01 · Who Goldie works with

Goldie works with stress, Anxiety, grief and self esteem

Goldie lists 13 specialisms and 40 further focus areas. Specialisms are the subjects Goldie chose to list first, which is the closest a listing gets to “this is my actual practice”.

02 · In Goldie's own words

What Goldie says about the work

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

Hello. My name is Goldie Marker Oakes, Licensed Professional Counselor, and I look forward to working with you. My professional clinical career began in 2006 providing treatment in the mental health field. My primary therapeutic modality includes a strong but eclectic therapeutic modality that incorporates a strong clinical perspective using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Motivational Enhancement Therapy, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy. If you are comfortable with this approach, I also use a holistic and Christian perspective using Mindfulness and Relaxation Therapy, prayer and scripture. My goal as your therapist is too help you find peace, joy, and happiness in life. My job is to help you learn how to overcome your life events, emotions and experiences that have caused you problems functioning normally, relating to others, or even finding motivation to continue on your life's path. My professional experience with both includes clinical approach with a Christian mindset that includes: • treating clinical concerns such as anxiety, social anxiety, depression, trauma, grief and loss, and other clinical concerns. • relationships • self-image, self-esteem, and efficacy • anger management and self-harm behaviors and impulse control

My therapeutic approach often incorporates homework such as reading Christian literature or specific scripture, journal and self-reflective writing and practice of specific CBT and DBT strategies outside the clinical setting, at home, and in the community, all of which supports your growth and progress. My goal is for your growth to be internal as you move towards defining or redefining your relationship with Christ. This means a great deal of your progress requires your need to periodically evaluate your own progress through self-evaluation and self-reflection, in addition to my own clinical assessments with your progress.

My goal as a counselor is to help you find peace, joy, and happiness in life as you learn to overcome those things in your life that have caused a loss of functioning individually or within the family dynamic. This path is not always an easy one; however, God promises us that we Never have to travel that path alone.

Goldie Oakes, on the BetterHelp listing · read 9 Oct 2026

03 · How Goldie works

The 7 approaches Goldie lists, in plain English

These are the clinical methods Goldie lists. The descriptions are Maker Therapy's, not Goldie'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 Goldie runs a session.

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.

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.

04 · What happens next

From this page to a first session

Goldie 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 Goldie'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 Goldie at this point.

2. Naming Goldie specifically

   BetterHelp matches algorithmically by default, so asking for Goldie 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 Goldie.

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 Goldie

Built from what Goldie actually lists, so they are answerable and specific rather than generic. Maker Therapy's, not Goldie's - Goldie 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 19 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

Virginia

Licence

VA LPC 0701008911

Licence number

0701008911

Licence expires

30 Jun 2027

NPI

1982234993

Years in practice

19

Gender

Female

Languages

English

International clients

Not accepted

Listed since

15 May 2026

07 · Provenance

Where every line on this page came from

Goldie'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 Goldie. 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.

Something on this page wrong or out of date? Report it and it will be checked against the source.