About Sue
Sue (Susie) Swartz helps people facing stress, anxiety, trauma and abuse, grief, depression, addictions, LGBT concerns, relationship issues, family concerns, parenting challenges, and major life changes. She writes plainly and listens closely so people can find workable steps forward.
Background and approach
Sue offers a calm, steady presence and practical tools to move through hard moments and make daily life feel more manageable. Sue uses a client-centered approach that starts with each person's strengths.
She helps people notice patterns of thought and behavior that get in the way. From there she introduces tools from cognitive behavioral therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy to change unhelpful habits and build resilience.
Attachment-based ideas are woven into sessions when relationship wounds or early losses are affecting how someone connects now. Dialectical behavior therapy skills are used when emotional regulation and coping skills are needed.
These methods are chosen to match the person's goals and pace. Sue brings ten years of clinical experience and a background that includes trauma response, crisis intervention, and victim advocacy.
She holds a California Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist credential, LMFT, and draws on real-world practice when planning next steps. Sessions are offered in English and available by video calls, phone, live chat, or text messaging.
The subscription model allows sessions to be scheduled and canceled as needed. To begin, a prospective client completes a short matching questionnaire and schedules based on therapist availability.
Therapeutic approaches adapted for online work
Sue commonly uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) to help people notice difficult thoughts and feelings without getting stuck in them. ACT focuses on values and small actions that add meaning even when emotions are hard to bear. She also draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to identify unhelpful thinking patterns and practice practical behavior changes that reduce symptoms over time.Finding the right approach is part of the process. Sue works collaboratively to match methods to a person’s goals, needs, and pace. She will check in about what is helping and adjust techniques so sessions feel useful and manageable.
Online sessions are offered via video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to increase flexibility. Video calls support face-to-face conversation and visual cues. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited or when someone prefers not to use video. Live chat and text messaging are useful for shorter check-ins, coping skill coaching, and ongoing support between longer sessions. These options make it simpler to fit therapy into busy schedules and different routines.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
Also works with
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Avoidant personality
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Cancer
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Co-morbidity
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Eating and food-related issues
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Fertility issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Hoarding
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Isolation / loneliness
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Narcissism
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Visually impaired
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Narrative Therapy
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
- Experience
- 10 years
- Licensed
- California
- Languages
- English