About Leonard
Leonard Burns is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) based in California with 35 years of clinical experience. He helps people facing stress, anxiety, depression, relationship and family strain, trauma and abuse, grief, addictions, parenting challenges, sleep problems, low self-esteem, ADHD, and intimacy concerns. He also supports issues like compassion fatigue and a wide range of attachment and control difficulties.
He focuses on building an honest, straightforward relationship as the starting point for change.
How Leonard works
Sessions emphasize practical steps and clear goals. He listens for what matters to the person and then offers tools that fit their life and pace. His approach draws on several methods including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Attachment-Based Therapy, Client-Centered Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Existential Therapy.
EMDR is part of his background as well. These approaches are used to help people process trauma, manage anxiety, improve communication, and make meaningful life changes. Leonard has extensive experience with complex trauma, grief, cancer survivorship concerns, and identity issues for people whose lives fall outside cultural norms.
He describes therapy as a partnership where commitment and steady effort lead to progress over time. Sessions are available in English and take place online through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging. He practices in California as a CA LMFT and draws on decades of clinical work when helping people find steadier ground.
Leonard lists 14 ways of working on the entry:
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Existential Therapy
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
- Jungian Therapy
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Narrative Therapy
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Somatic Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
What Leonard works with
The areas below are the ones Leonard selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Avoidant personality
- Blended family issues
- Cancer
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Infidelity
- Intellectual disability
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Post-traumatic stress
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Traumatic brain injury
- Visually impaired
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Training and background
| Register | LMFT |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 35 |
| 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 online therapy and different approaches work together
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) focuses on helping people notice what matters to them and take action toward those values, even when difficult thoughts or feelings appear. It can be helpful for anxiety, depression, and coping with life changes. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at unhelpful thinking and behavior patterns and teaches practical skills to change them, which is useful for anxiety, sleep problems, and anger. Attachment-Based Therapy explores how early relationship patterns shape current connections and can help with intimacy, attachment issues, and communication struggles.Choosing the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will talk with the person about goals, history, and what feels most useful. Together they try methods, check what helps, and adjust the plan as progress unfolds.
Online therapy offers several practical benefits. Video calls let people see facial cues and use a full session format. Phone sessions work well when internet bandwidth is limited or when a brief check-in is needed. Live chat and text messaging are useful for shorter updates, ongoing support between sessions, or when typing feels more comfortable. These options make it easier to fit therapy into a busy life and to keep steady momentum toward change.
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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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