Cathleen Stafford, LMFT
California · 25 years in practice
Cathleen Stafford is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with 25 years of experience.
License and registration
- LMFT, California
- 37242 · expires May 2026
- NPI
- 1164545158 · national provider identifier
- Years in practice
- 25
- Languages
- English
Details are as listed on the therapist's public professional profile. You can check the license with the issuing state board, and the NPI with the national registry.
About Cathleen
Cathleen Stafford is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with 25 years of experience. She works from a respectful, person-centered stance and aims to help people make sense of stress, anxiety, depression, and concerns around intimacy and parenting. She believes clients know their own story and brings a calm, practical approach to sessions.
Conversations focus on what is most pressing now and on small, do-able steps forward. She uses a mix of approaches to fit each person's needs rather than one fixed method.
Background and approach
Cathleen often helps people navigate family challenges such as blended family issues, divorce and separation, and communication problems. She also supports those dealing with caregiver stress, infertility-related grief, postpartum depression, and the ripple effects of military life for veterans and their loved ones. Her work addresses relationship wounds like infidelity, forgiveness, and family of origin patterns.
She also helps people facing life transitions - midlife shifts, questions about life purpose, and the stresses young adults may bring into new roles. Sessions focus on clear goals and practical tools drawn from cognitive and systemic approaches. The pace is collaborative: clients set priorities and Cathleen offers techniques to reduce anxiety, improve communication, and rebuild connection where it has frayed.
Focus areas and approaches
Everything Cathleen lists on their public professional profile, in their own terms.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Family conflicts
- Intimacy-related issues
- Parenting issues
- Depression
- Blended family issues
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Communication problems
- Divorce and separation
- Family of origin issues
- Forgiveness
- Infidelity
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Postpartum depression
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Women's issues
- Young adult issues
Approaches Cathleen names
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Internal Family Systems
- Systemic Therapy
Naming an approach is not evidence of training in it. This directory copies what each therapist lists and does not check training records.
Online support
How emotion-focused and practical methods work online
Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT) centers on identifying and shifting unhelpful emotional patterns in relationships and within oneself. In a few clear steps EFT helps people name emotions, connect them to needs, and try new ways of responding that reduce conflict and build connection.Client-Centered Therapy emphasizes listening, empathy, and letting the client set the pace and agenda. This approach supports people who need a steady, accepting space to sort out their priorities and make decisions.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) offers concrete tools for managing anxiety and depression by noticing thoughts and testing new behaviors. CBT can be especially useful for short-term problems like panic, social anxiety, or situational stress.
Choosing the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with each person to pick methods that match their goals and preferences. That means trying ideas, checking what helps, and adjusting as needs change.
Online therapy options include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. These formats make it easier to fit therapy into a busy life - a quick text check-in on a tough day, a phone session when bandwidth is low, or a video visit for deeper conversation. Flexible scheduling and multiple formats help people stay consistent with their work between sessions.
We will earn a commission if you sign up through our link, at no cost to you. It does not change what you pay or the order of the listings.
Questions people ask
What kinds of concerns does she help with?
Cathleen helps with stress, anxiety, depression, parenting and intimacy-related concerns. She also works on blended family issues, caregiver stress, communication problems, divorce and separation, and related life transitions.
What is her therapeutic style like?
Her style is client-centered and collaborative, focusing on listening and building on a persons strengths. She blends practical techniques with emotionally focused work to address both feelings and behavior.
How much experience does she have?
She has 25 years of professional experience working with individuals facing a range of family and personal concerns. That background informs a practical, steady approach to therapy.
What are her credentials and where is she based?
She is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist - LMFT - licensed in California. Her practice is based in California.
Can sessions be held in other languages or for international clients?
Sessions are offered in English. She is not accepting international clients at this time.
What session formats are available?
Therapy can be done by video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to fit different schedules and preferences.
How does payment and cost work?
Cost varies with location and therapist availability, and sessions use a subscription model that can be canceled at any time.
How do I begin working with her?
Start by selecting the Start Therapy button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and then schedule sessions according to therapist availability.
More therapists in California
See allNancy Montes
LCSW
Compassionate, culturally aware LCSW for life transitions
- Stress, Anxiety
- Self esteem
- Depression
Alejandro Holguin
LCSW
Practical, collaborative therapy for emotional healing
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship
- Anger
Dr. Cheryl Mims
LCSW
Compassionate clinician helping rebuild emotional balance
- Stress, Anxiety
- Grief
- Bipolar
Chauncey Chatman
LMFT
Practical, emotion-focused therapy for adults
- Stress, Anxiety
- Addictions
- Trauma and abuse
Is this your profile?
Ask us to correct details or take the page down.
Contact us