Donna Altepeter

Donna Altepeter is an LCSW who helps people manage grief, stress, anxiety, depression, and major life changes. She presents as warm and straightforward, and she aims to make therapy a practical and hopeful process. Donna emphasizes collaborative work and respects each person's experience and goals.

Donna trained with a concentration in community mental health and has practiced since 1983, bringing long experience with life-threatening illness, bereavement, and loss. She also has a strong background supporting people facing caregiving stress, cancer-related issues, aging and geriatric concerns, and end-of-life choices. Her work includes attention to relationship and intimacy difficulties, trauma and abuse, addiction, and struggles with meaning or life purpose.

Her style blends client-centered care with cognitive behavioral tools, mindfulness practices, motivational interviewing, and narrative approaches. That means sessions often focus on the client's priorities, practical ways to shift unhelpful thinking and behavior, and paying close attention to the stories people tell about their lives. Mindfulness methods are used to help with present-moment coping and emotional regulation.

Donna also brings over two decades of experience teaching in a university social work program, which informs a collaborative, learning-oriented approach. She describes therapy as a partnership where both people learn and change over time. Her goal is to help clients build skills, find clarity, and move forward at their own pace.

People seeking support for bereavement, caregiver strain, end-of-life planning conversations, or mood and anxiety concerns may find her background relevant. Prospective clients are encouraged to start with a short matching process to see if her approach feels like a good fit.

Approaches for online grief and life transition care

Donna uses client-centered work to center the person's goals and priorities in sessions, meeting people where they are and listening closely to what matters most. This approach helps when someone needs a conversational, supportive space to sort feelings and decisions.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is used to identify and change unhelpful thinking and behavior patterns. CBT can be helpful for anxiety, depression, sleep disruption, and coping with change by teaching practical skills to try between sessions.

Mindfulness Therapy supports learning how to notice thoughts and bodily responses without getting swept away by them. It can help reduce rumination, manage stress, and improve emotional balance during bereavement or caregiving strain.

Donna approaches online work as a collaborative process. She will talk with the client about goals, try different methods, and adjust the plan based on what the client finds helpful. Finding the right fit is part of the work together rather than a fixed promise up front.

Session formats are not specified in the provided biography, so please confirm current options before booking. Online sessions can make it easier to fit therapy into a busy day, reduce travel time, allow shorter check-ins when needed, and help people keep continuity of care during major life transitions.