About Christian
Christian Maciel is a licensed marriage and family therapist with 25 years of experience. He works with people who struggle with anxiety, depression, stress, relationship pain, and trauma. Christian speaks English and Spanish and practices in California as a CA LMFT.
He uses straightforward talk therapy and practical tools to help people feel steadier day to day. Sessions focus on what's happening now and on small changes that make life easier.
How Christian works
He listens for patterns in relationships, attachment concerns, and self-worth issues that keep people stuck. Christian draws on approaches like cognitive behavioral techniques and acceptance strategies to help clients notice painful thoughts and choose actions that match their goals. He also uses attachment-based ideas to address how early relationships shape current trust and closeness.
The aim is to reduce overwhelming feelings and build better ways to connect and cope. Clients can expect a calm, respectful space to name what hurts and try new ways of responding. Christian often helps people practice skills between sessions so changes carry into real life.
He pays attention to cultural context and how stress from caregiving, illness, or life transitions affects mood and relationships. Therapy topics he commonly addresses include abandonment, codependency, communication problems, body image, chronic pain or illness, guilt and shame, and recovery from domestic violence or past abuse. Work is paced to each person's needs, with clear steps and realistic goals.
Christian lists 14 ways of working on the entry:
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Existential Therapy
- Gottman Method
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Narrative Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
- Systemic Therapy
What Christian works with
The areas below are the ones Christian selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Trauma and abuse
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Attachment issues
- Body image
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Emptiness
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Narcissism
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Training and background
| Register | LMFT |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 25 |
| Languages | English, Spanish |
| Session format | Online: video, phone, live chat or messaging |
| Country | California |
Memberships and registers are shown as supplied; they are not licences, and this directory does not verify them.
Online support options
Therapeutic approaches and online options
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, helps people notice painful thoughts and choose actions that match their values rather than getting stuck in worry or avoidance. It is useful for anxiety, stress, and life changes. Attachment-Based Therapy focuses on how early relationships shape current patterns of closeness and trust and can help with relationship problems, abandonment fears, and communication issues. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, CBT, looks at the link between thoughts, feelings, and actions and teaches practical skills to reduce depressive thinking and anxiety symptoms.Choosing the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with each person to pick methods that fit their goals, needs, and preferences. That might mean trying one approach for a while and adjusting if something else seems more helpful. The process is interactive and guided by what the person wants to change.
Online therapy makes these approaches more flexible. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation and skill practice. Phone sessions can be shorter check-ins or work better when bandwidth is limited. Live chat and text-based messaging let people check in between meetings, share brief updates, or process feelings in the moment. These options make it easier to fit therapy into a busy life and keep progress consistent.
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Common questions
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A practical next step
Write down two things you would want to be different in six months. That is the most useful thing to bring to a first session, whoever it is with. If you would rather start now than keep reading, online sessions are the quickest route.
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