About Patricia
Patricia Riley is a licensed clinical social worker who draws on two decades of practice to help people manage stress and anxiety. She emphasizes clear, honest conversations and practical steps that fit each person's life. Patricia offers a calm presence and straightforward guidance for people feeling overwhelmed by change or relationship strain.
She uses approaches that focus on thinking patterns and motivation to help people make small changes that add up.
Background and approach
Sessions often include setting concrete goals, trying new coping strategies between meetings, and tracking what helps. Patricia adapts pacing and techniques to match each person's comfort and needs. Her background includes working with a wide range of concerns such as depression, addictions, grief, parenting challenges, and trauma and abuse.
She also supports people dealing with career stress, burnout, body image, and caregiving strains. This breadth of experience informs her practical problem-solving style. Patricia keeps language plain and avoids jargon so conversations stay focused on real-life problems.
She encourages self-compassion and helps people build skills for handling difficult emotions and tense interactions. Many clients start with a single challenge and broaden their work over time. She practices in California as an LCSW - Licensed Clinical Social Worker - and offers services in English.
Patricia aims to work collaboratively on goals and to help people develop tools they can use after therapy ends.
CBT and Motivational Interviewing for online care
Patricia uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people notice unhelpful thoughts and try out different behaviors. CBT sessions often include simple experiments or homework to test new ways of thinking and reduce anxiety or depression. Motivational Interviewing is used to clarify a persons own reasons for change and build momentum when motivation is low; it works well for substance concerns, habit change, and big life transitions.Choosing the right approach is part of the work together. Patricia listens to your goals and preferences and then recommends techniques that fit your pace and situation. Clients and therapist decide together whether to focus more on skills practice, exploring motivation, or a blend of both.
Online sessions are offered by video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to make care more flexible. Video is useful for more in-depth skill practice and visual cues. Phone sessions can fit into a busy day or be easier when bandwidth is limited. Live chat or text messaging can be used for short check-ins, coaching-style support, or follow-up between sessions. These options let people get consistent help while balancing work, family, and other demands.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Coaching
- Commitment issues
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Eating and food-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fertility issues
- First responder issues
- Grief
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Immigration issues
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- LGBT
- Multicultural concerns
- Parenting issues
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Trauma and abuse
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 20 years
- Licensed
- California
- Languages
- English
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