Susan Futterman, LMFT - Therapist in California

About Susan

Susan Futterman is a licensed marriage and family therapist who focuses on trauma and grief using approaches that pay attention to relationships and body-based experience. She brings eleven years of practice in California to help people who feel stuck by anxiety, depression, or big life changes. Susan speaks English and frames sessions in everyday language so parents can follow along easily.

She tailors work to what each person needs, combining talk-based and somatic methods.

Background and approach

In early sessions she listens for patterns from past relationships and current stressors. That helps her pick tools that feel useful right away, whether someone is coping with panic, loss, or ongoing worry. Susan uses Attachment-Based Therapy to look at how early bonds affect present reactions.

She draws on Psychodynamic Therapy to trace recurring themes and meanings in a person’s life. Trauma-Focused and Somatic interventions are added when memories or body sensations keep interrupting daily life. Her background includes long-term work with trauma, complex grief, and mood concerns.

Over time she has helped people manage things like abandonment fears, dissociation, and shame by building practical coping skills. She also addresses relationship and family stresses alongside individual symptoms. Susan keeps sessions straightforward and goal-oriented.

Parents will find clear explanations, gentle curiosity about family patterns, and steps they can try between meetings. Her approach is collaborative and paced to each person’s readiness.

How therapeutic approaches work online

Attachment-Based Therapy looks at how early relationships shape how people react now. Online sessions use conversation to identify patterns and practice new ways of relating that reduce reactivity and worry. Psychodynamic Therapy focuses on recurring life themes and hidden feelings. In remote work this approach uses careful questions and reflection to bring patterns into view and create change.

Finding the right approach is part of the process. The therapist will work together with each person to choose methods that fit their goals, comfort level, and day-to-day life. That collaborative planning may combine attachment insight, psychodynamic reflection, and somatic or trauma-focused techniques when needed.

Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. These options make it easier to fit therapy into busy family routines and to continue work between appointments. Video helps with visual cues, phone offers a simple option when screens are hard, and text-based formats support ongoing check-ins and short coaching between sessions.

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.

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.

Psychodynamic Therapy

Exploring how earlier relationships and patterns still shape the present, often over a longer stretch of time. It relies on conversation and reflection rather than exercises.

Frequently asked questions

What concerns does Susan commonly address?

Susan works with stress, anxiety, trauma and abuse, grief, depression, coping with life changes, LGBT concerns, relationship issues, family strain, and career stress. She also focuses on related issues such as abandonment, attachment, dissociation, guilt and shame, and panic.

How would you describe her therapeutic style?

She blends attachment-based, psychodynamic, somatic, and trauma-focused techniques to match what a person needs. Sessions mix talking and body-aware practices to reduce symptoms and improve coping.

What is her clinical experience?

Susan has eleven years of experience working primarily with complex grief and complex trauma, along with mood and anxiety concerns. That background informs how she shapes short- and longer-term work.

Where is she licensed and located?

She is a licensed marriage and family therapist with the California license CA LMFT 101007 and practices in California.

Which languages are offered for sessions?

Sessions are offered in English.

What session formats are available?

Therapy is offered through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging. These options provide flexibility for different schedules and needs.

How is cost handled for sessions?

Costs vary with location and therapist availability and use a subscription model that can be canceled at any time. Exact pricing is provided during the sign-up process.

What are the first steps to begin working with her?

Start by selecting the Start Therapy button and completing a short matching questionnaire. After that, schedule sessions according to the therapist's availability.

Specialties and expertise

Top specialties

Also works with

Therapeutic approaches

Experience: 11 years
Licensed: California
Languages: English

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