Terese Ghilarducci, LMFT
Client-centered therapist focused on practical coping
About Terese
Terese Ghilarducci is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with 25 years of practice in California. She draws on a client-centered approach and keeps sessions grounded and practical.
Background and approach
Terese is comfortable using art and journaling to help people name feelings and try new responses. Her background includes long experience in schools and social work.
She spent 17 years as a school counselor at an alternative education site, helping adolescents manage school phobia, stress, anxiety, depression, family concerns, and substance use. She also worked with foster children and foster families as a social worker earlier in her career.
Recently she began work as a school counselor at an elementary school, where she presents classroom talks on bullying, inclusion, and basic coping strategies. She also runs support groups and helps young people who struggle with making friends or school-related anxiety.
In individual sessions she focuses on practical tools. Terese blends client-centered listening with activities such as art and journaling so people can express themselves differently.
She uses straightforward techniques to address stress, relationships, grief, parenting strains, ADHD, bipolar concerns, and addiction-related issues. People who choose her work with someone who keeps explanations simple and offers concrete steps to try between sessions.
She aims to create a calm space where people can talk through hard moments and develop skills to manage daily life and relationship challenges.
Practical approaches you can use online
Terese uses client-centered methods that start by listening to what matters most to the person in front of her. This approach focuses on the client's own goals and experience, with simple activities like journaling or art to make thoughts clearer and more manageable.She also uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which helps identify unhelpful thought patterns and develop concrete steps to change them. CBT is frequently used for anxiety, depression, stress, and problems that interfere with school or relationships.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. Terese will talk with each person about goals, preferences, and what feels useful. She collaborates to try methods, adjust them, and pick the strategies that fit daily life and school demands.
Online sessions include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video is good for a face-to-face feel and hands-on activities like showing drawings. Phone sessions suit check-ins or days when bandwidth is limited. Live chat and messaging are handy for brief check-ins, journaling prompts, or when someone prefers typed reflection. These options make it easier to fit therapy into school schedules, workdays, or busy family routines.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also works with
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Hoarding
- Intellectual disability
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Post-traumatic stress
- Self esteem
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 25 years
- Licensed
- California
- Languages
- English