Rachel Carlos , LMFT

Rachel Carlos is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) practicing in California. She brings nine years of clinical experience and a background in social work to her therapy sessions. Rachel emphasizes self-love and emotional wellbeing and aims to create a calm, respectful space for people to talk about what matters to them.

She has worked with people connected to foster care and juvenile justice systems and now oversees operations for a nonprofit that provides clinical case management services. That experience shaped her practical approach to stress, trauma, depression, and parenting challenges. She focuses on strengths and helps people identify skills they already have.

Rachel blends conversational, client-centered work with practical techniques from cognitive behavioral therapy and motivational interviewing. Sessions often include looking at unhelpful thinking, setting small goals, and practicing new habits between meetings. Mindfulness and psychodynamic ideas also inform her thinking about patterns and emotional responses.

Her practice addresses a wide range of concerns including anxiety, grief, postpartum depression, compassion fatigue, and career stress. She also helps people facing adoption and foster care issues, attachment and blended family challenges, body image and identity questions, and recovery from abuse.

Rachel offers video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging to fit different schedules and comfort levels. Sessions use a subscription model that can be canceled at any time. To begin, a person completes a brief matching questionnaire and schedules according to therapist availability.

Approaches that guide online care

Rachel often uses client-centered therapy, which means sessions focus on the person's goals and experiences while the therapist listens and reflects. This approach suits people who want an accepting space to make sense of feelings and choices.

She also uses cognitive behavioral therapy, a practical method that helps identify unhelpful thoughts and test new behaviors. CBT is commonly used for anxiety, depression, and stress by breaking problems into manageable steps and practicing small changes between sessions.

Finding the right approach is part of the work together. Rachel will collaborate with each person to choose methods that match their needs, goals, and preferences. That might mean blending approaches or adjusting the pace as progress is made.

Online therapy formats offered include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video calls let people have in-depth conversations similar to office visits. Phone sessions work well when bandwidth is limited or when being on camera is not preferred. Live chat and text messaging can provide shorter check-ins, help process emotions between sessions, or fit into a busy day. These options make it easier to fit therapy into work, parenting, or caregiving routines while keeping the focus on practical change and emotional support.