Virginia Ballantyne
Supportive LCSW for life and relationship change
- Credentials
- LCSW
- Experience
- 12 years
- Licensed in
- California
- Languages
- English
- Format
- Online sessions
About Virginia
Virginia Ballantyne is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with 12 years of practice. She uses a client-centered, strengths-based approach to help people take steps toward feeling better. Her tone in sessions is nonjudgmental and focused on practical change.
Virginia offers sessions by video, phone, live chat, and text-based messaging to people residing in California. She brings experience supporting people affected by intimate partner violence, trauma and PTSD, anxiety, depression, and the effects of growing up with family members who had substance use or mental health challenges.
Background and approach
She creates a sex positive space where matters of sexual intimacy, identity, and desire can be discussed openly. She also identifies as LGBTQ+ affirming and an ally for sexual and gender minorities. Her clinical toolkit includes Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Narrative Therapy, and a client-centered orientation.
That mix lets her tailor sessions to each person's situation and goals. She emphasizes practical skills, perspective shifts, and collaborative planning so clients can handle stressors more effectively. Virginia has worked in nonprofit and county settings with disadvantaged populations, which informs her commitment to social justice and respect for each person’s right to self-determination.
She focuses on clear communication and building skills that fit a person’s daily life. To begin, a person selects the Start Therapy button, completes a short matching questionnaire, and schedules according to therapist availability. Sessions use a subscription that can be canceled at any time.
Therapeutic approaches for online sessions
Client-Centered Therapy focuses on listening closely and supporting a person’s own goals. The therapist follows the person’s lead, reflects what matters to them, and helps identify steps that feel achievable. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at how thoughts, feelings, and actions interact and teaches specific skills to reduce anxiety, depression, and unhelpful patterns. DBT, or Dialectical Behavior Therapy, adds practical tools for coping with intense emotions and improving communication.Choosing the right approach is a collaborative process. The therapist will discuss goals, preferences, and day to day challenges to decide which methods to try first. That plan can change as progress is made and new priorities appear.
Online therapy options include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging to increase flexibility. These formats make it easier to fit sessions into busy schedules and to continue work between appointments. Licensed professionals can use shorter check-ins or longer sessions depending on what helps a person move forward.
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.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
Concrete skills for riding out strong emotion, tolerating distress, and handling relationships without things escalating. The skills are practised in daily life, so between-session support by message or phone fits naturally.
Frequently asked questions
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How much clinical experience does she have?
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Relationship issues
- Trauma and abuse
- Career difficulties
Also works with
- Addictions
- Adoption and foster care
- Anger management
- BDSM, kink, and alternative sex culture
- Blended family issues
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- First responder issues
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- HIV / AIDS
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexuality
- Stress, Anxiety
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 12 years
- Licensed
- California
- Languages
- English
Next step
Talk to Virginia
- Takes a few minutes
- Nothing to set up just to look
- Stop at any point