PuttingFamilyFirst

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MG Portrait of Minerva Guzman
Online therapist

Minerva Guzman

Compassionate therapy for family and relationship needs

Credentials
LMFT
Experience
13 years
Licensed in
California
Languages
English, Spanish
Format
Online sessions

About Minerva

Minerva Guzman is a licensed marriage and family therapist with 13 years of clinical experience in California. She focuses on relationship and family concerns, helping people who are coping with depression, self-esteem struggles, and life transitions. She aims to make the first step into therapy feel manageable and respectful of each person’s pace.

She creates a calm, nonjudgmental space where clients can talk through difficult feelings and real-life problems. Sessions emphasize clear communication and practical steps rather than long lectures.

Background and approach

Minerva encourages openness and works to build trust so people feel heard. Her background includes work with adoption and foster care situations, immigration-related stresses, and multicultural concerns. She also addresses issues such as impulsivity, forgiveness, and self-harm in ways that honor each person’s story.

These experiences inform how she supports family and parenting-related challenges. Minerva blends several therapeutic approaches to match what each person needs. She uses mindfulness to help manage difficult emotions, solution-focused techniques to set achievable goals, and client-centered methods to keep sessions grounded in the client’s priorities.

Conversations are practical and focused on small, doable changes. Sessions can be held in English or Spanish. She supports people who want help finding better communication, rebuilding confidence, or adapting to big life changes.

Her style is steady, compassionate, and geared toward real-world results.

How Minerva’s approaches translate to online therapy

Minerva uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Client-Centered Therapy to guide online work. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, helps people notice difficult thoughts and feelings without letting them control actions, which can be useful for depression and life transitions. Client-Centered Therapy focuses on listening and reflecting so clients feel understood and can find their own solutions.

She also draws on Mindfulness Therapy to teach simple awareness and breathing skills for stressful moments. These practices are aimed at helping people respond rather than react, and they work well in short exercises during remote sessions.

Choosing the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist helps clients identify goals and preferences, then adjusts methods over time. Together they monitor what helps and shift techniques if needed, so therapy matches the client’s needs.

Online sessions are offered by video, phone, live chat, or text messaging to provide flexibility. Those options make it easier to fit therapy into busy family schedules and to connect from different locations. Remote formats let clients practice skills between sessions and check in using the method that works best for them.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

Less about arguing with difficult thoughts, more about loosening their grip and acting on what matters to you anyway. Values and committed action carry the work, which suits conversation at a distance.

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.

Mindfulness Therapy

Attention training: noticing thoughts and physical feelings as they arrive without being carried off by them. Much of it is practice you do yourself, so guidance over video or audio works much as it would in person.

Frequently asked questions

What concerns does she address?
She works with relationship and family problems, self-esteem, depression, and coping with life changes. Additional areas include adoption and foster care, immigration issues, forgiveness, and multicultural concerns.
How would you describe her therapeutic style?
Her sessions are open and nonjudgmental, with a practical focus on communication and small behavior changes. She combines listening with concrete steps clients can try between sessions.
What is her professional background?
She has 13 years of professional experience working with relationship and family issues and related concerns like impulsivity and self-harm.
What are her credentials and where is she based?
She is a licensed marriage and family therapist, CA LMFT 111901, practicing in California.
Which languages are supported?
Sessions are offered in English and Spanish.
What formats are available for sessions?
Sessions can be conducted via video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to suit different needs.
How is cost handled?
Cost varies with location and therapist availability; sessions use a subscription that can be canceled at any time.
What do I do to begin therapy?
Use the Start Therapy button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and then schedule sessions according to therapist availability.

Next step

Talk to Minerva

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