Lourdes Mayes, LCSW

Lourdes Mayes is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) who practices in California and speaks English and Spanish. She brings 21 years of experience to sessions and focuses on everyday problems like anxiety, depression, stress, grief, and relationship struggles. Her approach centers on clear, practical work that helps people move forward.

In the room she listens without judgment and helps clients name the things that keep them stuck. She uses cognitive behavioral ideas to spot unhelpful thoughts and test new behaviors. She also draws on acceptance and commitment work to help people clarify values and tolerate hard feelings while taking meaningful action.

Attachment-based ideas guide how she thinks about connection and intimacy, especially when relationships feel strained. Client-centered skills are part of how she builds rapport and helps clients feel heard. She also uses dialectical behavior strategies for emotion regulation and interpersonal effectiveness when stress or anger become overwhelming.

Sessions focus on practical skills, clearer communication, and problem-solving. Clients practice new ways of handling conflict, managing cravings or compulsive behaviors, and coping with life changes. Lourdes helps people identify small, manageable steps that lead to real change.

She works with concerns ranging from addictions, trauma and abuse, and domestic violence recovery to self-esteem, body image, and parenting challenges. She accepts international clients and offers sessions by video, phone, live chat, or text-based messaging.

How therapy approaches translate to online care

Online sessions with Lourdes draw on cognitive behavioral therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy to focus on practical change. CBT helps identify thinking patterns that fuel anxiety or depression and tests new behaviors to shift those patterns. ACT helps people name their values, accept difficult emotions, and take steps that match what matters to them.

She also uses attachment-based ideas to look at how relationship patterns shape feeling and behavior. Together the approaches are used collaboratively - the therapist and client decide which tools fit the situation and adjust as goals evolve. Finding the right approach is part of the work and happens through trial, feedback, and agreement about next steps.

Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging to make therapy more flexible. Video is useful for face-to-face conversation and skill practice, phone works when bandwidth is limited, live chat can be a shorter check-in, and messaging supports ongoing reflection between sessions. These options let people fit sessions around work, caregiving, or travel while keeping therapy consistent.