Karen Murphree , LCSW

Karen Murphree is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with 30 years of experience who blends traditional clinical training with holistic, whole-person care. She favors a strength-based approach that looks beyond diagnosis to consider food, sleep, movement, spirituality, and creative expression as part of healing. Her background includes training as an LPN and additional graduate-level coursework in natural and alternative healing, along with a health coaching course that informs her interest in the food-mood-lifestyle connection.

Karen works with adult clients across a wide range of concerns including stress, anxiety, grief, self-esteem and depression, relationship and family issues, trauma and abuse, intimacy-related concerns, caregiver stress, chronic illness and pain, and issues related to gender and sexuality. She integrates expressive tools such as visual imagery, music, art, guided meditation, movement, ritual, aromatherapy, and nutrition with evidence-based practices like DBT and CBT, attachment theory, polyvagal-informed ideas, compassionate inquiry, motivational interviewing, and a hybrid approach that draws from IFS, Brainspotting, EMDR, and FLASH within a strength-based framework.

Known for offering an affirming space for LGBTQIA2S+ people, neurodivergent clients, polyamorous relationships, and kink and alternative sexual cultures, Karen encourages exploration of personal meaning and creative resources to identify limiting beliefs and move toward healing. Outside of clinical work she is drawn to mountains, clear water, gardening, animals and plants, making herbal personal care products, and adapting recipes toward healthier choices. Her practice emphasizes kindness, curiosity, and mutual respect as foundations for therapeutic work.

Therapeutic Approaches Adapted for Online Care

Attachment-Based Therapy focuses on the ways early relationships shape how people connect, regulate emotions, and respond to stress. In online work this approach helps clients explore relational patterns and build more secure ways of relating to self and others.

Client-Centered Therapy emphasizes the client’s own experience and priorities, offering nonjudgmental support so individuals can find their own solutions and strengths. This approach supports self-exploration and empowerment in a collaborative online space.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps people identify unhelpful thoughts and behaviors and practice concrete skills to manage mood and anxiety. Delivered virtually, CBT can include structured exercises, homework, and problem-solving that translate well to video, phone, chat, or messaging formats.

Finding the right approach is part of the therapeutic process. Karen will work collaboratively with each person to determine which methods fit their goals, needs, and preferences, and she adapts techniques over time based on progress and feedback.

Online sessions by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging make therapy more flexible and accessible for busy schedules, caregiving demands, mobility limitations, or geographic distance. Licensed professionals can offer consistent, evidence-informed care through these formats while helping clients integrate skills and supports into everyday life.