About Brian
Brian VanBrakle is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in California who helps people facing stress and anxiety. He has ten years of experience supporting people through depression, trauma, and relationship struggles. Brian uses a straightforward style that helps people make steady progress.
His sessions are warm and interactive. He listens closely, treats people with respect, and offers practical steps to try between meetings. Brian often combines cognitive-behavioral ideas with a solution-focused outlook to help people spot patterns and find workable changes.
Background and approach
He has worked with people dealing with emotional abuse and trauma, as well as with those managing grief, parenting strain, and challenges around intimacy and self-esteem. Brian also supports people coping with eating or sleeping difficulties, anger, career stress, and major life changes. In sessions he pulls from a varied toolbox and tailors the approach to each person's needs.
That can mean learning new ways to manage worry, testing small behavioral changes, or setting clear goals for day-to-day life. He emphasizes collaboration and practical strategies rather than long lectures. Brian frames therapy as a collaborative process.
He encourages people to set realistic goals and to try specific steps between sessions. His aim is to help clients feel more capable, less overwhelmed, and better able to move forward.
Evidence-based approaches and online care
Brian often draws on cognitive-behavioral techniques that help people identify unhelpful thoughts and try new behaviors. CBT-style work can reduce worry and improve daily routines by breaking problems into small, manageable steps. He also uses solution-focused methods that target specific goals and practical changes. These methods focus on what is working now and build short-term plans to reach concrete improvements.Finding the best approach is part of the work together. Brian will collaborate with each person to decide which techniques fit their needs, goals, and preferences. He adapts the plan as progress is made so sessions stay relevant and useful.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video calls let people use visual cues and have longer sessions, while phone meetings work well when bandwidth is limited. Live chat or text messaging can suit quick check-ins, brief skill practice, or days when typing feels easier than speaking. These options make it easier to fit therapy into busy schedules and to continue work even when routines change.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Family conflicts
- Trauma and abuse
Also listed
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Career difficulties
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Eating disorders
- Grief
- Intimacy-related issues
- LGBT
- Parenting issues
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Sleeping disorders
- Experience
- 10 years
- Licensed
- California
- Languages
- English
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