PuttingFamilyFirst

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OM Portrait of Octavia Macklin
Online therapist

Octavia Macklin

Practical, honest therapy for life transitions

Credentials
LMFT
Experience
3 years
Licensed in
California
Languages
English
Format
Online sessions

About Octavia

Octavia Macklin is a licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT) in California. She brings three years of clinical therapy experience and more than a decade working in addiction recovery. She focuses on helping people facing relationship strain, low self-esteem, depression, stress, anxiety, and life transitions.

Octavia aims for clear, practical work that feels real and down to earth. She uses a mix of approaches rather than one set method. Sessions often include practical tools, focused conversation, and exercises that help change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors.

Background and approach

She also draws on deeper exploration when patterns from childhood or family relationships show up. Clients can expect direct and honest feedback paired with respect and calm. The work is collaborative: she helps clients set goals and choose steps that fit their life.

Many people come for help with addiction concerns, grief, career shifts, or intimacy and communication problems. Octavia pays attention to how identity and relationships shape well-being. She lists LGBT and gender dysphoria among areas of focus and also works with issues like body image, codependency, and forgiveness.

Her prior addiction-recovery background informs how she supports clients struggling with substance use and related patterns. Her practice emphasizes finding practical change and personal insight. She encourages small experiments between sessions and checks progress together.

Octavia wants people to leave therapy feeling clearer, more able to cope, and better able to move toward the life they want.

Therapeutic approaches that work online

Octavia often draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), which focuses on identifying unhelpful thoughts and changing behaviors to reduce distress and improve daily functioning. CBT is useful for anxiety, depression, stress, and patterns that keep repeating in relationships.

She also uses Motivational Interviewing, a collaborative and nonjudgmental way to help people find their own reasons for change. This approach can help with addiction, motivation, and decisions about next steps when someone feels stuck.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. Octavia will talk with each person about goals and preferences and then suggest methods to try. The process is collaborative and she adjusts the plan based on what helps the client make steady progress.

Online therapy offers practical flexibility for busy lives. Video calls let you see facial cues and hold more traditional sessions, while phone, live chat, and text messaging provide shorter touchpoints and easier scheduling. These options make it simpler to fit therapy into work, parenting, or recovery routines and to keep momentum between sessions.

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.

Existential Therapy

Takes the larger questions seriously: meaning, choice, mortality, responsibility. Suited to periods when the difficulty is less a symptom than a sense that something has to change.

Motivational Interviewing

A way of working through mixed feelings about change without being pushed. The therapist helps you weigh things up and find your own reasons, which often makes a difficult decision feel less stuck.

Frequently asked questions

What kinds of concerns does she help with?
She works with a wide range of issues including addictions, relationship struggles, low self-esteem, depression, stress and anxiety, grief, and coping with life changes. Additional focus areas include intimacy-related issues, body image, codependency, and family of origin problems.
What is her therapeutic style like?
Her approach is direct, experiential, and humanistic; she mixes practical techniques with deeper exploration. Therapy often includes goal-setting, exercises, and clear feedback tailored to each person.
How much clinical experience does she have?
She has three years of clinical therapy experience plus more than ten years working in addiction recovery before becoming a therapist. That background shapes how she supports people with substance use and related patterns.
What credentials and location are listed?
She is a licensed marriage and family therapist - LMFT - with California license CA LMFT 155858, and she practices in California.
Which languages and international clients are supported?
Sessions are offered in English and she accepts international clients.
What session formats are available?
Therapy can be conducted via video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to fit different needs and schedules.
How are costs handled?
Cost varies with location and therapist availability; sessions are provided through a subscription model that can be canceled at any time.
How do I begin working with her?
Start by selecting the Start Therapy button and completing a short matching questionnaire. After that you can schedule sessions according to the therapist's availability.

Next step

Talk to Octavia

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