Rachel Carlos , LMFT

Rachel Carlos is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) practicing in California with nine years of clinical experience. She has spent much of her career supporting at-risk populations, including people involved in the foster care system and the juvenile justice system, and brings a background in social work to her therapeutic practice.

In addition to providing direct clinical care, Rachel manages and oversees operations for a non-profit program that delivers clinical case management services. She emphasizes self-love, self-acceptance, and emotional well-being, and uses a strength-based, client-driven approach to help people build resilience and practical coping skills.

Rachel creates a welcoming, comfortable environment and blends Motivational Interviewing with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy when working with concerns such as trauma, depression, self-worth, and work-life balance. She also attends carefully to cultural factors and brings an open-minded stance to her work with individuals and families. Her practice focuses on helping clients navigate relationship and family challenges, grief and parenting difficulties, career and life-purpose questions, and a range of stress-related and trauma-related issues.

Therapeutic Approaches for Effective Online Care

Rachel Carlos integrates client-centered work into online sessions by focusing on each person's strengths and personal goals. This approach emphasizes empathy, collaboration, and supporting clients to discover their own solutions, which can help with issues like self-esteem, life transitions, and relationship concerns.

She also uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy - a practical method that identifies unhelpful thoughts and patterns and replaces them with more adaptive behaviors. CBT is commonly used for anxiety, depression, stress, and coping with day-to-day challenges. Motivational Interviewing is another tool she applies to foster internal motivation for change - useful for navigating ambivalence around major life shifts, caregiving responsibilities, or behavior changes.

Finding the right combination of approaches is part of the therapeutic process. Rachel works collaboratively with clients to tailor methods to their needs, preferences, and goals, adjusting techniques as progress is made. Licensed professionals and therapists can provide care in multiple formats, and online work allows that same collaborative decision-making to continue without interruption.

Online sessions via video calls, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging offer flexibility for busy schedules, support across distances, and more frequent check-ins when helpful. These options make it easier to access consistent, goal-focused therapy while fitting treatment into everyday life.