About Frances
Frances "Francie" Pratte is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) with over 21 years of clinical experience. She centers sessions on each person's strengths and practical steps forward. Her approach is calm and direct, aimed at helping people manage stress and anxiety in daily life.
Francie draws on Client-Centered, Cognitive Behavioral, and Solution-Focused methods to tailor work to each person's needs. She uses simple strategies to reduce panic and to ease overwhelming thoughts.
Background and approach
Conversations often include clear skill-building and short, doable experiments to test what helps. Her work covers common problems such as stress, anxiety, depression, anger, low self-esteem, and relationship concerns. She also supports people dealing with caregiver stress, first responder challenges, communication problems, guilt or shame, and questions about life purpose.
Pregnancy and childbirth related concerns are within her focus areas as well. With a background that includes nursing and long clinical experience, Francie brings both practical knowledge and emotional sensitivity to sessions. She helps people break larger problems into manageable steps.
Sessions emphasize what can change now and how to build on small successes. People who meet with Francie can expect straightforward conversation, skills to practice between sessions, and a collaborative plan that evolves as needs change. She works in English and is licensed in California.
Approaches that translate well to online therapy
Client-Centered Therapy focuses on understanding each person's experience and following their goals. In practice this means the therapist listens closely, reflects what is said, and supports people in making choices that feel right to them. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, targets patterns of thoughts and behaviors that keep anxiety or depression going. It uses practical exercises and short homework tasks to test new ways of thinking and acting.Choosing the right approach is part of the work together. The therapist will discuss what matters most, try different strategies, and adjust the plan based on progress and preferences. That collaborative process helps match methods to each person's needs rather than imposing a single technique.
Online sessions are offered as video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging, which makes scheduling more flexible. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation and practice of new skills, while phone sessions can be easier when a quieter setting or lower bandwidth is needed. Live chat and text messaging are useful for brief check-ins, step-by-step coaching, and ongoing support between longer sessions. These options help people fit therapy into work, caregiving, or irregular schedules.
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Anger management
Also listed
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 21 years
- Licensed
- California
- Languages
- English
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