About Annette
Annette Rios-Barrera is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) in Texas with 23 years of experience. She uses a trauma-informed, relational approach to help people facing anxiety, depression, grief, and identity questions. Her pronouns are she/her and she offers sessions in English and Spanish.
Annette focuses on practical steps people can use right away. She listens for what matters to each person and helps set goals that fit their life.
Background and approach
Sessions often include skills for managing stress and building stronger connections with others. Her work is informed by several evidence-based methods. She draws on cognitive behavioral ideas to notice and shift unhelpful thoughts.
She uses acceptance and commitment strategies to clarify values and take meaningful action. Attachment-based ideas guide work on trust and closeness in relationships. Annette also brings warmth and a sense of play into therapy when it helps.
She is a laughter yoga instructor and sometimes uses lighter practices to balance heavier topics. The emphasis is on steady progress and realistic tools for coping with life changes. People come to her for a wide range of concerns, including relationship and intimacy questions, LGBT identity issues, career stress, caregiving strain, chronic illness, and complications from adoption or attachment wounds.
She supports international clients as well as residents of Texas.
Approaches that translate well to online care
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people clarify what matters to them and take small, values-driven steps even when anxiety or difficult feelings are present. It focuses on practical actions rather than trying to eliminate feelings. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at thoughts and behaviors that keep stress and worry going, and teaches concrete techniques to change patterns and reduce symptoms. Attachment-Based Therapy explores patterns of closeness and trust in relationships, helping people understand how connection or past losses shape current reactions and intimacy challenges.Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with each person to choose methods that match their goals, needs, and daily life. That means trying different tools and checking in together to see what helps and what to adjust.
Online sessions are offered by video calls, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to give flexibility. Video is useful for deeper conversation and visual connection. Phone can be easier when bandwidth is limited or a shorter check-in is needed. Chat and messaging support brief updates, skill practice, and ongoing contact between full sessions. These options make it easier to fit therapy into work, caregiving, or other busy schedules while keeping the focus on progress and practical skills.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- LGBT
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Avoidant personality
- BDSM, kink, and alternative sex culture
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- 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
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating and food-related issues
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Fertility issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Hoarding
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Immigration issues
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intellectual disability
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Smoking / vaping cessation
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Stress, Anxiety
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- 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)
- Existential Therapy
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
- Gottman Method
- Jungian Therapy
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Narrative Therapy
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Somatic Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
- Internal Family Systems
- Systemic Therapy
- Experience
- 23 years
- Licensed
- Texas
- Languages
- English, Spanish
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