Macarena Santelices , MD, LCPC, LPCC

Macarena Santelices is a licensed clinician with 14 years of experience supporting people through stress, anxiety, mood struggles, and life changes. She holds an MD and is licensed as a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor and a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor. Macarena aims to meet people where they are and help them move toward clearer goals.

She frames therapy as a collaborative effort. Sessions focus on practical steps to manage anxiety, build self-esteem, and navigate relationship or family tensions. Macarena helps people identify strengths and small changes that make daily life feel more manageable.

Her work addresses parenting concerns, caregiver stress, and coping with chronic illness or pain. She also guides people through issues like abandonment, attachment hurts, guilt, shame, and feelings of isolation. Conversations include finding a sense of purpose and handling money or midlife transitions.

Macarena uses approaches such as cognitive behavioral strategies, skills from dialectical behavior work, and mindfulness practices to help clients notice patterns and try new responses. She explains tools simply and practices them together in sessions so people can use them between meetings.

Sessions are offered in English from California. She is clear about scope of work and does not provide trauma therapy, so people seeking trauma-focused treatment are encouraged to look elsewhere. The process begins with a short matching questionnaire and scheduling to fit the client’s needs.

How evidence-based approaches translate to online care

CBT, or cognitive behavioral therapy, focuses on identifying unhelpful thoughts and testing new behaviors to reduce anxiety and depressive symptoms. It breaks problems into small, practical steps so people can try different strategies between sessions.

DBT, dialectical behavior therapy, teaches concrete skills for managing intense emotions, improving communication, and tolerating distress. It is useful for people who want tools for upsetting moments and better ways to handle conflict and impulsivity.

Mindfulness therapy teaches simple attention practices to notice thoughts and bodily sensations without getting swept away by them. Those exercises can help with stress, rumination, and building self-compassion.

Choosing the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will listen to goals and concerns and will suggest which methods to try first. This is a team effort and adjustments are made as people notice what helps most.

Online sessions offer flexibility through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging. Video calls let people use visual cues and longer conversations. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited or a shorter check-in is needed. Live chat and text messaging allow for brief check-ins, skill practice, and follow-up between longer sessions. These options make it simpler to fit therapy into work, parenting, or caregiving schedules.