Sharmaine Whitten
Calm, practical support for life’s hard moments
LMFT California
- Experience
- 5 years in practice
- Focus areas
- Stress, Anxiety, Relationship, Grief
- Approaches
- Gottman Method, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Languages
- English
About Sharmaine
Sharmaine Whitten is a California licensed marriage and family therapist who focuses on helping people manage stress, anxiety, relationship struggles, grief, and depression. She aims to create a calm, respectful space where people can talk through problems and find clearer ways forward.
Background and approach
Sharmaine keeps language direct and straightforward so busy parents can read and decide quickly if she might be a fit. She uses practical methods that match each person's needs rather than a one-size-fits-all plan.
Sessions often center on improving communication, reducing panic and anxiety, and coping with big life changes like separation or pregnancy and childbirth. Sharmaine also supports people dealing with guilt, shame, and questions about life purpose and self-love.
Her work draws on approaches such as the Gottman Method, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help translate insight into daily habits and small changes. Emotionally-Focused Therapy and Solution-Focused Therapy also inform her short-term and goal-driven work.
Sharmaine describes therapy as a collaborative process. She and the client set goals together and adjust the plan as progress is made.
Sessions are practical, with concrete skills to use between meetings. With five years of experience as an LMFT in California, she balances experience with an approachable style.
The initial steps are simple: answer a short questionnaire, choose a matching time, and begin working toward clearer routines and steadier emotions.
How these approaches translate to online care
Gottman Method emphasizes practical communication skills and short exercises to reduce conflict and improve connection; online sessions can walk through those skills and set small practice tasks between meetings. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, focuses on clarifying values and taking committed action even when emotions are difficult, which works well through guided conversations and homework assigned between sessions. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, CBT, targets unhelpful thoughts and behaviors with concrete techniques like thought records and behavioral experiments that transfer easily to remote work.Finding the right approach is part of the process. The therapist will collaborate with each person to choose methods that match their goals, needs, and daily life. That means trying an approach, checking how it feels, and adjusting the plan together as progress is made.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging, which provide flexibility for different schedules and situations. Video allows face-to-face interaction for skill practice, phone calls can fit into a short break, and text or live chat supports quick check-ins or ongoing reflection between sessions. These options make it easier to keep regular contact and work steadily toward clearer routines and reduced symptoms.
Frequently asked questions
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Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
5+ years
Licensed in
California
Languages
English