About Deanna
Deanna Bennet Ridgway is a California licensed clinical social worker who supports people facing stress, anxiety, relationship struggles, trauma and abuse, low self-esteem, and depression. She also helps with grief, intimacy-related issues, parenting concerns, career questions, and coping with major life changes. Deanna has seven years of professional experience and approaches new clients with a calm, encouraging manner.
She aims to make the therapy space easy to use. Deanna works to create an open environment where clients can share thoughts and feelings without judgment.
How Deanna works
She acknowledges that starting therapy takes courage and she greets that step with respect and practical help. In sessions she focuses on clear goals and steady progress. Conversations are direct and focused on real-life changes clients want to make.
Deanna draws on evidence-based therapeutic techniques to guide those discussions and tailors what she uses to each person's needs. She often supports people working through caregiver stress, body image concerns, divorce and separation, forgiveness, and questions about life purpose and self-love. Deanna also helps with compassion fatigue and issues related to bipolar disorder when those concerns arise in therapy.
Sessions emphasize skills you can use between meetings, and attention to what matters most to the client. She blends practical tools with reflection so people can make changes that fit their daily lives. The overall aim is steadier mood, clearer relationships, and a better sense of direction.
What Deanna works with
The areas below are the ones Deanna 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
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Family conflicts
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Intimacy-related issues
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Parenting issues
- Self esteem
- Self-love
Training and background
| Register | LCSW |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 7 |
| Languages | English |
| 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
How evidence-based methods work online
Deanna uses evidence-based therapeutic techniques that focus on skills and understanding. One common approach helps people learn coping skills for anxiety and stress through short exercises and real-world practice, which is useful for daily worries and managing overwhelm. Another approach emphasizes processing trauma and abuse at a pace that feels manageable, combining careful listening with steps to reduce symptoms and improve safety and functioning.Finding the right approach is a joint process. The therapist will talk with the client about goals, try methods that fit their needs, and adjust over time. Clients and the therapist pick tools together and check what is helping as therapy progresses.
Online therapy offers practical flexibility. Video calls make it possible to have face-to-face conversation without travel, phone sessions can work when bandwidth or camera use is limited, and live chat or text messaging provide shorter check-ins or ongoing support between meetings. These options let people fit therapy into work, caregiving, or busy days while keeping consistent treatment with a licensed professional.
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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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