Valerie LaPorte , LICSW

Valerie LaPorte is a Minnesota-licensed clinical social worker with 21 years of professional experience, including more than a decade of direct clinical practice. She holds the LICSW credential, which indicates she is a licensed clinical social worker authorized to provide clinical therapy in Minnesota, and she is approved by the Minnesota Board of Social Work to serve as a clinical and non-clinical licensing supervisor.

Throughout her career she has worked with a broad age range, from young children to older adults, and has supported people facing depression, anxiety, relationship and family challenges, anger management, physical, sexual and emotional abuse, incarceration, and disability-related concerns, among other issues. For much of her professional life she has worked almost exclusively with individuals experiencing serious mental illness, building a lengthy and varied clinical background.

Her therapeutic style is both empathetic and goal-directed, grounded in approachability, attentive listening, and practical problem solving. Valerie emphasizes treating each person with dignity, respect, and compassion while helping them identify and achieve their goals. She blends several theoretical perspectives to meet individual needs, drawing on solution-focused brief therapy, strengths-based techniques, and cognitive behavioral strategies to shape tailored treatment plans that reflect each client’s priorities.

Valerie brings a commitment to empowering people through focused interventions and collaborative planning, aiming to help clients feel heard and supported as they work toward meaningful change.

Therapeutic Approaches and Flexible Online Care

Valerie LaPorte uses a mix of evidence-informed approaches to guide online sessions. Attachment-Based Therapy focuses on how early relationships influence current patterns of relating - it helps clients explore trust, security, and connection in relationships and can be useful for attachment issues, intimacy concerns, and relationship repair. Client-Centered Therapy emphasizes a respectful, nonjudgmental stance in which the therapist follows the client's lead, offering empathy and validation to support self-discovery and personal growth; this approach is often helpful for stress, low self-esteem, and life transitions. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps clients identify and change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors by teaching practical skills for managing anxiety, depression, and mood swings.

Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. Valerie works with clients to assess needs, goals, and preferences and adjusts methods over time so therapy aligns with what each person hopes to achieve. Therapists aim to tailor interventions and select strategies that fit the individual.

Online therapy offers practical flexibility - sessions can be scheduled as video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to suit different lifestyles and needs. This range of options makes it easier for people to maintain consistency in care, access licensed professionals from a distance, and continue work on goals even when in-person visits are not possible.