Margaret Johnston, LMHC

Margaret Johnston is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) who listens without rushing. She focuses on people dealing with stress, anxiety, trauma, grief, depression, relationship and intimacy challenges, and questions about identity or sexuality. She aims to help clients find clearer direction and fewer moments of overwhelm.

Margaret trained at the University of North Florida, earning a Master of Clinical Psychotherapy in 2013. She also completed a nine-month internship in Clinical Pastoral Education focused on deep listening and spent time in a veterans' talk program, where she practiced hearing people’s stories closely. She brings 11 years of clinical experience to her work.

Her practice emphasizes person-centered care and trauma-supportive work. Sessions center on listening, reflecting feelings back, and identifying unmet emotional needs. She helps clients slowly address past pain and notice how it shows up in everyday life.

She uses practical approaches that help people make meaning, set goals, and plan steps toward a life that feels more purposeful. Cognitive and emotional patterns are examined in straightforward ways to reduce obstacles and increase choices.

Margaret works with people from a range of sexual and gender identities and with those involved in alternative relationship or sexual cultures. She aims to be inclusive, culturally aware, and nonjudgmental while focusing on strengths and forward movement.

How therapeutic approaches guide online care

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice unhelpful thoughts and choose actions that reflect their values. It is useful for anxiety, depression, and situations where people want clearer purpose and direction. Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT) looks at how emotions and attachment needs shape close relationships and helps people name and shift patterns that cause distress. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying thoughts and behaviors that keep problems going and testing small changes to reduce symptoms and improve daily functioning.

Deciding which approach to use is a team effort. The therapist will talk with the client about problems, goals, and preferences, then recommend ways of working together. That plan can change as progress is made and new needs appear.

Because the biography does not specify session formats, confirm the current options before booking. Online therapy can help fit sessions into busy life schedules by reducing travel time and allowing appointments during work breaks or between other commitments. It also makes it easier to keep regular check-ins and to continue momentum between appointments. Licensed professionals often adapt ACT, EFT, and CBT techniques to work well over distance while focusing on practical strategies and emotional clarity.