Dr. Jillian Barna, LMFT

Dr. Jillian Barna is a licensed marriage and family therapist practicing in California with 19 years of experience. She focuses on helping people who are facing addiction, anxiety, depression, stress, relationship struggles, and LGBTQ+ concerns. She meets people where they are and helps them take the next step toward change.

She often starts sessions by listening to the person’s story and identifying the immediate problems they want to solve. Jillian uses tools from cognitive behavioral therapy to help people notice unhelpful thoughts and try different behaviors. She also draws on client-centered and narrative approaches to keep work grounded in each person’s values and life story.

Her work frequently addresses addiction and substance use alongside mood and anxiety symptoms. She pays attention to attachment and family of origin issues that shape how people relate to others. Practical skills for managing panic, mood swings, or workplace stress are common parts of her sessions.

Jillian takes a collaborative approach. She uses motivational interviewing techniques to help people clarify what matters to them and to support small, sustainable changes. Dialectical behavior therapy strategies may be used when people need tools for emotion regulation and distress tolerance.

Sessions are offered in English and provided through a range of remote formats. She seeks to help people build resilience, reconnect with their goals, and make steady progress over time.

How Jillian uses therapy approaches online

Dr. Barna often integrates cognitive behavioral therapy and client-centered methods in online work. CBT helps people identify patterns of thinking that increase anxiety or cravings and then try different responses to change outcomes. Client-centered therapy focuses on listening, reflecting, and helping people name their values so goals come from what matters to them.

She may also bring dialectical behavior therapy skills into sessions when emotion regulation or distress tolerance is needed. DBT skills teach concrete techniques for handling intense feelings, managing urges, and improving interpersonal effectiveness, which can help with mood swings, panic, and relationship stress.

Finding the right approach is part of the process. The therapist will collaborate with each person to decide which methods fit their goals, needs, and preferences. That conversation guides which tools are used and how quickly changes are tried.

Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video sessions work well for longer therapeutic work and skill practice, phone sessions can fit a break at work or require less bandwidth, and chat or text can be useful for brief check-ins, homework support, or when writing helps clarify thoughts. These options make ongoing therapy more flexible and easier to fit into daily life.