About Sharmaine
Sharmaine Whitten is a licensed marriage and family therapist in California who helps people facing stress and anxiety. She works with clients dealing with relationship strain, grief, depression, and major life changes. Sharmaine speaks English and brings a calm, respectful approach to each conversation.
In sessions she focuses on practical steps people can use right away. She adapts her approach to fit what each person needs, whether that means talking through relationship patterns or building tools for panic attacks.
Background and approach
Her goal is to help clients find clearer direction and more manageable ways to cope. Sharmaine uses a mix of therapy styles to match the concern at hand. She draws on acceptance and commitment ideas to help people notice difficult thoughts without getting stuck.
She also uses cognitive behavioral strategies to identify unhelpful thinking and replace it with more effective habits. When relationship problems come up she employs emotion-focused work and elements of the Gottman Method to improve communication and rebuild connection. Solution-focused techniques are used to set concrete goals and track small changes that make a difference over time.
With five years of clinical experience and a California LMFT credential, Sharmaine aims to make the process straightforward. She invites people to take the first step and offers steady support while they work toward clearer priorities and healthier coping.
Approaches that translate to online care
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, focuses on helping people notice painful thoughts and feelings without letting them take over. It supports building a life based on personal values rather than on avoiding discomfort. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at the link between thoughts, feelings, and actions and teaches skills to change unhelpful patterns that feed anxiety and depression. Emotionally-Focused Therapy centers on understanding and shifting emotional responses in close relationships to improve connection and reduce reactivity.Finding the right fit is part of the work. Sharmaine will collaborate with each person to decide which approach or combination suits their goals and preferences. That process can include trying different techniques and tracking what helps over time.
Online sessions are offered as video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to make therapy easier to fit into busy lives. Video calls are useful for deeper conversations that benefit from visual cues. Phone sessions can work when bandwidth is limited or when a shorter check-in is needed. Text and live chat are practical for frequent, quick support and ongoing reflection between longer sessions. These options aim to increase flexibility and make consistent progress more achievable.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Grief
Also listed
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 5 years
- Licensed
- California
- Languages
- English
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