Catherine Elzie, LCSW

Catherine Elzie is a licensed clinical social worker who helps people facing trauma, depression, bipolar disorder, relationship struggles, and LGBT concerns. She brings 15 years of clinical mental health experience and additional background in substance abuse work to sessions. Catherine practices from Oregon and speaks English.

Her style is collaborative and direct. She treats people as the experts on their own lives and invites them into joint problem solving. She aims to be warm and nonjudgmental, and she sometimes uses humor when it feels right. Catherine describes herself as body positive and LGBTQ+ affirming.

In sessions she focuses on concrete skills and personal values. She mixes practical strategies with work on patterns that keep people stuck. That can mean learning new coping tools, changing thoughts that fuel distress, or practicing ways to handle painful memories and emotions.

Catherine draws on approaches such as acceptance and commitment work, cognitive behavioral techniques, dialectical behavior strategies, mindfulness, and motivational interviewing. She helps people apply these methods to everyday problems like communication breakdowns, coping with chronic illness or pain, and handling workplace or service-related stress.

Her background includes a Master of Social Work and a long record of working with trauma, veteran issues, and mood disorders. People who want a clinician who blends practical skills with openness about identity and body experience may find her style a good match.

How her approaches translate to online therapy

Catherine uses methods such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Dialectical Behavior Therapy to shape online work. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) focuses on clarifying what matters to a person and taking small actions toward those values while learning to live with uncomfortable thoughts and feelings. It can help with mood disorders, life purpose questions, and long-term stress.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) emphasizes skills for emotion regulation, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness, and mindfulness. It is often useful for intense emotions, relationship conflicts, and managing self-directed distress. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps people identify and change thought patterns that contribute to depression or anxiety and can pair well with the other approaches.

Choosing the right approach is part of the work together. The therapist will talk with each person about goals, preferences, and what has or hasn’t helped before, then tailor strategies to match those needs in a collaborative way.

Confirm the current session options before booking, since formats are not specified here. Online therapy can make it easier to fit appointments into a workday, reduce travel time, or choose a shorter check-in when time is tight. It also lets people use therapies that emphasize skill practice and homework in ways that fit daily life.