online Therapy

Online Therapy and Online Counseling

I’m here for you…When you’re experiencing emotional pain and are ready for change, I help you do two things: understand the source of your distress, and learn how to feel better, so that you can live a healthier and happier life.

Personal and Professional Experience

I believe in a world where more of us are healthy and whole, making our way through life’s difficult challenges, and realizing our dreams.

To create such a world, I provide Life Therapy Education in online therapy and counseling sessions nationwide. It’s like

BetterHelp and Talkspace, and other online therapy and counseling services only better. Life Therapy Education is an alternative to traditional psychotherapy and medication therapy. It is the informed and skillful art of attending to, serving, and caring for ourselves as we heal and make our way through life’s most difficult challenges.

Life Therapy Education comes from my formal and continuing education, personal experience, and 30+ years of helping my clients heal and make their way to a better place in life.

I truly love my online counseling and therapy clients and the work we do together. Online therapy and counseling works!

Areas of Online Therapy and Online Counseling Specialties

I help individuals, couples, and families heal and make their way through difficult challenges like the following (Click on the issue of interest to you for more information):

Most Asked Therapy Questions

Online therapy sessions are every bit as effective as in-person. Added benefits include not having to drive to and from a therapist’s office, not being seen going to a therapist’s office, increased privacy, keeping appointments even when you’re out-of-town, and using the electronic device of your choice. 100% of my clients love doing therapy online.
Marriage counseling is the older term and still popular. It assumes that partners are legally married. Couple’s therapy is a more inclusive term and gaining popularity. It acknowledges that many couples are not legally married. It also acknowledges that some partners have non-monogamous or polyamorous relationships.
The Gottman Method has the highest success rate at 75%. It is research-based, emotion-focused, and teaches partners how to manage conflict. Prior to the Gottman Method, the highest success rate was 50%. Unlike other methods, the Gottman Method also includes relapse prevention.
Yes, in therapy you are accepted as you are and can talk openly about what you’re feeling. You gain insight into the causes of your anxiety and learn practical ways to overcome them. Depending on the type and severity of your anxiety, a combination of therapy and medication might be the most effective way to feel better and live a happier life.
Yes, therapy helps you understand what’s causing your depression and anxiety, and learn practical ways to overcome them, so you can feel better and live a healthier and happier life.
Therapy begins with you telling your therapist about your problems so that your therapist can listen and understand without judging you. Your therapist might have you answer some questionnaires to learn more about you and your background. Your therapist is on your side to help you understand the causes of your problems and recommend practical ways to overcome them. The goal is to help you feel better so that you can live a happier and healthier life.

10 Benefits You Receive

As my client, you receive the following 10 benefits:

  1. Professional online therapy and counseling from a well-trained, caring professional with 30+ years of experience caring for clients, and 5+ years of doing therapy online
  2. Timely online appointments with no long waits in a waiting room
  3. A safe, confidential, and easy to use online therapy platform that is HIPAA-compliant and keeps your information secure
  4. Attention to your whole life and circumstances, not just your symptoms
  5. Holistic care as a whole person—body, mind, spirit, and relationships
  6. Comfort, support for healing, and guidance in making your way to a better place in life
  7. Education that validates and helps you better understand the difficulties you face and your ability to respond to them
  8. Life Therapy—an effective, evidence-based holistic alternative to traditional medication therapy and psychotherapy that complements them both
  9. Guidance in making your own decisions about what to do to get to a better place in life
  10. Free telephone support between sessions

Family Care

“How can we begin thanking you for the incredible caring and love you have shown. Sometimes some of the things we had to face and make decisions about were very difficult. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the guidance you have given us. It gave us peace and strength. We knew we were not alone and were making the right choices.”

Therapy and Counseling Specialties

Anxiety, Panic Attacks

According to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, anxiety disorders are the most common mental illness in the U.S., affecting 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18.1% of the population every year.

Research in 2019 estimated that anxiety affects 30% (3 in 10) of adults in the U.S.

Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) and Panic Disorder are the most common anxiety diagnoses.

Depression and anxiety often accompany each other.

The good news is that odds are high that, if you are suffering with anxiety, you can make your way through it to a better place.

In Life Therapy Education, your anxiety is viewed as a symptom instead of a psychological disorder.

As odd as it might sound, anxiety is your friend. It’s an alarm alerting you that you’re not in a safe place and haven’t been for a while. It’s time to make your way to a better place.

Almost all of my clients are dealing with anxiety when they begin working with me. So far, all have gotten to a better place. They got there either by Life Therapy Education practices alone or by a combination of Life Therapy Education and prescription medications.

If you are struggling with anxiety or panic attacks, contact me to learn more or Book a 30-Minute Initial Consult Now. Let’s see how I can help. …Read More
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Education

“Mark, thank you for your presentations. The students are still talking about your presentations and interactions with them. Your experience, expertise, and enthusiasm related to your work was so informative and motivating.”

Spirituality

Dear Mark, thank you for your kindness and spiritual counsel. I’ll never forget you.”

Depression

In any two-week period in the U.S. from 2009-2012, 9.8% of adults aged 40–59 had depression; almost 1 in 10. 7.6% of those 12 and older had depression, almost 1 in 8. (Source: CDC)

Depression is a cluster of symptoms that arise in response to a range of causes including stress due to life events, grief due to the death of a loved one, marital and relationship conflicts, divorce, and other significant changes.

Research suggests that depression doesn’t spring from simply having too much or too little of certain brain chemicals. Rather, there are many possible causes of depression, including faulty mood regulation by the brain, genetic vulnerability, stressful life events, medications, and medical problems. (Source: Harvard School of Medicine, Causes of Depression)

In Life Therapy Education, depression is viewed as a symptom instead of the actual problem. Like anxiety, depression is an alarm alerting you that you’re not in a safe place and haven’t been for a while. It’s time to get to a better place in life.

Research clearly indicates that the combination of prescription medication and talk-therapy is significantly more effective than either one alone.
The Life Therapy Education that I provide is a type of talk therapy. I provide a comfortable, safe, accepting space for you to talk about your struggle with depression. Together we find a way forward to a better place that is customized to you and your unique needs.

: If what you’ve been doing to alleviate depression isn’t working, Contact Me to Learn More or Book a 30-Minute Initial Consult Now. Let’s see how I can help. …Read More
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Divorce

Every 13 seconds, someone, somewhere in the U.S., files for divorce.

66% of divorces are filed by women.

41% of first marriages end in divorce. The average first marriage lasts 8 years.

60% of second and 73% of third marriages end in divorce.

Divorce means that the love you and your spouse once had is gone. Grief is a normal response to that significant loss.

Divorce breaks the promises you made to each other on the day of your wedding.
Divorce changes your life forever.

If you have children, their lives are forever changed too.

Since you have to live with yourself after the divorce, you want to do all you can to prevent divorce and improve your marriage.

If your marriage is broken and beyond repair, divorce is often the best for all involved. It makes it possible for everyone to recover and move forward to a better place in life.

The process of divorce is often easier when both spouses want it. They agree that it’s best for both of them and their children, if they have them.

When one spouse wants to divorce and the other doesn’t, the process is usually more difficult for everyone involved.

Divorce is stressful prior to, during, and after the legal process. It’s emotional, physical, and mental labor whether you want the divorce or not.

Under the stress, your cognitive field of perception narrows, and emotional resiliency diminishes. It’s more difficult to make well-informed decisions.

After a divorce, it’s normal to be disoriented and struggling to answer questions about your identity and purpose in life.

What now? Who are you now? What do you do now?

Talking about what has happened as well as your thoughts and feelings helps you make better-informed decisions. It also makes it possible to either reconcile or end your marriage as amicably as possible.

Contact Me to Learn More or . Book a 30-Minute Initial Consult Now.

Grief

Grief is a normal, natural response to any significant loss, especially the loss of a loved one.

Unfortunately, grieving is more difficult today than it was a couple of generations ago. We no longer have the individual and social skills we need for dealing with grief. We don’t know what to say or do for those who grieve. We often grieve alone in isolation.

Few psychotherapy, behavioral health, and social work degrees require courses and training in grief therapy and counseling.

Training for physicians does not teach them how to care for grieving patients. They often treat grief with prescription medications for depressionanxiety, and insomnia.

Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’s so-called Five Stages were identified over 40 years ago. They were about observations of her patients who were dying in the hospital. They weren’t about those grieving for a loved one who died.

They’ve been misunderstood as a map of sequential steps a grieving person needs to take to grieve correctly.

About 80% of us make our way through grief on our own or with the support of family and friends. About 20% of us experience complicated grief. Half or less of those with complicated grief get grief therapy or counseling.

Complicated grief is grief that complicated by additional factors such as—
• Multiple deaths within the past 12 months
• Family conflicts
• Health concerns, especially a psychological disorder
• Having to move due to the death
• Loss of income

If you are stuck in your grief, avoiding it, and not moving through it, you might be suffering with complicated grief and need the care of a professional who is trained in grief therapy and counseling.

I specialize in grief. I took courses in grief for my master’s degree and many hours of continuing education in grief since then. I have successfully counseled countless numbers of grieving clients, especially during my 10+ years with a nationally awarded hospice organization.

I can help. Contact Me to Learn More or Book a 30-Minute Initial Consult Now.
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Low Self-Worth, Low Self-Esteem

According to research from Dr. Joe Rubino, it is estimated that 85 percent of Americans suffer from low self-esteem. Low self-worth is closely associated with traumadepressionanxietyOCD, paranoid ideation, phobic anxiety, suicidal ideation, and thoughts about death and dying.

It’s often a result of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) such as verbal, physical, and sexual abuse, and emotional and physical neglect. Traumatic experiences as an adult can also cause low self-worth.

The good news is that, with online therapy, you can recover from what caused your low self-worth and regain it. For more information Contact Me to Learn More or Book a 30-Minute Initial Consult Now.

Marriage

“Dear Mark, we really appreciate the time you took to talk with us. Your input has ‘stuck’ with me. Your kindness and support have helped make a difficult time a little easier.”

Marriage, Couples, Relationship Therapy

It’s normal for couples to have conflicts. Some conflicts are more likely to break relationships than others. I teach my clients the 8 Red Flags of Relationships that can break a marriage or relationship:

1. Family members or In-laws: Unsupportive family members or in-laws can undermine a relationship.

2. Faith/Philosophy: Differences in faith/philosophy can end a relationship. Religious observances and holidays can be especially challenging.

3. Sexuality: Differences in sex drive and preferences, as well as infidelity, can break a relationship.

4. Finances: Financial struggles and differences in financial priorities and goals can end a relationship

5. Relationships with children: Disagreements about how to raise children or relate to each other’s children, can break a relationship.

6. Use of alcohol/other substances: Use or abuse of alcohol and other substances can damage a relationship beyond repair.

7. Chronic, life-limiting disease or injury: The physical, emotional, medical, and financial challenges of chronic, life-limiting disease or injury can end a relationship.

8. Communication: Failure to communicate openly and honestly, blaming, placating, computer-speak, distracting, lying, and keeping secrets can damage a relationship beyond repair.

If you have conflicts in one or more of the 8 Red Flags, your relationship is at risk. If your communication as a couple is poor, your relationship is at serious risk of coming to an end.
The quality of your communication is the quality of your relationship.

When you have good communication as a couple, it’s possible to make your way through the other conflicts. When communication shuts down, you have no way to resolve your conflicts. If you have one or more of the 8 Red Flags fluttering in your relationship, let’s talk. I can help. I’m trained in the highly effective Gottman Method of Couples TherapyRead more … Book a 30-Minute Initial Consult Now.”
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OCD

I like to call them Thought Assaults. They are a type of anxiety (add link to anxiety) in which we experience, sudden, unwanted, invasive thoughts that happen to us. We cannot will them to stop. They make it difficult to concentrate on one thing, remember what we did, problem solve, and make decisions. Sometimes they’re so intense our mind goes blank. When they strike, they urge us to engage in behaviors to relieve the anxiety they stir up. We check and recheck things to make sure we did them.

About 2% of Americans experience OCD, that’s almost 7 million individuals.
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) such as verbal, physical, and sexual abuse, and emotional and physical neglect often produce Thought Assaults. Traumatic experiences as an adult can also cause them.

With online therapy, you can learn how to manage and overcome these experiences. Contact Me to Learn More  or Book a 30-Minute Initial Consult Now.
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Pre-marital Counseling

Getting married is life-changing. I offer pre-marital preparation, not to determine if you’re marrying the right person or not, but to help you—

• Better understand each other
• Become aware of the 8 Red Flags of Relationships
• Know what to do when one of the Red Flags waves in your relationship
• Learn basic healthy communication skills
• Set yourselves up for making a happy marriage together

I can help. I’m trained in the highly effective Gottman Method of Couples TherapyRead more … Contact me to Learn More or Book a 30-Minute Initial Consult Now.
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Sexuality

In Life Therapy, healthy and life-affirming sexual activity is viewed in a positive, appreciative way. It’s a normal, natural part of life and a source of great pleasure.

Life Therapy supports clients in enjoying healthy sexual activities that are safe, sane, and consensual for all involved.

Life Therapy also recognizes that sexuality is often an area of extreme distress due to abuse, shaming, negative views, and other serious problems. Sexual problems are one of 8 Red Flags of Relationships and are frequent causes of relationship problems and breakups.

Contact Me to Learn More More or Book a FREE 30-minute Online Therapy Consult Today if you have any concerns about the following or other sexual issues:

• Sexual shame, fears, and insecurities
• Gender, sexual identity, or sexual orientation
• Sexual abuse
• Degrees of sexual desire, either high or low
• Changes in sexual desire, either a loss or gain
• Sexual and emotional intimacy
• Sexual differences and incompatibilities
• Sexual performance
• Male sexual issues
• Female sexual issues

I care for—

• Clients of all religious faiths, philosophies, and moralities
• Individuals, couples, and those in polyamorous relationships
• Heterosexual couples in traditional marriages as well as couples in nontraditional relationships.
• I’m a listed LGBTQ Ally, Kink Aware Professional, and Poly-friendly Professional

Contact Me to Learn More or Book a 30-Minute Initial Consult Now.
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Stress

“You were a “calm in the storm” that truly helped me through.”

Stress

The American Psychological Association reports that—

• 77% of adults in the U.S. regularly experience physical symptoms caused by stress

• 73% regularly experience psychological symptoms due to stress

The most common definition of stress is, “physical, mental, or emotional strain or tension”. Another popular definition of stress is, “a condition or feeling experienced when a person perceives that demands exceed the personal and social resources the individual is able to mobilize.” www.stress.org.

“Stress” usually refers to “distress” rather than “eustress.” Eustress is beneficial stress.

With me as your Life Therapist, you learn about three distressing Stress Response Cycles: cumulative, chronic, and traumatic. You learn how to identify, manage, and resolve them.

If stress is diminishing the quality of your life, straining your relationships, driving anxiety, panic attacks, depression, or physical symptoms, let’s talk.

Contact Me to Learn More or Book a 30-Minute Initial Consult Now. I can help you make your way to a less stressful, better place in life.
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Trauma/PTSD

Traumas are sudden or repeated life-threatening experiences that we experience directly or witness happening to someone else. Examples of traumas include physical and sexual assaults, Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), sudden deaths, vehicle accidents, break-ins, fires, natural disasters, crime scenes, and battle experiences.

Such experiences are emotionally and mentally wounding. After the initial trauma, current events that are like the original experience(s) often trigger our emotionally-charged, unresolved memories of the original trauma. When this happens our response to the current triggering experience is usually big and out of proportion to what’s currently happening.

Sometimes the memory is so intense that we relive it in our waking life or in nightmares while we sleep. At other times, intense emotional responses are triggered without a clear memory of the original trauma.

60% of adults in the U.S. report having traumatic experiences during their first 18 years. 26% percent of children in the U.S. experience trauma before they are 4 years old.

Trauma is often the underlying cause of depression, multiple types of anxiety, OCD, nightmares, low self-worth, employment problems, and troubled relationships.

Contact Me to Learn More or Book a FREE 30-minute Online Therapy Consult Today.
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Books


If you’re interested in reading about the theory that informs Life Therapy Educator, please read my first book, Re-Visioning Spirit available at Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Re-Visioning Spirit

Your Little of Spiritual Knowledge: Wonder of wonders! Mystery of mysteries! You are alive rather than not! Let the profound mystery of this mere fact sink in: You. Are. Alive! You aren’t just rare. Like a meteor, you happen once. You are a unique, once-in-forever, here-and-gone human being of inestimable worth. And you are not alone. You. Are. Alive. With Others! Never again take your life or anyone else’s for granted—human or otherwise. Never again take your relationships for granted. Now wonder about this: What makes you and others alive? God? A chemical process? Something else? This little book explores a new holistic answer to that question. It explores “small ‘s’ spirit.”
therapy and Counseling

Affirmations of Life
Whether you’re struggling to live, living your life to the max, or somewhere in between, this book is for you. It’s a series of short and simple affirmations: words that encourage and empower you to live well. When you practice saying these words to yourself and others, you do much more than just say them. You empower both yourself and others to, live healthier lives, fulfill the life-affirming desires of your hearts and realize your dreams. You transform the world. These affirmations, formed in the womb of therapy sessions and written by the originator of Life Therapy, Mark W. Neville, have proven themselves to be healing and empowering words in the lives of countless clients.
therapy and Counseling

Your Life An Ownes Manual
Wouldn’t it be great to have an owner’s manual for your life? That’s what this book is. In this owner’s manual, you learn about your life: what it is, its purpose, how to take good care of it, make the most of it, and fulfill it. You also learn how to troubleshoot and who to contact for support when you need help. Like any other owner’s manual, you might read it cover to cover or just stick it somewhere and read sections when you need to. Either way, it good to have close by.
therapy and Counseling

Life Therapy and Counseling
This book, the fifth in the Your Spirit, Your Life Series, is for Earthlings. It’s thirty-six spiritual sayings about earthy living. We Earthlings are human beings living human lives. We’re indigenous to Earth. We’re from here, not visitors from a higher, spiritual realm. We aren’t just passing through, on our way to our true home, up there somewhere. Earth is our true home. We’re born, live and die here. This book is about how we live and realize our dreams here.
therapy and Counseling

I’ve made my way through many of life’s difficult challenges myself.I am here to help you and others through life’s difficult challenges so that you may realize and share the life-affirming desires of your heart.

Mark W. Neville, MDiv

Life Therapy Educator, Author, Educator

Subscribe to Your Spirit, Your Life

What Clients Say

Individual Care

“You were a “calm in the storm” that truly helped me through.”

Couple Care

“Mark, thank you for the gift of your spirit, words, and presence.”

Stress

“Mark, thank you! I appreciate your encouragement of my movement in creating a living space for myself and the realization of my dreams in my new life experiences after Katrina.”

Loss of Identity, Purpose

“Dear Mark, you started the wheels rolling which was just what I wanted- a catalyst so to speak to help me on to discovery.”

Career Decisions

“Thank you for sharing your insights into spiritual care. You provided exactly the guidance I needed at this stage of my journey to help form a clearer picture of my academic direction.”

Pre-marital Counseling

“Mark, thank you for the gift of your spirit, words, and presence.”

Caregiver Stress

“How can we begin thanking you for the incredible caring and love you have shown. Sometimes some of the things we had to face and make decisions about were very difficult. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the guidance you have given us. It gave us peace and strength. We knew we were not alone and were making the right choices.”

Grief

“Dear Mark, I cannot describe the comfort it has given me to know that my mom ‘connected’ with you and was able to process some of her history. It was not easy for her to do this.”

Grief

“Thank you for the spiritual blessing you offered my dad in his last days on earth.”