Wendy Goffena, LCSW

Wendy Goffena is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with nine years of clinical therapy experience and a total of 24 years working in mental health services. She works in a community mental health center in central Montana, supporting a broad age range of adults from 18 to 90. Her practice serves military veterans, people needing extra support with common mental health concerns, individuals with severe mental illness and disability, and court mandated clients.

Wendy provides individual and family therapy for depression, anxiety, PTSD, trauma and abuse, complex grief and loss, anger management, and interpersonal challenges that affect home, family, and work life. Her caseload reflects a range of needs, and she draws on experience across multiple treatment settings to tailor care to each person. Her clinical background includes five years in a rural Montana county mental health center, two years in medical social work supporting patients with advanced chronic kidney failure, 16 years in an inpatient residential treatment program for emotionally disturbed youth, three years working with adolescent girls in a Department of Justice correctional setting, one year in child protective services, and four years providing case management and services for partial and intensive outpatient day treatment in an alternative school.

A Montana native raised in a farming and ranching family, Wendy earned an undergraduate degree in elementary education from Montana State University in Billings and taught in small communities for seven years before returning to graduate school. She graduated with honors in 2015 with a Master of Social Work from Walla Walla University Billings satellite campus and completed licensure requirements to hold her LCSW. Her therapeutic stance is client-centered - she emphasizes that clients are the experts on their lives and collaborates with them to set direction and depth of treatment. Using a strengths-based perspective and motivational interviewing, she integrates multiple approaches including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) to build skills, increase psychological flexibility, and process trauma.

Wendy aims to help people move toward greater joy and more effective coping with life stressors. Outside of clinical work she enjoys Montana's outdoors - hiking, fishing, camping, exploring historical sites, rock-hounding, and gardening - and is an avid artist.

Therapeutic approaches and online care that fit your life

Wendy uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help people accept difficult thoughts and feelings while clarifying personal values and taking committed action toward a more meaningful life. ACT can be useful for stress, anxiety, and coping with life changes by increasing psychological flexibility.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is another core approach she uses to help clients notice and change unhelpful patterns of thinking and behaving. CBT is practical and skill-focused, often used for depression, anxiety, sleep difficulties, and mood regulation.

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is offered for clients who need targeted work on traumatic memories and how those memories affect daily functioning and relationships. EMDR provides structured tools for processing past events that continue to cause distress.

Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. Wendy works with each person to identify goals, preferences, and the best combination of methods to support progress, adjusting the plan over time as needs evolve.

Online therapy with Wendy is available via video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging, offering flexibility for different schedules and comfort levels. These options make it easier to access care from home, while still engaging in the same therapeutic approaches and skill work used in traditional sessions.