About Catherine
Catherine Brenen is a licensed master social worker with 16 years of experience helping people manage stress, anxiety, depression, addiction, and life transitions. She practices from Michigan and grounds her work in respect, empathy, and belief in each person's ability to move forward. Her style is warm and engaging.
She avoids judgment and fear-based approaches. Instead she offers steady support and positive regard while helping people set practical goals for a better daily life.
How Catherine works
Catherine combines client-centered work with cognitive behavior ideas and dialectical behavior techniques. She also uses mindfulness practices and motivational interviewing when those fit a person's needs. Sessions focus on clear steps people can try between meetings and on understanding what keeps old patterns in place.
She helps people facing relationship strain, parenting stress, grief, trauma and abuse, eating concerns, intimacy issues, anger, low self-esteem, and career challenges. She also supports people dealing with bipolar symptoms, compassion fatigue, and the demands of aging or caregiving. Catherine adapts conversations and plans to each person's situation.
She aims to be practical and collaborative, so people leave sessions with manageable strategies. Those who are ready to take a first step will find a calm, nonjudgmental clinician ready to listen and work alongside them.
Catherine lists 8 ways of working on the entry:
What Catherine works with
The areas below are the ones Catherine selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Addictions
- Relationship issues
Also listed
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Antisocial personality
- Attachment issues
- Avoidant personality
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Co-morbidity
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Infidelity
- Intellectual disability
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Smoking / vaping cessation
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Young adult issues
Training and background
| Register | LMSW |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 16 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | Michigan |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
Approaches that guide online work and practical tools
Client-centered therapy focuses on listening and understanding each person's goals. The therapist offers respect and positive regard while helping people find their own solutions, which is useful for relationship strain, self-esteem, and life changes.Cognitive behavioral therapy targets thoughts and behaviors that keep problems going. Sessions identify patterns, test new actions, and use specific exercises to reduce anxiety, depression, or unhelpful habits.
Dialectical behavior therapy brings skills for managing intense emotions and improving how people relate to others. It teaches techniques for emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and clearer communication, which can help with anger, mood instability, and relationship conflict.
Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will talk with each person about needs, goals, and preferences and then tailor methods and pacing. Clients and therapist review what helps and adjust plans together over time.
Online therapy offers flexible ways to connect. Video calls work well for in-depth conversation and visual cues. Phone sessions can fit a short break or lower bandwidth needs. Live chat and text-based messaging provide quick check-ins, skill practice, and support between sessions. These options make it easier to match therapy to a person's schedule and communication style.
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Common questions
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A practical next step
Write down two things you would want to be different in six months. That is the most useful thing to bring to a first session, whoever it is with. If you would rather start now than keep reading, online sessions are the quickest route.
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