Donna Jeane Pappas

Donna Jeane Pappas is a licensed clinical mental health counselor in North Carolina with 32 years of experience. She focuses on people facing major life changes who feel weighed down or alone. Her style is collaborative and practical, aimed at helping motivated people find clarity and move forward.

Clients often come for help with grief, career shifts, relationship changes, parenting concerns, caregiving stress, and other transitions. She also works with anxiety, depression, stress, ADHD, and issues around intimacy and self-esteem. Her practice pays special attention to challenges tied to serious illness, aging, and end-of-life matters.

Her approach blends counseling and coaching. Sessions emphasize setting clear goals, identifying strengths, and taking manageable steps toward change. Rather than focusing mainly on past events, sessions tend to be forward-looking and action oriented.

The methods she draws on include Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, cognitive behavioral ideas, client-centered listening, motivational interviewing, and narrative techniques. These tools are used to build coping skills, shift unhelpful patterns, and uncover meaning in difficult seasons.

Donna aims to help people cultivate resilience and greater day-to-day satisfaction. She works with clients to develop practical strategies for navigating transitions, coping with loss, and reshaping life roles. If someone wants a thoughtful partner for intentional life design, her practice is presented as a place to begin that work.

How her approaches shape online work

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people clarify their values and take action even when feelings are difficult. It can be useful for coping with life changes, grief, and persistent anxiety by focusing on meaningful steps rather than getting stuck in hard emotions. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors connect, and it offers practical strategies to change patterns that get in the way of daily functioning and mood. Client-Centered Therapy emphasizes being heard and understood; this approach creates a space where goals and priorities come from the client and are explored at the client’s pace.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with each person to choose methods that fit their needs, goals, and preferences. That may mean combining elements from different approaches and adjusting as progress is made.

If you are considering online options, confirm the exact session formats before booking since they are not specified in the biography. Online work can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy week, allow shorter check-ins when time is tight, and reduce travel time for people balancing caregiving, work, or health appointments. Licensed professionals can adapt ACT, CBT, and client-centered techniques effectively in remote sessions, helping clients practice skills, set goals, and track progress between meetings.