Samantha Whelan, LPC

Samantha Whelan is an LPC - a Licensed Professional Counselor - based in Oklahoma with 14 years of clinical experience. She combines professional training with lived experience as a parent to offer grounded, practical support for people facing personal, family, and relational challenges.

After spending much of her early career focused on addiction and mental health treatment, she cultivated the ability to offer accurate empathy and calm guidance when situations feel overwhelming. That work required addressing the many ways addiction touches a person’s life - social, emotional, spiritual, physical, legal, familial, and financial - and helped her develop a broad, integrative approach to care.

Samantha’s time away from practice to raise her two children included ongoing continuing education and gave her additional insight into the daily struggles families experience. She views her role as both supportive and practical, offering feedback, skill-building, and tools drawn from years of leading group and individual therapy.

Her therapeutic approach is rooted in cognitive behavioral techniques, behavioral theory, motivational interviewing, and client-centered therapy, which together create a collaborative environment for change. Samantha also draws on her own experience of having sought counseling to better understand what it feels like to be on the other side of the room. She believes change happens along a continuum and works with each person to identify realistic steps toward their goals, keeping the client’s agenda at the forefront of the work.

Therapeutic Approaches and Online Care with Samantha Whelan

Samantha often integrates cognitive behavioral therapy and client-centered strategies into her online work. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying and changing unhelpful thoughts and behaviors, which can be effective for anxiety, depression, and coping with life changes. Client-centered therapy emphasizes empathy and collaboration, helping people feel heard while they explore their goals and values.

She also uses motivational interviewing to help people move through ambivalence about change by exploring personal motivation and strengthening commitment to realistic steps forward. These approaches are selected to match the needs of the individual and can be used together to address issues such as addiction, relationship concerns, stress, and mood disorders.

Finding the right approach is part of the work and Samantha treats that as a collaborative process. She will partner with each person to determine which strategies fit their goals, preferences, and pace of change, adjusting the plan as progress unfolds.

Online therapy with Samantha is available via video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging, offering flexible options to fit different schedules and comfort levels. This range of formats helps make therapy accessible for people balancing family, work, and other responsibilities while receiving consistent professional support from a licensed professional.