About Charlene
Charlene Black is a licensed marriage and family therapist practicing in California. She has nine years of experience working with people who are coping with stress, anxiety, trauma, grief, and relationship struggles.
Background and approach
She brings a calm, straightforward style and focuses on practical steps clients can use between sessions. Charlene believes people know their own stories and have strengths to draw on.
She helps clients identify those strengths and use them to face hard problems. Sessions aim to be collaborative and grounded in clear goals rather than long theory talks.
Her work includes support for parenting concerns, caregiver stress, blended family issues, and communication problems. She also addresses mood concerns like depression, anger, and disruptive mood dysregulation disorder.
Other areas she helps with include substance concerns, domestic violence recovery, and first responder stress. Charlene uses a mix of methods to suit each person.
She draws on cognitive behavioral tools to change unhelpful thought patterns, skills from dialectical behavior therapy for emotional regulation, and narrative techniques to reframe difficult events. She also brings psychodynamic ideas to understand repeating patterns that cause pain.
Clients can expect a practical approach focused on clear next steps, skill building, and honest conversation. Charlene supports people as they make gradual changes and face life transitions.
Her work is aimed at helping people move toward more manageable days and clearer relationships.
Approaches that fit online therapy sessions
Charlene uses cognitive behavioral therapy to help people notice and change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors. CBT focuses on small, concrete steps and is often used for anxiety, depression, and stress so clients get tools they can use between sessions.She also draws on dialectical behavior therapy skills to teach emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and clearer communication. DBT-informed skills can be helpful when strong emotions, relationship conflict, or self-directed anger get in the way of daily life.
Finding the right approach is part of the work together. The therapist will talk with the client about goals, test different techniques, and adjust methods to match what works best. That collaborative process helps tailor sessions to each person's needs and preferences.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video is useful for a face-to-face feel and longer work, phone calls can fit a break at work, live chat can be a shorter check-in, and messaging lets people reflect and respond on their own schedule. These options make it easier to keep therapy consistent while adapting to everyday life and time constraints.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Family conflicts
- Trauma and abuse
Also works with
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Family problems
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 9 years
- Licensed
- California
- Languages
- English