About Elisabeth
Elisabeth VanBuskirk is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with 35 years of experience helping people manage stress and anxiety. She focuses on practical ways to get through difficult days and to rebuild confidence after loss or painful events. Elisabeth writes in plain terms and aims to make the first step feel doable for someone feeling overwhelmed.
She helps people talk through trauma, abuse, and grief in a calm, steady way.
Background and approach
Sessions emphasize honest conversation and real-world coping skills. Elisabeth listens for patterns such as attachment wounds, abandonment fears, or codependent behaviors and helps clients notice how those patterns show up in daily life. Her work also addresses depression, self-esteem struggles, body image concerns, and the emotional impact of chronic illness or aging.
When relationships are strained by divorce, blended family changes, or communication problems, she helps people identify small changes that improve interactions. Elisabeth draws on many evidence-based therapeutic techniques to match the approach to each person’s needs. Clients can expect a nonjudgmental space where feelings and memories are explored at a comfortable pace.
Elisabeth supports practical planning between sessions so progress carries into everyday routines. Her goal is to help people regain a sense of agency and find steadier ground. She practices in California and offers sessions in English.
Elisabeth encourages anyone who feels ready to try talking with a therapist to take the next step and find a better balance in life.
Approaches that guide online sessions
Elisabeth uses evidence-based techniques that focus on practical change and emotional processing. One common approach involves skill-building for stress and anxiety management, which teaches breathing, grounding, and problem-solving steps to reduce daily overwhelm. Another approach helps people process trauma and painful memories by pacing conversation and learning ways to tolerate distress while learning new responses to triggers.Choosing the right approach is a collaborative process. Elisabeth discusses goals and preferences with each person and adjusts methods over time. Together the client and therapist decide which techniques feel most helpful and make a clear plan for what to try next.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video calls let people read facial expressions and use visual tools during a session. Phone sessions work well when bandwidth is limited or when being off-camera helps with focus. Live chat and text messaging can be useful for brief check-ins, quick coping reminders, or flexible scheduling when a short exchange fits better into a busy day.
Questions people ask
What concerns does Elisabeth often address?
What is her general approach in sessions?
How long has she been practicing?
What credential does she hold and where does she practice?
Which languages are used for sessions?
What session formats are available?
How is cost handled for sessions?
How do I begin working with her?
What this therapist works with
Most often
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Attachment issues
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Eating and food-related issues
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Isolation / loneliness
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Post-traumatic stress
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Women's issues
- Experience
- 35 years
- Licensed
- California
- Languages
- English
We will earn a commission if you sign up through our link, at no cost to you.