Cecilia Samartin

Cecilia Samartin is a California LMFT with 20 years of clinical experience. She works with people facing relationship troubles, grief, parenting challenges, low self-esteem, and major life changes. Cecilia focuses on practical, conversational work that helps people manage the strain of change and reconnect with what matters to them.

She uses client-centered listening to understand each person's experience and priorities. Cecilia also draws on narrative and psychodynamic ideas to look at how past events and stories shape current choices. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) techniques are used when people want concrete tools to manage thoughts and behavior that get in the way.

Sessions are straightforward and centered on what the client wants to address that week. Cecilia helps people clarify values, test different ways of coping, and notice patterns in relationships. She explains ideas plainly and practices methods that people can use between sessions.

Her work often involves sorting through family of origin issues, communication problems, commitment and control difficulties, and concerns about abandonment or attachment. She also supports those managing caregiver stress, blended family dynamics, divorce or separation, and aging-related questions.

Cecilia asks simple, focused questions and invites clients to tell the stories that matter to them. From there she suggests practical steps and small experiments that can shift how people think and act. The aim is steady progress through consistent work in and between sessions.

How her therapeutic approaches translate to online work

Client-Centered Therapy focuses on listening and reflecting what the client says. It helps people feel heard and clarify what matters to them, which can be useful when someone is sorting out life direction or relationship choices.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) breaks problems into thoughts, feelings, and actions. It offers clear exercises and small experiments to change unhelpful patterns, which many people find helpful when they want practical skills to manage mood and behavior.

Narrative Therapy looks at the stories people tell about themselves and their lives. Rewriting or reframing those stories can change how someone sees options and next steps during a transition.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. Cecilia will collaborate with the client to decide which methods fit best based on goals, preferences, and how the client responds in early sessions. That decision can shift over time as needs change.

The biography does not list specific session formats, so confirm current online options before booking. Online work can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy week, reduce travel time, and allow for check-ins that suit a person's schedule. Some approaches like CBT lend themselves to brief skills practice between sessions, while narrative or psychodynamic work may focus more on reflective conversations. Those choices are made together, so sessions align with everyday life and priorities.