Ana Maria Berryman , LCSW

Ana Maria Berryman is a licensed clinical social worker with 21 years of experience in California. She focuses on stress, anxiety, grief, depression, and the challenges that come with big life changes. She also helps people dealing with compassion fatigue and related strain.

She uses an approach grounded in attachment ideas and practical techniques to help clients feel steadier in relationships and daily life. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, is part of her work and often helps people change unhelpful thoughts and small behaviors. She also draws on mindfulness practices to build calm and on psychodynamic ways of noticing patterns that repeat over time.

Sessions are conversational and straightforward. She aims to create a space where feelings and thoughts can be named and understood without judgment. Many clients bring concerns like isolation, guilt and shame, or trouble communicating with others, and she focuses on concrete steps that can be tried between meetings.

She offers therapy in English and Spanish and understands multicultural concerns and caregiving stress. Her background includes supporting people through hospice and end-of-life situations, postpartum depression, and the effects of commitment or abandonment wounds.

Getting started is simple: complete the short matching questionnaire and schedule a session. The first appointment is a chance to describe what feels most urgent and to set goals for therapy.

Therapeutic approaches and online care

Ana Maria blends attachment-focused work with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people understand relationship patterns and change daily thoughts and behaviors. Attachment-Based Therapy looks at how early and current relationships shape reactions, which can be useful for issues like abandonment, commitment worries, and communication problems. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying unhelpful thoughts and trying small behavior changes to reduce anxiety or depressive symptoms.

Choosing the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist listens to your goals and preferences, then suggests which methods might help most. Over time the plan can be adjusted based on what feels useful and what needs more attention.

Online sessions are offered as video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to provide flexibility. Video calls work well for deeper conversation and visual connection. Phone sessions are a good fit when bandwidth is limited or when a quieter audio check-in is needed. Live chat and text-based messaging suit shorter check-ins, brief coping support, or times when writing feels easier than speaking. These options make it possible to fit therapy into a busy life and to keep continuity when schedules change.