Marcia Pontoni , LCSW

Marcia Pontoni is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in California with 25 years of clinical experience supporting people through major life challenges. She brings long-term practice helping clients manage relationship conflicts, grief and loss, career transitions, anxiety, depression, trauma, addiction concerns, and a wide range of family and intimacy-related issues. Her background also includes work with aging and geriatric concerns, hospice and end-of-life counseling, gender dysphoria, and the complex emotions that follow infidelity, divorce, or separation.

She integrates Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and mindfulness techniques into a client-centered framework, shaping conversations and treatment plans to match each person s needs and goals. Marcia emphasizes respect, sensitivity, and compassion in the therapeutic relationship and focuses on empowering clients to take practical steps toward a more fulfilling life. She has experience addressing stress, coping with life changes, codependency, communication problems, anger, guilt and shame, and compassion fatigue. Marcia works most effectively using video and telephone formats and adapts her approach to fit the pace and preferences of the people she sees.

As an LCSW - a license that reflects training and clinical experience in social work and psychotherapy - she aims to create a supportive environment where clients can explore options, build skills, and move toward meaningful change.

Therapeutic Approaches for Online Care

Marcia frequently blends Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and mindfulness practices with a client-centered stance. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying unhelpful thought patterns and behaviors and replacing them with more effective strategies - it is often used for anxiety, depression, and stress-related concerns. Mindfulness therapy teaches present-moment awareness and gentle acceptance, helping people reduce reactivity and cope better with difficult emotions.

Client-centered work means the therapist prioritizes the client s perspective and collaborates on goals and treatment planning. Marcia works together with each person to determine which combination of approaches best fits their needs, values, and preferences, adjusting methods as progress unfolds to find the right therapeutic fit.

Online therapy offers practical flexibility for people with busy schedules, mobility limitations, or geographic constraints. Video calls and phone sessions allow in-depth conversation and real-time feedback, while live chat and text-based messaging provide more immediate, shorter-form support between sessions. These options make it easier to maintain continuity of care and to engage in therapy in a format that suits an individual s life and comfort level.