Desireah Riley, LPC, LMHC

Desireah Riley is a licensed professional counselor who focuses on helping people through relationship struggles, grief, addiction, and self-esteem concerns. She holds LPC and LMHC credentials and brings four years of clinical experience to her work in Texas. Her approach centers on meeting each person where they are and supporting practical steps toward change.

She uses client-centered principles to make space for the person's own goals and values. That means listening closely, reflecting what matters, and building a plan together rather than telling someone what to do. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) tools are used to teach skills for managing difficult thoughts, moods, and behaviors.

Desireah also draws on relationship-focused methods such as the Gottman Method and solution-focused strategies when people want clearer communication or faster ways to move past conflict. She helps people work through attachment concerns, blended family challenges, and codependency by practicing new ways to relate and set boundaries. Practical exercises and short-term goals are common parts of sessions.

Her work addresses a wide range of issues including drug and alcohol addiction, caregiver stress, body image, fertility-related stress, and forgiveness work. She pays attention to cultural and gendered experiences that shape how people cope. Sessions aim to increase emotional awareness and build tools clients can use outside of therapy.

People who choose to work with Desireah can expect a warm, straightforward style that balances empathy with concrete strategies. She invites clients to set clear goals and to track progress as they move through transitional life stages such as midlife shifts and relationship changes.

How supportive approaches translate to online therapy

Desireah uses client-centered therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy as core tools. Client-centered therapy focuses on listening, reflecting, and helping people identify their own goals, which works well in conversations that move at the client’s pace. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy targets unhelpful thoughts and behaviors with practical exercises and homework that can be done between sessions.

She also uses elements of Dialectical Behavior Therapy when emotional regulation or distress tolerance skills are needed. DBT teaches specific coping skills for overwhelming feelings and helps people practice new ways of responding to stress. Together these approaches give both understanding and clear steps to try.

Finding the right approach is part of the process. The therapist will collaborate with each person to choose methods that match their needs, goals, and preferences. That might mean emphasizing skills practice, focusing on relationship communication, or working through grief at a slower pace.

Confirm current session options before booking because specific online formats are not listed here. Online therapy can make it easier to fit appointments around work, caregiving, or travel and lets people continue work between sessions through digital homework and skill check-ins. Licensed professionals can adapt their tools to an online setting so people can keep making progress even when meeting remotely.