Therapists for Veterans in Iowa

Meet Mike Arieta, LICSW Hello and welcome. I’m Mike Arieta, a licensed clinical social worker with nearly three decades of experience supporting individuals, couples, families, and teens through life’s most complex challenges. Since 1995, I’ve worked across diverse settings—from foster care and homelessness to adoption and refugee support—and have been practicing clinically since 2011. My therapeutic approach is body-based and trauma-informed. I believe our bodies often speak before our minds can make sense of what we’re feeling. This philosophy guides my work with clients navigating trauma, PTSD, and transitions that require deep emotional resilience. I integrate movement-based and somatic strategies to help clients reconnect with themselves and their communities. Currently, I’m completing my Doctor of Social Work degree at Tulane University, where my research focuses on trauma recovery and evidence-informed practices that foster healing. I also hold advanced training in adoption competence and provide support to foster youth, adoptive families, and caregivers navigating complex systems. Therapy, for me, is a collaborative journey. I’m honored to walk alongside my clients as they reclaim their stories, build strength, and move toward meaningful change. Thank you for taking the time to learn more about my work—I look forward to connecting with you.

I create a space where you can show up—no pretense, no performance—just you. I don’t believe people are broken. The emotions and behaviors we judge ourselves for often started as survival strategies, ways we tried to protect ourselves from pain. Therapy with me is collaborative, candid, and built on trust. It’s not about fixing you—it’s about understanding yourself in a way that finally makes sense. With over 20 years of experience, I specialize in supporting clients through burnout, emotional dysregulation, and major life transitions. Many of the people I work with are high-functioning and deeply committed—to their work, their families, or their values—but feel like something inside is fraying. Therapy with me isn’t about performance. It’s about finding the space to set the armor down, even briefly, and begin asking: What do I actually need? What parts of me have I had to silence to survive? You don’t need to have it all figured out to begin. If you feel stuck, overwhelmed, or disconnected from yourself, therapy can be where you start to lay the armor down and reconnect—with your values, your voice, and what truly matters. Growth isn’t about perfection; it’s about self-acceptance and clarity. Healing happens not through judgment, but through genuine understanding.

As a licensed clinical social worker, I am committed to collecting evidenced based "tools for my toolbox" to aid those grappling with finding the new normal after their world has shifted. I most love helping people find language to describe their losses, often when there has been difficulty finding the words, inspiring people to find hope again, and facilitate the development of a plan to move forward in a way that both honors their experiences and embraces the future. I take an action-oriented, collaborative approach to therapy. I utilize a combination of psycho education, storytelling, and evidenced-based interventions to offer meaningful insight to support clients’ healing. I strongly believe that rock bottom is the foundation upon which we can rebuild our lives. We do regular check-ins to review progress along the way. Our goal is not to change the past, but instead to find some relief from symptoms that impact daily functioning. I will solicit feedback regularly during sessions for takeaways to gauge progress and curate treatment interventions based on what is most engaging and productive for the individual client.

Fully licensed and accepting new clients in NC, WI, and IA. Do you wish you could lessen the effects of emotional pain without having to relive it? Internal Family Sytems is an evidence-based, intrapsychic approach rooted in the multiplicity of mind, based in systems thinking, and a very psycho-spiritual (not religioous) approach. Using art & journal therapy, EFT & relaxation & meditation, we will work together to calm your mind and free parts of you that are frozen in time. I believe each of us have both a unique set of gifts and a world view shaped by past experiences and present circumstances. Let's get together and chat about how to quiet your mind and make your life more fulfilling. As an evidence-based relaxation and meditaiton trainer, I am uniquely qualified to help you learn to cope with grief, anxiety, past trauma, women's issues, and vicarious trauma experienced by veterans and first responders. My approach is eclectic, using interventions from a broad base of solidly-grounded, accepted theoretical orientations, including Cognitive Processing Therapy, an evidence-based, brief modality for resolving PTSD symptoms. I see clcients for anxiety, trauma, life transitions, and women's issues. Through sessions together, I will collaborate with you to assist you in recognizing your individual strengths and strive to empower you with the self-awareness and self-confidence to pursue your dreams. i also practice Internal Family Systems, a means of healing PTSD without having to revisit the event. this is evidence based and rooted in both Attachment Theory and Family Systems Therapy. I take a person-centered, creative, non-judgmental approach to creating a safe space for counseling sessions, allowing you to unburden yourself and share your goals, while helping you to see how your uniquely shaded lenses of experience have color your perceptions.

I am a husband of 14 years, a father of a 11 y/o neurodivergent son and a 7 y/o precocious daughter, a veteran of the US Navy with 12 years served, including 1 deployment, and a geek. I am what the Japanese culture describes as an otaku, in that I work to support my passions. In my free time I enjoy video games (mostly on Nintendo Switch), movies (all kinds, although my favorite is the 2005 animated Transformers movie), books (current favorite author is Brandon Sanderson), and spending time with my family.