Practitioner record · Checked 9 Oct 2026

Cynthia Mickel has been in practice 20 years and is licensed in Texas. Cynthia lists stress, Anxiety, addictions and trauma and abuse among 49 subjects on the BetterHelp roster.

Everything below is either quoted from Cynthia's own BetterHelp listing, taken from public licensing records, or written by Maker Therapy and labelled as such. Nothing here is an availability promise, a review, or a rating.

20years in practice
49subjects listed
11approaches listed

01 · Who Cynthia works with

Cynthia works with stress, Anxiety, addictions and trauma and abuse

Cynthia lists 12 specialisms and 37 further focus areas. Specialisms are the subjects Cynthia chose to list first, which is the closest a listing gets to “this is my actual practice”.

Specialisms
  • Stress, Anxiety
  • Addictions
  • Trauma and abuse
  • Grief
  • Self esteem
  • LGBT
  • Intimacy-related issues
  • Parenting issues
  • Anger management
  • Bipolar disorder
  • Depression
  • Coping with life changes
Also experienced with
  • Abandonment
  • Attachment issues
  • Blended family issues
  • Body image
  • Co-morbidity
  • Codependency
  • Commitment issues
  • Communication problems
  • Control issues
  • Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
  • Dependent personality
  • Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
  • Domestic violence
  • Drug and alcohol addiction
  • Emptiness
  • Family of origin issues
  • Family problems
  • Forgiveness
  • Guilt and shame
  • Impulsivity
  • Isolation / loneliness
  • Life purpose
  • Mood disorders
  • Multicultural concerns
  • Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
  • Panic disorder and panic attacks
  • Personality disorders
  • Phobias
  • Post-traumatic stress
  • Prejudice and discrimination
  • Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
  • Self-harm
  • Self-love
  • Sexual assault and abuse
  • Social anxiety and phobia
  • Women's issues
  • Young adult issues

02 · In Cynthia's own words

What Cynthia says about the work

Reproduced in full and unedited - not summarised, not tightened, not rewritten in a house voice.

I am Leeann Mickel, I have a masters degree in educational psychology with an emphasis on community counseling. I have my LPC, licensed professional counselor Masters level. I also have an LC DC licensed chemical dependency counselor. I have worked 20 + years in the field of service. I have had great success with clients who have experienced significant trauma. I have been Clinical Supervisor for a substance abuse residential setting. I am currently Clinical Director for the agency with whom I am employed at this time. I believe it to be my mission helping and serving. My approach is client centered we start where you are. I am very laid-back and personable, I have forever been told how easy it is to talk to me, even prior to my chosen career! That’s a plus when you’re a therapist! I have some clients who simply need an ear and guidance. Others are eager to get to the cause of what prompted them to reach out. Either is great. I understand that some people need to vent and receive professional advice. I tell all of my clients you have inside you now everything you need to heal and progress. My job is to guide you on the journey in this process of self discovery and healing. I also tell my clients that I will work just as hard as you in doing this, but I will never work harder. This would cause more harm by handicapping them if others around never allow my clients to learn through experience, and rob my client of demonstrating to themselves the opportunity to see how capable they actually are. I have worked with many populations: adolescents, adults with variety of disorders/conditions. Such as mental health diagnosis like depression, bi polar, anxiety, and PTSD. For the last six years I have led our adolescent program. I'm very familiar with self harming behaviors, and have a knack of being able to reach them and slowly process into self love. I also have extensive experience with grief which may look different and feel different among different clients. Even those who believe that have mourned and grieved, but truly have not. I look forward to working with you and helping you along your specific path. My schedule is very flexible, as a I only work from home, virtually/remote. During therapy it will be common to give 'experiments' following a session. The purpose for this is taking from our sessions and applying what you learn to your 'real life' outside of one session weekly for an hour.

Cynthia Mickel, on the BetterHelp listing · read 9 Oct 2026

03 · How Cynthia works

The 11 approaches Cynthia lists, in plain English

These are the clinical methods Cynthia lists. The descriptions are Maker Therapy's, not Cynthia's - a general explanation of what each method is, so the list means something before you have spoken to anybody. They are not a claim about how Cynthia runs a session.

Acceptance and Commitment TherapyACT
Rather than trying to argue a painful thought away, ACT works on loosening its grip and getting on with what matters to you anyway. Sessions spend real time naming your values, then building action around them while difficult feelings are still present.
Client-Centred TherapyPerson-centred · Rogerian
The therapist does not steer toward a technique or a diagnosis. They offer sustained, non-judgemental attention and reflect back what they hear, on the premise that people find their own direction when they are genuinely listened to. Often what people mean by “someone who just gets it”.
Cognitive Behavioural TherapyCBT
Structured, present-focused work on the loop between what you think, how you feel and what you then do. Usually means noticing a thought pattern in the room, testing it against evidence, and practising something different between sessions. Among the most heavily researched talking therapies for depression and anxiety.
Dialectical Behaviour TherapyDBT
A structured skills-led adaptation of CBT built around holding two things at once: accepting yourself as you are and working to change. Teaches concrete skills for distress tolerance, emotion regulation and relationships. Developed for people whose feelings arrive at overwhelming intensity, and strongest-evidenced there.
Emotionally Focused TherapyEFT
Built for couples and rooted in attachment: the recurring argument is treated as a cycle two people are stuck in rather than as one person's fault. Sessions work to interrupt the cycle and get to what each person is actually asking for underneath it.
Mindfulness-Based TherapyMBCT
Trains attention on what is happening right now - body, breath, the thought as it arrives - so distress can be observed rather than automatically acted on. Strongest evidence is in preventing depression from recurring, and it is usually taught as a practice you keep doing outside the session.
Motivational InterviewingMI
A way of talking about change with somebody who is genuinely in two minds about it. The therapist does not argue for the change; they help you say your own reasons out loud, which is the part that predicts whether it happens. Common around substance use and health behaviour.
Narrative Therapy
Treats the story you tell about your life as something that can be examined and retold rather than as the plain facts. Separates the person from the problem - “the anxiety” rather than “your anxiety” - to make room for the parts the current story leaves out.
Psychodynamic Therapy
Works on the assumption that current patterns - in relationships, at work, in how you treat yourself - have a history, and that seeing the history loosens the pattern. Less structured than CBT, usually longer, and more interested in what comes up unbidden than in a weekly agenda.
Solution-Focused Brief TherapySFBT
Starts from where you want to end up rather than from how you got here. Sessions look for the times the problem is already smaller and work out what is different about those, so the number of sessions tends to be short and the work concrete.
Trauma-Focused TherapyTF-CBT · trauma-informed
CBT adapted for people whose difficulty is rooted in a frightening or overwhelming event. Pacing is the point: safety and stabilisation come first, the memory itself is approached gradually and only when you are ready, and the aim is that recalling it stops hijacking the present.

04 · What happens next

From this page to a first session

Cynthia practises through BetterHelp, so the route in is BetterHelp's. This is that sequence, written by Maker Therapy from the platform's published process - not a description of Cynthia's own practice, and not a promise about how quickly anything happens.

  1. A questionnaire, not a booking form

    BetterHelp opens with a set of questions about what you are dealing with, what you want from therapy, and any preferences on the therapist. You are not booking Cynthia at this point.

  2. Naming Cynthia specifically

    BetterHelp matches algorithmically by default, so asking for Cynthia is a step you have to take. There is a field for requesting a specific therapist during sign-up, and you can switch afterwards from your account. Starting from a link on this page does not by itself assign you to Cynthia.

  3. If the caseload is full

    You will be offered somebody else rather than put on a waitlist. Worth knowing, because it is easy to assume a match is the person you asked for.

  4. The first conversation

    A first session is typically history and orientation: what brought you, what has been tried, what you want to be different. It is also where the questions in the next section belong.

  5. If the fit is wrong

    Changing therapist on BetterHelp does not need a reason. A first session that does not click is common and is not a verdict on therapy. That option existing is the main practical difference between a platform and a private practice.

05 · Before you commit

4 questions worth asking Cynthia

Built from what Cynthia actually lists, so they are answerable and specific rather than generic. Maker Therapy's, not Cynthia's - Cynthia has not seen them and is under no obligation to answer any of them.

  • “You list both Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Client-Centred Therapy. Which do you lean on with someone like me?”

    Those two point in different directions - one structured and led by the therapist, the other led by you. The answer tells you what the sessions will actually feel like.

  • “How do you decide when someone is ready to work on a traumatic memory itself?”

    Pacing is the biggest safety question in trauma work. A clear, unhurried answer here matters more than any credential.

  • “With 20 years in, what has changed most in how you work?”

    Long experience is only an advantage if it has been examined. This tends to surface whether it has.

  • “How do you handle the gap between sessions if something comes up?”

    On BetterHelp this varies a great deal by therapist. Better to know the rhythm now than to discover it on a bad week.

06 · Practical details

Credentials and licensing

Credential
LPC
Licensed in
Texas
Licence
TX LPC 77725, OR LPC C6786
Licence number
77725
Licence expires
31 Aug 2028
NPI
1093046344
Years in practice
20
Gender
Female
Languages
English
International clients
Accepted
Listed since
9 Jun 2026

07 · Provenance

Where every line on this page came from

Cynthia's name, credential, state, subjects, approaches and biography are read from BetterHelp's therapist roster, which Maker Therapy re-reads once a day; this page reflects the reading taken on 9 Oct 2026. The licence number and NPI are cross-checked against public registers.

The plain-English method descriptions, the first-session walkthrough and the questions are written by Maker Therapy and labelled as such wherever they appear.

Maker Therapy is not BetterHelp, does not take bookings, and has not met Cynthia. There are no reviews or ratings on this page because we have no way to verify one. If you start therapy through a link here, we may be paid a commission - it does not change your price and it does not affect who appears here or in what order.

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