Soraya Avalos, LMFT

Soraya Avalos is a licensed marriage and family therapist with 15 years of clinical experience helping people manage stress, anxiety, low self-esteem, depression, and relationship concerns. She speaks English and Spanish and practices in California. Her approach aims to make the first steps easier for someone feeling overwhelmed or stuck.

Soraya keeps sessions respectful and compassionate. She adapts the conversation and plan to each person's situation. That can mean focused skill-building one week and a deeper look at patterns the next.

She uses practical methods to reduce symptoms and improve day-to-day functioning. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is one of the tools she draws on to help people notice and change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors. Other approaches she uses support emotional regulation, motivation, and clearer problem solving.

Soraya also pays attention to how attachment, communication, and caregiving stress show up in people’s lives. She will work with clients on issues such as guilt, shame, impulsivity, life purpose, and challenges connected to pregnancy or parenting roles.

The goal is to help people build useful habits and clearer choices. Sessions focus on what a person needs now while also opening a path to longer-term change. Soraya supports practical steps and gradual progress toward better coping and more satisfying relationships.

Practical approaches that work online

CBT helps people spot and change thoughts and behaviors that make stress and mood worse. In short sessions clients learn simple exercises for anxiety, negative thinking, and low mood. Dialectical Behavior Therapy, or DBT, teaches emotion regulation and distress tolerance skills that can reduce impulsivity and improve responses to intense feelings.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will listen to your goals and try methods that fit your needs and preferences. Sessions are collaborative - together you decide whether a strategy is helping and adjust the plan over time.

Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video lets you meet face to face and practice skills in real time. Phone sessions use less bandwidth and can work when you need a shorter check-in. Live chat or text messaging can be useful for quick support, scheduling flexibility, or ongoing brief check-ins between longer sessions.