About Annette
Annette Rios-Barrera is a licensed clinical social worker in Texas with 23 years of experience. She uses a trauma-informed, relational approach and speaks English and Spanish. Her work centers on helping people handle anxiety, depression, grief, and life transitions with practical care and compassion.
She often supports people exploring sexual and gender identity and those in non-traditional relationship structures. Annette also helps clients manage intimacy-related concerns, relationship strain, career stress, and the emotional impact of chronic illness or caregiving.
Background and approach
She addresses specific worries like abandonment, attachment issues, and body image in straightforward, goal-focused sessions. Sessions aim to rebuild trust, increase self-awareness, and strengthen coping skills. She blends acceptance and commitment ideas, attachment-focused thinking, and client-centered conversation to match each person’s needs.
Cognitive-behavioral and dialectical ideas are used when helpful to change unhelpful patterns and manage strong emotions. Annette brings a light touch when appropriate, including an interest in laughter-based practices to relieve tension and create connection. Her style is calm, direct, and adaptable to different life circumstances.
People who want clear tools and a respectful, nonjudgmental space often find this approach useful. She offers video, phone, chat, and text-based sessions so therapy can fit into busy lives. New clients begin by completing a short matching questionnaire and then schedule sessions according to therapist availability.
Therapeutic approaches for online healing and connection
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, or ACT, helps people name what matters most and take small committed steps toward those values. It is useful for anxiety, depression, and getting unstuck when life feels unclear. Attachment-Based Therapy focuses on patterns in close relationships and how early bonds affect current trust and connection. It can help with intimacy concerns and rebuilding safer ways of relating. Client-Centered Therapy centers the person’s own experience and priorities, offering reflective listening and empathy so clients feel heard and understood.Finding the right mix of approaches is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with each person to decide which methods fit their goals, needs, and preferences. That might mean trying different techniques over time and adapting the plan based on what feels most helpful.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video is useful for deeper conversations and body language cues. Phone sessions can fit into a short break or use less bandwidth. Live chat and text-based messaging allow quick check-ins, written reflection, or support between longer meetings. These options make it easier to schedule therapy around work, caregiving, or other commitments while keeping the focus on practical progress and emotional connection.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- LGBT
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
Also works with
- Abandonment
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Attachment issues
- Autism and Asperger Syndrome
- Avoidant personality
- BDSM, kink, and alternative sex culture
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Cancer
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Co-morbidity
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating and food-related issues
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Fertility issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Hoarding
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Immigration issues
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intellectual disability
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Smoking / vaping cessation
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Stress, Anxiety
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Attachment-Based Therapy
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)
- Existential Therapy
- Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
- Gottman Method
- Jungian Therapy
- Mindfulness Therapy
- Motivational Interviewing
- Narrative Therapy
- Psychodynamic Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Somatic Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
- Internal Family Systems
- Systemic Therapy
- Experience
- 23 years
- Licensed
- Texas
- Languages
- English, Spanish