About Karen
Karen Gudino-Gutierrez is a California licensed clinical social worker with seven years of practice. She focuses on understandable, practical help for stress, anxiety, depression, grief, anger, and self-esteem concerns. Karen speaks English and Spanish and aims to meet people where they are.
Her approach mixes clear, hands-on strategies with skills practice. She uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to identify unhelpful thoughts and try new behaviors. Dialectical Behavior Therapy offers tools for emotion regulation and distress tolerance.
How Karen works
Mindfulness techniques help bring attention to the present moment. She also draws on Motivational Interviewing to explore what matters most to a person and build motivation for change. Solution-Focused Therapy is used to set small, achievable goals and track progress.
Sessions are shaped to each person’s needs rather than forcing a single method. Karen has worked with adults facing issues like abandonment, attachment struggles, caregiver stress, chronic illness and pain, and codependency. She also helps with communication problems, guilt and shame, isolation, and questions about life purpose.
In sessions she offers respectful, compassionate support and a plan tailored to practical steps. People work on skills, try new ways of coping, and set realistic goals. Karen’s style is warm and direct, aimed at making steady, manageable change.
Karen lists 6 ways of working on the entry:
What Karen works with
The areas below are the ones Karen selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Grief
- Anger management
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Attachment issues
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Depression
- Emptiness
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Hoarding
- Infidelity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Training and background
| Register | LCSW |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 7 |
| 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
Online approaches that teach skills and build motivation
CBT, or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, focuses on spotting unhelpful thoughts and testing new behaviors to reduce symptoms like anxiety and depression. It is practical and often includes homework between sessions to practice what was learned.DBT, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, offers clear tools for managing strong emotions and reducing reactive responses. It teaches skills for emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and improving communication in stressful moments.
Mindfulness Therapy trains attention to the present moment and reduces rumination. It helps people tolerate discomfort and notice patterns without reacting immediately.
Finding the right approach is part of the work. Karen will collaborate with each person to decide which combination of CBT, DBT, or mindfulness fits their goals and preferences. She checks in regularly and adjusts methods when needed so therapy stays practical and relevant.
Online sessions are offered by licensed professionals using video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging. Video allows face-to-face conversations and visual cues, phone can be a simpler option when bandwidth is limited, live chat and text-based messaging work well for brief check-ins or ongoing support between longer sessions. These formats make scheduling more flexible and help therapy fit into busy lives.
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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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