Cathleen Stafford

Cathleen Stafford is a licensed marriage and family therapist with 25 years of experience. She believes each person knows their own story and brings strengths to the work. Cathleen encourages small first steps and offers steady support for people beginning therapy.

She focuses on stress, anxiety, depression, parenting, intimacy-related issues, and broader family concerns. This includes blended family challenges, communication problems, divorce and separation, and family of origin issues. She also helps with postpartum depression, social anxiety, and midlife questions.

Cathleen uses straightforward, person-centered conversations to help clients name what matters most. She pairs that with tools from cognitive behavioral therapy to spot unhelpful thinking and try different behaviors. Emotionally-focused approaches are used when relationships and attachment are a central concern.

Sessions also draw on solution-focused work to set practical goals and Internal Family Systems ideas to notice different inner parts when emotions feel confusing. These methods are blended to match each person’s situation and goals. Cathleen aims to make sessions understandable and useful from week to week.

Based in California, she brings long experience to issues common in women’s lives and young adulthood, as well as caregiver and veteran-related stress. She invites people to begin by taking a short matching questionnaire and scheduling a first visit.

How approaches translate to online therapy

Client-Centered Therapy focuses on listening and following the client’s lead so they feel heard and understood; it helps with stress, life decisions, and relationship worries by making space to sort through what matters. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at patterns of thinking and behavior and introduces small experiments and coping skills to reduce anxiety and low mood. Emotionally-Focused Therapy concentrates on emotional experience and how people connect with others, which can help with intimacy-related concerns and attachment issues.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. Cathleen collaborates with each person to choose methods that match their needs, goals, and preferences. She may blend listening-focused work with practical CBT tools or emotionally-focused conversations depending on what arises in early sessions.

Confirm the current session options before booking to know which formats she offers. Online sessions can make it easier to fit therapy into busy schedules, shorten travel time, and allow for check-ins during a lunch break or between appointments. They can also enable calmer conversations when leaving the house is difficult. Ask about available formats when you complete the matching questionnaire so scheduling fits your day.