Mara Bruckner, LMFT

Mara Bruckner is a California licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) with 22 years of experience. She has worked in independent practice and in county and state funded agencies. Mara has long experience helping people manage anxiety, depression, relationship strain, and many life changes.

She has worked with children, teens, and adults diagnosed on the autistic spectrum, running play-based interventions, social skills groups, and parent guidance. In independent practice she has focused on teens and adults with Asperger’s or high functioning autism, as well as people facing mood and anxiety concerns. Her background includes work in both agency settings and a independent practice setting in Southern California.

Mara uses a warm, interactive style and often brings light humor into sessions. She combines different approaches to match each person’s needs, drawing on cognitive behavioral methods, psychodynamic ideas, solution-focused work, and client-centered care. Sessions are collaborative and tailored to individual goals.

She supports people dealing with stress, jealousy, intimacy and relationship problems, grief, addictions, parenting strain, and many other concerns. Mara also works with issues like abandonment, family of origin struggles, control problems, isolation, and hoarding. Her practice includes work on self-esteem, anger, career decisions, and coping with major life transitions.

Mara invites clients to take an active role in their work together and aims to create a respectful, practical space for change. Prospective clients can expect clear conversation, goal setting, and strategies they can use between sessions.

Approaches that shape online therapy

Mara draws on cognitive behavioral ideas to help people notice and change unhelpful thinking and behavior patterns. CBT is often useful for anxiety, depression, phobias, relationship difficulties, and managing distressing habits.

She also uses client-centered therapy that emphasizes listening, respect, and working at each person’s pace. This approach helps people feel heard and to build clearer goals from their own values and priorities.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. Mara will talk with each person about their goals, symptoms, and preferences and then shape sessions together. That collaborative process helps decide which methods and exercises to use and how to pace the work.

If you are considering remote sessions, confirm the current session options before booking so you know what formats are available. Online therapy can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy schedule, reduce travel time, and allow shorter check-ins when needed. It can also make it simple to keep continuity of care during life transitions.