Mary Beth Ritchie, LCSW

Mary Beth Ritchie is a licensed clinical social worker with two decades of experience. She frames therapy as a partnership and aims to help people reduce stress and anxiety, improve relationships, and meet life goals. She describes herself as nonjudgmental, compassionate, and genuine, and adapts her approach to each person she sees.

Mary Beth has been a licensed therapist since 1994 and draws on many methods to match a person's needs. She often blends acceptance and mindfulness ideas with practical cognitive and behavioral steps. Her background includes work with trauma, grief, mood challenges, and concerns about identity and intimacy.

She uses both live sessions and a lot of asynchronous messaging. Asynchronous messaging lets the client and therapist take time to reflect between notes, which Mary Beth finds useful for processing thoughts and feelings. She will discuss how these modes can fit into a person's life and goals.

In sessions she listens for what matters most to a person and focuses on small, doable changes. Conversations can include skills practice, values work, or problem-solving depending on the situation. Her style aims to be direct but warm, and she adjusts pace based on what the person needs.

Mary Beth works from Oklahoma and communicates in English. She welcomes people from other places as well and encourages anyone curious to try the short matching questionnaire and schedule a first session to see if it feels like a good fit.

How her methods translate to online therapy

Mary Beth frequently combines Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in her online work. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice inner experiences, clarify what matters to them, and take small steps toward meaningful goals. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying unhelpful thinking patterns and testing practical behavior changes to reduce distress.

She treats the choice of approach as a collaboration. During early conversations she and the client talk about goals, preferences, and what feels doable. Together they try methods and adjust the plan if something does not fit the person’s needs.

Mary Beth uses both live sessions and asynchronous messaging, and she emphasizes how these options can fit into everyday life. Asynchronous messaging allows time to reflect between exchanges and can make it easier to share thoughts outside scheduled appointments. If you want a mix of live conversation and message-based work, confirm the current session options before booking. The focus is on making therapy fit routines, reduce barriers to checking in, and support steady progress rather than promising a specific outcome.