Practitioner record · Checked 9 Oct 2026

Tamara Spears has been in practice 25 years and is licensed in Michigan. Tamara lists stress, Anxiety, self esteem and career difficulties among 45 subjects on the BetterHelp roster.

Everything below is either quoted from Tamara'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.

25years in practice
45subjects listed
13approaches listed

01 · Who Tamara works with

Tamara works with stress, Anxiety, self esteem and career difficulties

Tamara lists 20 specialisms and 25 further focus areas. Specialisms are the subjects Tamara chose to list first, which is the closest a listing gets to “this is my actual practice”.

Specialisms
  • Stress, Anxiety
  • Self esteem
  • Career difficulties
  • Depression
  • ADHD
  • Addictions
  • LGBT
  • Relationship issues
  • Family conflicts
  • Trauma and abuse
  • Grief
  • Intimacy-related issues
  • Eating disorders
  • Sleeping disorders
  • Parenting issues
  • Anger management
  • Bipolar disorder
  • Coping with life changes
  • Coaching
  • Compassion fatigue
Also experienced with
  • Abandonment
  • Attachment issues
  • Body image
  • Caregiver issues and stress
  • Co-morbidity
  • Codependency
  • Communication problems
  • Divorce and separation
  • Forgiveness
  • Guilt and shame
  • Impulsivity
  • Isolation / loneliness
  • Life purpose
  • Money and financial issues
  • Mood disorders
  • Multicultural concerns
  • Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
  • Panic disorder and panic attacks
  • Post-traumatic stress
  • Self-love
  • Sexuality
  • Social anxiety and phobia
  • Women's issues
  • Workplace issues
  • Young adult issues

02 · In Tamara's own words

What Tamara says about the work

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

Greetings and welcome!

I am a 20 year veteran in the field of human services stemming from social services work inpatient and outpatient therapy. I have worked with clients with a wide range of concerns including depression, anxiety, relationship issues, parenting problems, career challenges, OCD and Adult ADHD. I also helped many people who experience anger issues and past trauma or emotional abuse.

My counseling style is person-centered, warm and interactive. I believe in treating anyone I encounter with respect, sensitivity, and compassion, and I don't believe in stigmatizing labels. My approach includes but are not limited to, a combination of solution-focused, supportive, cognitive-behavioral, dialectical behavioral, humanistic, psychodynamic and motivational Interviewing. I will tailor our dialogue and treatment plan to meet your unique and specific needs.

As you take those courageous steps towards change, I will be alongside you to guide, support, motivate, and encourage you towards a more fulfilling and happier life.

I look forward to working with you!

Tamara Spears, on the BetterHelp listing · read 9 Oct 2026

03 · How Tamara works

The 13 approaches Tamara lists, in plain English

These are the clinical methods Tamara lists. The descriptions are Maker Therapy's, not Tamara'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 Tamara 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.
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.
Internal Family SystemsIFS
Treats the mind as made up of parts - the critic, the one who withdraws, the one that keeps everything running - each of which is trying to protect you. The work is getting to know them rather than overruling them.

04 · What happens next

From this page to a first session

Tamara 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 Tamara'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 Tamara at this point.

  2. Naming Tamara specifically

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

  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 Tamara

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

  • “With 25 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
LMSW
Licensed in
Michigan
Licence
MI LMSW 6801085567
Licence number
6801085567
Licence expires
6 Feb 2027
NPI
1053402677
Years in practice
25
Gender
Female
Languages
English
International clients
Not accepted
Listed since
15 May 2026

07 · Provenance

Where every line on this page came from

Tamara'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 Tamara. 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.

Report this listing

If this listing is you and you do not want it here, tell us and it comes down straight away.

The listing disappears as soon as you press this. We only use your email to reply if we need to.

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

Maker Therapy is user-supported - when you start through our links we may earn a commission from BetterHelp at no extra cost to you.