About Willow
Willow Wakeley-Smith is a licensed clinical social worker who focuses on stress, anxiety, parenting concerns, mood disorders, and ADHD. She uses a straightforward, compassionate style to help people make practical changes that improve daily life. Willow aims to create a plan tailored to each person's needs and goals.
Willow brings five years of clinical experience working with adults alongside over a decade of broader professional work in educational settings. That background gives her familiarity with parenting challenges and with supporting people who manage mood disorders or attention differences.
How Willow works
She speaks plain language and keeps sessions focused on real problems and real steps forward. Her approach blends client-centered therapy with cognitive behavioral techniques and mindfulness. Sessions often involve identifying patterns that cause stress, testing small behavior changes, and practicing new ways of thinking.
Mindfulness practices are used to help people notice difficult emotions without getting overwhelmed. Willow also draws on motivational interviewing to boost commitment to change and the Gottman Method when relationship skills are a central concern. She works with a wide range of issues including grief, addiction, trauma, sleep problems, self-esteem, and life transitions.
Additional areas of focus include adoption or foster care questions, autism spectrum related concerns, and compulsive behaviors. Willow is licensed in Missouri as an LCSW. Sessions are offered in English and available through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging.
She aims to track progress so people see practical results from the work they do together.
Willow lists 8 ways of working on the entry:
What Willow works with
The areas below are the ones Willow selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Parenting issues
- Bipolar disorder
Also listed
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Antisocial personality
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Family conflicts
- Family problems
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Hoarding
- Impulsivity
- Isolation / loneliness
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Personality disorders
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Young adult issues
Training and background
| Register | LCSW |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 5 |
| Languages | English |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | Missouri |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
How Willow's Approaches Work Online
Willow uses client-centered therapy to place the person's experience at the center of each session, listening closely and shaping conversations around what matters most to the individual. Cognitive behavioral therapy helps people identify unhelpful thoughts and try small behavior experiments to test new ways of coping. Mindfulness therapy teaches simple attention and breathing practices to reduce reactivity and improve focus.Choosing the right approach is a collaborative process. Willow will talk with the person about goals, preferences, and what has or hasn’t helped in the past, then recommend techniques to try together. She adjusts plans as progress is made so the work stays relevant and practical.
Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to make therapy more flexible. Video works well for in-depth conversations and visual cues, while phone sessions can fit a work break or require less bandwidth. Live chat and messaging are useful for short check-ins, written reflections, or when someone prefers not to be on camera. These options make it easier to schedule regular sessions and keep momentum between meetings.
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Common questions
What concerns does Willow commonly address?
What is Willow's therapeutic style?
How much clinical experience does she have?
What are her credentials and where is she located?
Which languages are supported and are international clients accepted?
What session formats are available?
How are costs handled for sessions?
How does someone get started with Willow?
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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