About Bertha
Bertha Ruvalcaba helps people who are feeling overwhelmed by stress, anxiety, depression, or difficult life changes. She introduces a calm, steady presence so people can name their struggles and start to feel less stuck. She offers sessions in English and Spanish and practices in California as an LCSW - Licensed Clinical Social Worker.
With two decades of experience, she uses practical tools from several approaches to help people manage emotions and rebuild daily routines.
Background and approach
Sessions focus on what is happening now and on simple steps that fit into everyday life. The work often includes learning coping skills, noticing unhelpful thoughts, and practicing new ways of relating to painful memories. Bertha aims to create a warm, nonjudgmental space where thoughts and feelings can be shared.
She listens for each person’s priorities and helps set small, achievable goals. Conversations are direct but compassionate, with room for both emotion and problem solving. She also supports people through relationship strain, caregiving stress, adoption and foster care issues, and recovery from abuse.
Other concerns she addresses include postpartum depression, bipolar mood challenges, anger, social anxiety, and grief related to separation or divorce. Therapy with her typically combines mindfulness exercises, skills practice, and values-based actions. The approach is collaborative - she and the client decide what fits best.
Getting started involves a short intake to match needs and schedule sessions that work for the person.
How evidence-based approaches translate to online care
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helps people notice painful thoughts without getting stuck in them, then choose small actions that match what matters most. It can help with depression, anxiety, and finding direction after big life changes. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy focuses on the link between thoughts, feelings, and actions and gives concrete strategies to shift unhelpful patterns; it is often used for anxiety, low mood, and social fears.Finding the right approach is part of the process. The therapist will talk with the person about goals, try methods that fit their needs, and adjust based on what feels most helpful. That collaborative decision making means the plan can change as progress is made.
Online sessions offer several practical benefits. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation when schedules or travel are limited. Phone sessions work well when bandwidth is low or when someone prefers not to be on camera. Live chat and text-based messaging provide shorter check-ins, timely support between sessions, and flexibility for people who need brief touchpoints during a busy day. These options make it easier to continue care amid work, caregiving, or other obligations.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Trauma and abuse
Also works with
- Adoption and foster care
- Anger management
- Bipolar disorder
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Social anxiety and phobia
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 20 years
- Licensed
- California
- Languages
- English, Spanish