About Donna
Donna Altepeter focuses on helping people manage stress, anxiety, grief, and life changes. She uses a down-to-earth style and meets people where they are. Donna is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with 12 years of experience in clinical practice in Wisconsin.
She prefers a client-centered way of working, which means she follows the person's lead and builds goals together. Donna also uses cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness techniques to help people notice patterns and try new behaviors.
How Donna works
Motivational interviewing helps when people want support making changes, and narrative work helps examine the stories that shape how someone sees themselves. Donna has experience supporting people through loss, life-threatening illness, caregiving strain, and grief related to end-of-life issues. She also addresses depression, mood disorders, addiction concerns, and struggles with self-esteem and intimacy.
Other practical topics she helps with include sleep, anger, career shifts, and parenting stress. Her background includes work in community mental health and teaching in a university social work program. That teaching experience shapes a collaborative stance in sessions - she describes therapy as a shared learning process.
Donna values a straightforward, respectful space where people can try things and reflect on what helps. Sessions aim to be practical and focused on daily life. Donna works with each person to set realistic steps and build skills they can use between meetings.
The tone is supportive and goal-oriented while honoring each person's experience.
Donna lists 7 ways of working on the entry:
What Donna works with
The areas below are the ones Donna selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
Also listed
- Addictions
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Divorce and separation
- Family conflicts
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Parenting issues
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-love
- Sleeping disorders
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
Training and background
| Register | LCSW |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 12 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | Wisconsin |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
How therapeutic approaches work online
Client-Centered Therapy focuses on listening, reflecting, and following the person's goals. Online sessions make it easy to keep that collaborative tone while working on real-life problems and decisions. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at thoughts and behaviors and uses simple exercises to change unhelpful patterns; it often involves homework like tracking moods or testing new behaviors that translate well to remote work. Mindfulness Therapy teaches attention and grounding skills to reduce anxiety and improve sleep, using short practices people can do between sessions.Finding the right approach is part of the process. The therapist will work together with the person to choose methods that match their needs, goals, and preferences. That choice can change over time as progress is made and priorities shift.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video is helpful for deeper conversations and visual cues. Phone sessions use less bandwidth and can fit into a work break. Live chat or text is useful for brief check-ins and ongoing support between meetings. These options offer flexibility so therapy can fit a busy life and different comfort levels.
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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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