Susan Faix, LMFT

Susan Faix is a licensed marriage and family therapist in California with 26 years of clinical experience. She focuses on practical help for people facing stress, anxiety, depression, addiction, and relationship strain. Her style is straightforward and respectful, with attention to each person’s specific needs.

Susan listens first and then builds a plan with the person in front of her. She uses tools from cognitive behavioral therapy, attachment-based work, and other approaches to address patterns that keep people stuck. Sessions aim to break problems into manageable steps and build skills for day-to-day life.

Many people come with grief, parenting challenges, or trouble managing anger and sleep. Susan also supports those dealing with career stress, compassion fatigue, and changes such as separation or loss. She helps people talk through relationship and intimacy questions and cope with trauma and abuse when it affects current life.

Her practice includes attention to personality and attachment issues, codependency and communication problems, and the complications that come with blended families, caregiving, or aging concerns. She adapts interventions to fit each person’s situation rather than using a one-size-fits-all method.

Susan frames therapy as a team effort. She helps clients set concrete goals and practices skills between sessions. If someone wants practical strategies for mood, behavior, or relationship changes, she aims to make each session useful and focused.

How therapeutic approaches translate to online sessions

CBT, or cognitive behavioral therapy, focuses on spotting unhelpful thoughts and changing behaviors that keep problems going. It is useful for anxiety, depression, sleep and eating issues, and for building coping skills that people can practice between sessions.

Attachment-based therapy looks at how early relationship patterns affect current connections and emotional responses. This approach can help when intimacy, trust, abandonment fears, or communication patterns cause repeated conflict or distress.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will talk with each person about goals and try methods that match those goals. Together they decide whether to emphasize skill-building, relationship patterns, emotion work, or a mix of approaches based on what helps most.

Online therapy offers several practical benefits. Video calls allow more direct conversation and visual cues for deeper emotional work. Phone sessions are useful when bandwidth is limited or when someone prefers not to be on camera. Live chat and text-based messaging make it easier to check in between sessions or fit brief conversations into a busy day. These options give flexibility to keep therapy consistent around work, caregiving, or other responsibilities.