About Poonam
Poonam Thadani is a licensed marriage and family therapist in California who helps people manage stress, anxiety, low self-esteem, depression, relationship concerns, and major life changes. She meets people where they are and focuses on practical steps to feel steadier and more hopeful.
Background and approach
Sessions are conversational and aimed at building skills people can use between meetings. She creates a calm, nonjudgmental space for talking through difficult thoughts and feelings.
Poonam uses an integrative approach that combines ideas from attachment work, cognitive techniques, and emotion-focused methods. That mix lets her tailor sessions to each person’s needs rather than following a fixed script.
In the room she works with clients to identify patterns that keep them stuck and to try small experiments that can change those patterns. She emphasizes clearer communication, stronger emotional awareness, and realistic goal-setting.
Homework and brief exercises are used when helpful to practice new ways of coping. Poonam has four years of clinical experience and holds a California licensed marriage and family therapist credential, often shortened to LMFT.
She speaks English and Hindi, which some clients find helpful when discussing cultural or family matters. Her approach is collaborative and down-to-earth.
People who want straightforward guidance, skill-building, and emotional support during transitions may find her style practical and approachable.
Approaches that guide online sessions
Poonam often draws on attachment-based and emotion-focused approaches to help clients notice and change relationship patterns. Attachment-based work looks at how early relationships shape current reactions and helps people recognize and shift patterns that cause distance or anxiety. Emotionally-focused therapy focuses on identifying core emotions and improving emotional communication, which can help with feeling more connected and understood.She also uses cognitive behavioral ideas to help people spot unhelpful thoughts and test them with small behavioral experiments. That approach is useful for anxiety, depression, and everyday stress because it offers clear steps and doable practices. Choosing an approach is a collaborative process; the therapist and client will discuss goals, try methods, and adjust based on what feels most helpful.
Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to make therapy easier to fit into life. Video works well for in-depth conversation and nonverbal cues, phone can be a simpler option with less bandwidth, and chat or messaging suit brief check-ins or people who prefer writing. These formats make it easier to schedule regular sessions, keep momentum between meetings, and access support from wherever the client is located in California.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
Also works with
- Attachment issues
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Infidelity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Narcissism
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Personality disorders
- Post-traumatic stress
- Self-love
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trichotillomania
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 4 years
- Licensed
- California
- Languages
- English, Hindi