- Stress and anxiety
- Family of origin
- Text messaging option
About Stacy
Dr. Stacy Johnston is a California psychologist with 32 years of experience. She works with adults on stress, anxiety, relationships, family concerns, self-esteem, and depression. She also focuses on family of origin issues and related topics such as attachment, codependency, and communication problems.
Stacy describes clients as the experts on their own stories and uses that perspective to guide sessions. She emphasizes practical steps people can take to reduce anxiety, manage relationship conflict, and rebuild confidence. Conversations are straightforward and aimed at solving specific problems that get in the way of daily life.
Her approach blends Client-Centered Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Solution-Focused Therapy. That mix supports exploring how past family roles affect current behavior, identifying unhelpful thought patterns, and testing small changes that can improve interactions and mood. Sessions focus on skills people can use between meetings.
She offers asynchronous text messaging as a primary option, describing it as flexible and useful for people who prefer writing over talking. Messages are typically answered within a few hours and no later than 12 hours, with multiple exchanges possible in a day when the therapist is not busy. This format can suit people who want more frequent contact than a weekly live session.
Stacy works with issues such as abandonment, control problems, fatherhood issues, infidelity, guilt and shame, and the emptiness some people feel after major life changes. She invites prospective clients to consider how patterns from their family of origin still show up now and to take a first step toward different ways of relating.
Approaches used for online care
Dr. Johnston uses Client-Centered Therapy to follow what matters most to the client and to listen for strengths that can be built on. This approach helps when people want to understand how their family background shapes current feelings and relationships.She also uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which looks at how thoughts and behaviors keep problems going and teaches concrete skills to reduce anxiety and improve mood. Solution-Focused Therapy is part of her work too and focuses on small, practical changes that can be tested between contacts to see what helps.
Choosing the right approach is collaborative. The therapist will talk with each person about their goals, preferences, and what has worked or not worked before. Together they decide whether to focus more on exploring family patterns, practicing new skills, or trying short experiments to produce quick change.
The biography notes that she provides asynchronous text messaging and prefers it for its flexibility and frequent contact. If other formats are important to you, confirm available session options before booking. Online work can make it easier to fit contact into a busy life, allow shorter check-ins, and offer time to reflect when writing rather than speaking.
Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
32+ years
Listed in
California
Languages
English
Frequently asked questions
What kinds of concerns does she address?
She works with stress, anxiety, relationship and family concerns as well as self-esteem and depression. Additional focuses include attachment, codependency, communication problems, and family of origin issues.
How would you describe her therapeutic style?
Her style is practical and client-centered. She treats the person as the expert on their story and emphasizes concrete steps to address current problems.
How much experience does she have?
She has 32 years of professional experience working with adults on a range of relationship and mood concerns.
What are her credentials and location?
She is a California psychologist with the credential CA Psychologist 17457 and practices from California.
Which languages are supported in sessions?
Sessions are offered in English.
Does she work with international clients?
She does not accept international clients at this time.
How are sessions delivered?
Her biography highlights asynchronous text messaging as a format she provides and prefers. Please confirm current session options before booking if you need a different format.
How does the subscription and cost work?
Cost varies with location and sessions use a subscription model that can be canceled at any time.
Online talk therapy is not emergency care. If you are in danger, use the emergency numbers. Looking for someone else? Find them by surname.