions, and identity topics such as gender dysphoria and LGBT concerns.
Sessions are offered from Montana and are conducted in English. Wendie aims to help people find small, achievable steps toward a steadier life and better relationships.
How these approaches work in online therapy
Wendie often uses cognitive behavioral therapy to help people notice and change unhelpful thinking patterns. CBT focuses on the link between thoughts, feelings, and behavior and works well for anxiety, depression, and stress-related problems.She also regularly draws on dialectical behavior therapy skills to teach emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and better interpersonal interactions. DBT skills are useful when emotions feel overwhelming or when someone struggles with intense reactions.
Finding the right mix of approaches is a collaborative process. Wendie asks questions, reviews what has helped in the past, and together with the person chooses whether to practice skills, try journaling, or focus on problem-solving. Plans are adjusted over time as needs and goals change.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text messaging. Video calls are good for face-to-face conversation and skills coaching. Phone sessions can fit a short break or lower bandwidth needs. Live chat and text sessions let people check in between appointments or choose a format that feels less formal. These options make therapy more flexible and easier to fit into busy lives.
Frequently asked questions
What kinds of problems does Wendie help with?
How would you describe her approach in sessions?
What experience does she bring to therapy?
Where is she based and what are her credentials?
Which languages are supported in sessions?
Can people outside the US work with her?
What formats are available for sessions?
How does cost and starting therapy work?
Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Trauma and abuse
Also works with
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Co-morbidity
- Coaching
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Intellectual disability
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Traumatic brain injury
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 22 years
- Licensed
- Montana
- Languages
- English