About Cathleen
Cathleen Stafford is a licensed marriage and family therapist with 25 years of experience helping people face stress, anxiety, depression, and relationship concerns. She believes clients know their own stories and brings a respectful, listening stance to each session.
Background and approach
Cathleen aims to make the first steps feel manageable for someone who is worried and unsure. She uses straightforward conversation to clarify what matters most.
Sessions focus on practical changes people can try between meetings. Cathleen combines problem-solving tools with attention to feelings and relationship patterns so solutions fit real life.
Her work addresses intimacy concerns, parenting strain, blended family transitions, and communication problems. She also supports people coping with caregiver stress, postpartum depression, social anxiety, and issues tied to family of origin.
Other areas she helps with include divorce and separation, forgiveness, infidelity, midlife questions, life purpose, and veteran and armed forces issues. Cathleen draws on several therapy approaches to match each person’s needs.
She may use client-centered listening to build trust, cognitive behavioral ideas to change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors, emotionally focused methods to strengthen bonds, and internal family systems to notice different parts of someone’s inner life. Solution-focused steps appear when people want clear, short-term goals.
Sessions are conducted in English and based in California. Cathleen’s style is calm and practical.
She encourages small, steady steps so people can feel more capable between sessions.
Therapeutic approaches that translate to online care
Client-centered therapy focuses on listening and understanding a person's experience. In practice this means the therapist follows the client's lead, reflects what they say, and helps them identify their own answers; it is useful for building trust and clarifying priorities.Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, looks at the links between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. It uses short exercises and practical experiments to test new ways of thinking and acting, which can help with anxiety, depression, and social fears.
Emotionally-focused therapy aims to strengthen important bonds by naming emotions and changing interaction patterns. It is helpful for people facing intimacy struggles or communication breakdowns.
Finding the right approach is part of the work and will be decided together. The therapist will talk about options, try techniques, and adjust based on the client's goals and preferences to create a collaborative plan.
Online sessions are offered by video calls, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to fit different lifestyles. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation; phone sessions work well when bandwidth is limited; live chat or text messaging can be used for shorter check-ins or when writing feels easier. These formats make therapy more flexible for people juggling work, caregiving, or travel while maintaining consistent contact with a licensed professional.
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Family conflicts
- Intimacy-related issues
Also works with
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 25 years
- Licensed
- California
- Languages
- English