Barbara Pettibone
Experienced, practical support for life transitions
- Credentials
- LCSW, CSW
- Experience
- 46 years
- Licensed in
- Colorado
- Languages
- English
- Format
- Online sessions
About Barbara
Barbara Pettibone is a licensed clinical social worker in Colorado with a long history in mental health care. She brings steady, straightforward support for people coping with stress, anxiety, grief, depression, life changes, relationship and intimacy concerns, parenting questions, and related struggles. Her tone is warm and direct, and she centers the person seeking help when planning next steps.
Pettibone draws on 46 years of practice across inpatient psychiatric hospitals and outpatient settings.
Background and approach
She listens first, then helps set clear, practical goals based on the problems a person brings. Sessions focus on what will make daily life feel more manageable and on skills that can be used between meetings.
Her work often addresses aging and loss, caregiver stress, chronic illness and pain, blended family challenges, attachment and communication problems, and issues around self-esteem and body image. She also supports people dealing with trauma, bipolar disorder, and mood difficulties, and she integrates grief work when loss is involved. Therapeutic style is flexible and collaborative.
She uses client-centered listening, elements of cognitive behavioral therapy, emotion-focused methods, dialectical behavior skills, and attachment-based ideas when they fit the situation. The aim is practical progress rather than a rigid method. Pettibone describes herself as honest, forthright, and caring.
She asks clients to help set the agenda and treats their goals as primary. People can expect clear feedback, steady support, and guidance on next steps.
Therapeutic approaches and online care that fit your life
Attachment-Based Therapy focuses on patterns of connection and trust in relationships. It helps people understand how past bonds affect current reactions and can make it easier to change how they relate to others.Client-Centered Therapy centers on listening with empathy and following the client’s agenda. It creates space for someone to tell their story and decide the goals that matter most to them.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at the links between thoughts, feelings, and actions. It teaches practical tools to shift unhelpful thinking and to build coping steps for everyday problems like anxiety or depression.
Finding the right approach is part of the work together. The therapist will discuss these methods and help figure out which match a person’s needs, goals, and preferences. Decisions are made collaboratively and can change as progress is made.
Online sessions are offered by licensed professionals through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging. These options make it easier to fit therapy into a busy life, to connect from a different location, or to follow up between meetings. Flexibility in format lets people try what feels most practical and comfortable for them.
Attachment-Based Therapy
Looks at how early bonds shaped what you expect from closeness, and how that plays out now with a partner, a parent, or your own children.
Client-Centered Therapy
The direction comes from you rather than from a set programme. The therapist offers a warm, non-judgemental space to think out loud and work at your own pace. Online, this rests on the relationship rather than on being in the same room.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT looks at the link between what you think, how you feel, and what you do. You work on noticing unhelpful patterns and practising steadier responses. It suits online sessions well, because much of the work happens between appointments and can be talked through from anywhere.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
Also works with
- Abandonment
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Avoidant personality
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Impulsivity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Narcissism
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Post-traumatic stress
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Somatization
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Existential Therapy
- Jungian Therapy
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Somatic Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
- Internal Family Systems
- Systemic Therapy
- Experience
- 46 years
- Licensed
- Colorado
- Languages
- English
Next step
Talk to Barbara
- Takes a few minutes
- Nothing to set up just to look
- Stop at any point