Tina LaPorta
Practical, goal-focused family therapy
- Credentials
- LMFT
- Experience
- 15 years
- Licensed in
- Florida, Connecticut, New Jersey
- Languages
- English
- Format
- Online sessions
About Tina
Tina LaPorta is a licensed marriage and family therapist who focuses on practical help for families and parenting concerns. She speaks plainly and aims to make therapy feel manageable for people juggling busy lives. Sessions move at a steady, straightforward pace so parents can get tools they can try between appointments.
Tina uses clear goals and short-term plans to address the problems brought into session. Her training includes two master’s degrees in psychology - one in college teaching and one in counseling with a marriage and family therapy emphasis.
Background and approach
Tina spent years teaching psychology before shifting into clinical work. Early clinical roles included community mental health settings where she supported adults with serious and chronic symptoms, and programs that combined mental health and substance use treatment. Tina later worked for the federal government and the Department of Veterans Affairs in clinical roles at military and veterans sites.
Across those positions she gained experience with varied treatment settings, including outpatient, intensive outpatient, and partial hospitalization programs. These roles shaped her practical, skills-focused style. She holds the Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist credential - LMFT - and maintains licensure in Arizona and Florida.
In session she often uses cognitive behavioral techniques alongside client-centered conversation to help people change thoughts and behaviors that interfere with daily life. Her approach mixes finding immediate steps to try with space to understand patterns. Tina keeps language direct and uses plain explanations so parents can act on what they learn.
She welcomes questions and helps people make a clear plan for what to try next.
Therapeutic approaches and online care that fit family life
Tina commonly draws on client-centered therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy in online sessions. Client-centered therapy focuses on listening and understanding each person without judgment and helps people feel heard as they name goals and challenges. Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, looks at how thoughts influence feelings and actions and gives concrete tools to shift those patterns for anxiety, depression, or parenting stress.Choosing the right approach is part of the process. Tina works collaboratively with each person to decide which methods to try first and adjusts the plan over time based on what is working and what feels helpful. That partnership helps make sessions practical and tailored to the family's real needs.
Online therapy offers several practical benefits for busy families. Video calls let people meet face to face from home, phone sessions can fit into tight schedules, and live chat or text messaging provides quick check-ins and planning between sessions. These formats increase flexibility and make it easier to use therapy tools in day-to-day family life.
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.
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
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also works with
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Career difficulties
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 15 years
- Licensed
- Florida, Connecticut, New Jersey, Arizona
- Languages
- English
Next step
Talk to Tina
- Takes a few minutes
- Nothing to set up just to look
- Stop at any point