Dara Charlton, LCSW
California · 20 years in practice
Dara Charlton is an LCSW with 20 years of clinical experience.
License and registration
- LCSW, California
- 20389 · expires July 2026
- LCSW, Oregon
- L3826 · expires August 2026
- NPI
- 1538172598 · national provider identifier
- Years in practice
- 20
- 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 Dara
Dara Charlton is an LCSW with 20 years of clinical experience. She focuses on helping adults who are dealing with stress, anxiety, depression, grief, relationship struggles, and changes in life. Dara offers practical support that aims to make day-to-day life feel more manageable.
Her work draws on Emotionally-Focused Therapy to look at patterns in feeling and connection. She also uses client-centered methods to follow what matters most to each person.
Background and approach
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and mindfulness practices help people notice unhelpful thoughts and build small, steady skills. Dara has supported people through trauma, addiction, body-image concerns, sleep problems, and parenting strain. She also works with issues such as abandonment, attachment concerns, chronic illness and pain, caregiver stress, and the effects of discrimination or disaster.
Sessions are aimed at clarifying goals and taking practical steps toward them. In sessions she keeps language simple and concrete. Conversations often include skill building, tracking thoughts or reactions, and trying new ways of communicating.
The pace is set by each person’s needs and comfort. Dara practices from Oregon and offers multiple remote formats. She helps people develop self-compassion, clearer boundaries, and better coping skills so they can face life changes with more confidence.
Focus areas and approaches
Everything Dara lists on their public professional profile, in their own terms.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Grief
- Eating disorders
- Depression
- Addictions
- Family conflicts
- Trauma and abuse
- Intimacy-related issues
- Sleeping disorders
- Parenting issues
- Anger management
- Self esteem
- Coping with life changes
- Compassion fatigue
- Abandonment
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Attachment issues
- BDSM, kink, and alternative sex culture
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Cancer
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Co-morbidity
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Divorce and separation
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating and food-related issues
- Emptiness
- Family problems
- Fertility issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Hoarding
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Immigration issues
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Narcissism
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Personality disorders
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Postpartum depression
- Post-traumatic stress
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trichotillomania
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Approaches Dara names
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Trauma-Focused 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
Therapeutic approaches adapted for online care
Emotionally-Focused Therapy helps people notice and name core feelings and patterns in close relationships so they can shift how they respond. It is useful when intense feelings or repeated cycles cause pain in connections or in personal coping. Client-Centered Therapy focuses on listening, empathy, and building a trusting relationship so goals emerge from what matters most to the person. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at the links between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, offering concrete strategies to change unhelpful patterns and manage symptoms like anxiety or low mood.Finding the right approach is part of the work. Dara treats clients and therapists as collaborators in choosing methods and goals. She will check in about what feels useful, adjust methods over time, and make room for both emotional exploration and skill practice based on each person's needs and preferences.
Online therapy offers flexibility across several formats: video calls for face-to-face conversations, phone sessions for simpler check-ins, live chat for real-time typed exchanges, and text-based messaging for brief updates or between-session support. These options make it easier to fit sessions into busy schedules, reduce travel time, accommodate differing bandwidth or camera preferences, and let people choose the format that helps them engage most effectively.
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 Dara address?
She helps with stress, anxiety, depression, grief, relationship and intimacy issues, eating and addiction concerns, sleep problems, parenting strain, trauma and abuse, and related life changes.
How would you describe her therapeutic style?
The approach emphasizes Emotionally-Focused Therapy alongside client-centered listening. Sessions combine emotional exploration with practical skills from CBT, DBT, and mindfulness.
What is her background and experience?
She is an LCSW with 20 years of experience working with adults through a wide range of emotional and behavioral challenges.
Where does she practice and what are her credentials?
She holds an Oregon Licensed Clinical Social Worker credential and practices from Oregon.
Are sessions offered in other languages or internationally?
Sessions are offered in English. International clients are not currently accepted.
Which session formats are available?
She provides video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging to fit different scheduling and communication needs.
How does payment and cost work?
Cost varies with location and therapist availability; sessions use a subscription model that can be canceled at any time.
What should I do to begin working together?
Use the Start Therapy button, complete the short matching questionnaire, and then schedule sessions according to the therapist's availability.
More therapists in Oregon
See allJennifer Fishman
LPC, LCPC
Compassionate counselor who teaches practical tools
- Stress, Anxiety
- Anger
- Self esteem
Rivkah Barmore
LMFT
Compassionate therapist blending emotion and practical skills
- Stress, Anxiety
- Addictions
- Trauma and abuse
Erica Mau
LPC
Practical, direct counseling for meaningful change
- Addictions
- Trauma and abuse
- Parenting
Mohammad Bader
LPC, LMHC
Practical, culturally aware therapy for everyday struggles
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship
- Grief
Is this your profile?
Ask us to correct details or take the page down.
Contact us