About Sydney
Sydney Erskine is a licensed marriage and family therapist who draws on 24 years of experience to help people facing stress, anxiety, addiction, grief, and relationship concerns. She aims to create a respectful, compassionate space where people can talk about what feels most urgent. Sydney uses practical tools alongside deeper exploration so clients leave with clearer next steps.
She takes a whole-person view that considers biological, psychological, social, and spiritual factors.
How Sydney works
That means sessions may include talking about life patterns, emotions, body sensations, and everyday habits. She blends listening with concrete strategies so a session can be both reflective and useful. Sydney's background includes work in addiction treatment centers, dual-diagnosis settings, and independent practice in the Bay Area of California.
Her training and long experience give her familiarity with common patterns that lead to repeated difficulties. She pays attention to where those patterns started and how they are showing up now. In practice she adapts methods to each person's needs.
Some sessions focus on emotion and connection. Others prioritize short-term problem solving or grounding techniques for strong feelings. The pace and focus are decided together with clear goals in mind.
People who come to Sydney often want to reduce anxiety, manage compulsive behaviors, repair intimacy-related struggles, or find purpose after loss. She aims to help clients turn insight into action, find measurable steps forward, and build sustainable coping skills. Her approach balances empathy with practical change.
Sydney lists 5 ways of working on the entry:
What Sydney works with
The areas below are the ones Sydney selected when setting up a profile. The first few are listed as the main focus; the rest are also named.
- Addictions
- LGBT
- Relationship issues
Also listed
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Multicultural concerns
- Post-traumatic stress
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sleeping disorders
- Somatization
- Stress, Anxiety
- Trauma and abuse
- Women's issues
Training and background
| Register | LMFT |
|---|---|
| Years in practice | 24 |
| 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 Sydney’s approaches translate to online therapy
Sydney uses emotion-focused work and client-centered methods that help people notice and name difficult feelings, build stronger emotional awareness, and improve connection in relationships. Emotionally-Focused Therapy focuses on how feelings drive reactions and helps people understand and change those patterns. Client-Centered Therapy emphasizes respectful listening, acceptance, and guiding clients to find their own answers rather than giving directives.She also draws on mindfulness practices to help with stress, anxiety, and strong emotions. Mindfulness Therapy offers simple breathing and attention exercises that reduce reactivity and help with sleep and focus. Together, these approaches support both insight and practical coping skills, and Sydney will collaborate with each person to find the best mix based on goals and preferences.
Online sessions are offered by video call, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging to provide flexibility. Video calls suit deeper conversational work, phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited, live chat is useful for brief check-ins, and messaging supports ongoing reflection between sessions. This variety lets people fit therapy into busy lives and try different formats to see what helps most.
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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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