About Stephen
Dr. Stephen Lovato is a licensed marriage and family therapist who focuses on helping people manage anxiety and related challenges. He practices from a respectful, sensitive stance and aims to meet each person where they are.
He encourages small first steps and acknowledges that reaching out takes courage. Dr. Lovato brings 45 years of experience to his work in California.
He listens for what matters most to each person and shapes sessions around those priorities.
Background and approach
Common concerns he addresses include anxiety, depression, bipolar issues, relationship stress, parenting strain, addiction, grief, trauma, and problems with sleep and anger. His style is practical and conversational. He draws on client-centered therapy to follow the client’s pace and concerns.
He also uses cognitive behavioral techniques to help people notice unhelpful thoughts and try new behaviors. Dr. Lovato will also look at deeper patterns that repeat over time, drawing on psychodynamic ideas to understand how past experiences affect present reactions.
When people prefer shorter, goal-focused work, he uses solution-focused methods to set clear, manageable steps. Sessions can include talk, behavior experiments, and problem-solving tailored to daily life. He works with adults on issues from self-esteem and intimacy to career transitions and caregiver stress.
People who want steady support or clear action plans often find this mix practical.
How his approaches translate to online therapy
Client-centered therapy focuses on listening and following what feels most important to the person. In online sessions this looks like therapists asking open questions, reflecting feelings, and letting the conversation guide the work; it helps when someone needs space to explore anxiety, grief, or relationship concerns.Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, teaches people to notice thought patterns and try different behaviors. Online CBT often uses brief exercises between sessions, straightforward skill practice in everyday situations, and tracking progress over time to reduce anxiety and improve sleep or mood.
Psychodynamic work examines recurring life patterns and past experiences that shape current reactions. In remote sessions this can mean longer conversations about themes that repeat in relationships, helping someone recognize deeper triggers for stress or anger.
Finding the right approach is part of the process. The therapist collaborates with each person to choose methods that fit their goals, needs, and comfort level, and can adjust the focus over time as priorities change.
Online formats offer practical flexibility. Video calls allow face-to-face interaction, phone sessions work when bandwidth is limited, live chat can be good for short check-ins, and text messaging supports ongoing reflection between sessions. These options help people fit therapy into busy days and try different ways of connecting.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- LGBT
- Relationship issues
- Parenting issues
Also listed
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Antisocial personality
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Avoidant personality
- BDSM, kink, and alternative sex culture
- Bipolar disorder
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intellectual disability
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Paranoia
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexuality
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Stress, Anxiety
- Trauma and abuse
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 45 years
- Licensed
- California
- Languages
- English
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