Kari Perez
Compassionate, practical support for real-life change
MD, LCPC Maryland
- Experience
- 10 years in practice
- Focus areas
- Stress, Anxiety, Addictions, Anger
- Approaches
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Client-Centered Therapy
- Languages
- English
About Kari
Kari Perez is a licensed clinical professional counselor (MD, LCPC) practicing in Maryland who combines evidence-based techniques with a client-centered stance to help people facing a variety of life challenges.
Background and approach
With a decade of experience and early training that included a master’s degree in counseling psychology, she draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy among other methods to address symptoms of anxiety, depression, stress, low self-esteem, and addiction. Her background includes several years working in a long-term residential setting with adults who experienced co-occurring substance use and mental health conditions.
In both virtual and in-person outpatient work, Kari has supported children, teens, and adults with skill-building, motivation, and emotion regulation. She adapts a multi-modal approach that blends DBT, mindfulness, motivational interviewing, and solution-focused techniques to suit each person’s needs while maintaining the belief that clients are the experts on their own lives.
She partners with clients to set practical goals and develop strategies for coping with grief, relationship and family concerns, body image, parenting challenges, and life transitions. Kari’s practice emphasizes collaborative care and helping clients move toward the values and functioning they want to reclaim.
Therapeutic approaches and online care that adapt to your needs
Kari commonly uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people identify patterns of thinking and behavior that contribute to anxiety, depression, or difficulties with motivation, and then practices concrete skills to shift those patterns. She also integrates Client-Centered Therapy, which emphasizes listening, empathy, and collaboration so the client’s perspective guides the work and goals are developed together. When appropriate, elements of Dialectical Behavior Therapy are introduced to build emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness skills for managing overwhelming feelings.Choosing the right approach is part of the therapeutic process, and Kari treats that as a collaborative exploration. She will work with each person to consider their symptoms, priorities, and preferences, and then combine strategies from these approaches to form a tailored plan aimed at realistic, measurable goals.
Online therapy offers flexibility through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging, making it easier to fit sessions into busy schedules and to continue work between meetings. These formats allow licensed professionals to deliver skill-focused, goal-oriented care from different locations while maintaining regular contact and progress toward identified objectives.
Frequently asked questions
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Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Also works with
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
10+ years
Licensed
Maryland
Languages
English