Practitioner record · Checked 9 Oct 2026

Margaret Johnston has been in practice 11 years and is licensed in Florida. Margaret lists stress, Anxiety, trauma and abuse and grief among 47 subjects on the BetterHelp roster.

Everything below is either quoted from Margaret'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.

11years in practice
47subjects listed
10approaches listed

01 · Who Margaret works with

Margaret works with stress, Anxiety, trauma and abuse and grief

Margaret lists 12 specialisms and 35 further focus areas. Specialisms are the subjects Margaret chose to list first, which is the closest a listing gets to “this is my actual practice”.

Specialisms
  • Stress, Anxiety
  • Trauma and abuse
  • Grief
  • Depression
  • Coping with life changes
  • LGBT
  • Relationship issues
  • Intimacy-related issues
  • Eating disorders
  • Self esteem
  • Bipolar disorder
  • ADHD
Also experienced with
  • Abandonment
  • BDSM, kink, and alternative sex culture
  • Blended family issues
  • Body image
  • Caregiver issues and stress
  • Communication problems
  • Control issues
  • Divorce and separation
  • Domestic violence
  • Eating and food-related issues
  • Family of origin issues
  • Fertility issues
  • First responder issues
  • Forgiveness
  • Gender dysphoria
  • Guilt and shame
  • Hoarding
  • Impulsivity
  • Infidelity
  • Isolation / loneliness
  • Life purpose
  • Mood disorders
  • Multicultural concerns
  • Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
  • Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
  • Post-traumatic stress
  • Prejudice and discrimination
  • Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
  • Self-love
  • Sexual assault and abuse
  • Sexuality
  • Social anxiety and phobia
  • Traumatic brain injury
  • Women's issues
  • Young adult issues

02 · In Margaret's own words

What Margaret says about the work

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

I am a LMHC therapist, public speaker community organizer, social and environmental activist and have been listening for decades. I received my formal education at University of North Florida as Master of Clinical Psychotherapy, 2013. I also took a 9-month internship under Ed Wilder, in Clinical Pastoral Education, in deep listening. I worked in the Talk program at Wounded Warrior for 8 months- the warriors talked; I listened.

Did you go through trauma? Are you, right now, in a high stress situation? Do you keep losing your patience or your professionalism at the wrong moment and you don’t know why? Do you keep getting in your own way? I use Trauma Supportive Therapy to safely address, as slowly as need be, the pain of the past that keeps coming to trip your defenses at all the wrong moments, in your present. I can be that supporting presence who will help sort it out by listening- really hearing you. Reflect your depth of feelings back to you. Validate what are your unmet emotional needs. I practice the therapy of defining personal meaning, so, together we will facilitate your thinking of your options, planning, purpose, and goals for living a meaningful life without being afraid of tripping over your past or yourself. I practice person centered therapy by meeting you where you are. I strive to be culturally sensitive, non-prejudicial and use strength-based therapy as a jump point, truly believing I am the guide for you, but you are the treasure/wisdom keeper. Of all the reasons people come to therapy: anger, guilt, anxiety, changes, transitions, depression, trauma, jealousy, and “it is just not working anymore”, the extra burden of race and racism is more than just a nuance to be nodded at in therapy. I will view race as central to all the other pieces, when it is central to you. I am inclusive, secular, competent, affirming and non-judgmental. I have worked with people in transition, people who are very much defined, “but things got complicated”, people in the communities of LGBTQA, Polyamory, Kink, non-gendered. Each are safe and welcome here.

Margaret Johnston, on the BetterHelp listing · read 9 Oct 2026

03 · How Margaret works

The 10 approaches Margaret lists, in plain English

These are the clinical methods Margaret lists. The descriptions are Maker Therapy's, not Margaret'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 Margaret 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.
Attachment-Based Therapy
Reads present-day relationship difficulty through the lens of how safety and closeness were learned early on. The therapeutic relationship itself is treated as part of the work, because it is where the pattern tends to show up first.
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.
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

Margaret 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 Margaret'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 Margaret at this point.

  2. Naming Margaret specifically

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

  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

3 questions worth asking Margaret

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

  • “You list both Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Attachment-Based 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.

  • “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
LMHC
Licensed in
Florida
Licence
FL LMHC MH15423
Licence number
MH15423
Licence expires
31 Mar 2027
NPI
1912497306
Years in practice
11
Gender
Female
Languages
English
International clients
Accepted
Listed since
9 Jun 2026

07 · Provenance

Where every line on this page came from

Margaret'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 Margaret. 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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