About Kirsten
Kirsten Suarez helps people manage stress, anxiety, depression, anger, and the challenges of parenting and relationships. She also supports people living with bipolar disorder, ADHD, and those coping with major life changes.
Background and approach
Kirsten works in English and practices as a licensed marriage and family therapist in California. Kirsten uses a warm, collaborative approach in sessions.
She listens first, then helps people set clear goals. Conversations focus on practical steps and skills that can be tried between sessions.
Her work draws on cognitive behavioral methods to spot unhelpful thinking and change behavior. She also uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to help people live by their values, and Solution-Focused techniques to build short-term progress.
Mindfulness and Dialectical Behavior Therapy tools are added when they fit a person's needs. Kirsten has three years of counseling experience and has spent many years working with autism and developmental differences in behavior analysis roles.
That background informs how she structures learning and supports caregivers and individuals who need clear strategies. Sessions are collaborative and goal-oriented.
Kirsten tailors conversations and plans to each person’s situation instead of applying one standard method. People leave with concrete skills for managing panic, obsessions, codependency patterns, caregiver stress, and daily struggles.
If someone is ready to try therapy, Kirsten guides the next steps and helps them build a manageable plan. Her style emphasizes respect, compassion, and practical progress.
Therapeutic approaches and online care that fit your life
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) focuses on helping people identify what matters to them and take small actions toward those values while learning to accept difficult thoughts and feelings. It can help with anxiety, depression, and coping with life changes. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps people spot unhelpful thoughts and habits and replace them with more useful thinking and behavior; it is commonly used for panic, OCD patterns, and mood concerns. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) teaches emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness skills that can reduce intense mood swings and impulsive reactions.Choosing the right approach is a team process. The therapist will work together with each person to review goals, preferences, and what has or hasn't worked before. They adjust methods over time so the plan fits the person's life and changes as progress is made.
Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to make care more flexible. Video calls work well for longer therapy conversations, phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited, chat can suit quick check-ins, and messaging supports short updates or between-session work. These options help people fit therapy into work, school, or caregiving schedules while keeping the focus on practical skills and steady progress.
Frequently asked questions
What kinds of concerns does Kirsten help with?
How would you describe her therapy style?
What is her professional background?
Where is she licensed to practice?
Which languages are supported for sessions?
What formats are available for online sessions?
How is pricing handled?
How do I begin working with her?
Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Parenting issues
- Anger management
Also works with
- ADHD
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Bipolar disorder
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Codependency
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Family conflicts
- Intellectual disability
- LGBT
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Relationship issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 3 years
- Licensed
- California
- Languages
- English