About Donald
Donald Bliss helps people manage stress, anxiety, addictions, grief, relationship and intimacy concerns, and challenges around parenting and self esteem. He also supports those facing trauma and abuse, bipolar mood concerns, career transitions, and issues tied to adoption, attachment, and blended families. Donald practices in California and speaks English and Portuguese.
Donald has a long career in social work. He holds a master’s degree in social work and has forty years of experience in mental health and addictions settings.
Background and approach
His background includes outpatient and inpatient care, residential treatment, employee assistance programs, community agencies, and program management. He has also worked in nonprofit and government roles. In sessions Donald listens closely to each person’s story and looks for practical next steps.
He uses approaches that focus on the person’s goals, thought patterns, and present experiences. He often brings mindfulness and motivational techniques alongside cognitive and narrative strategies to help people change habits and make different choices. Donald’s work draws on both professional training and life experience.
He has lived and worked in many places around the world, including Africa and South America, and says that intercultural experience informs his thinking. He has also been involved in program design, training, and community planning. Clients can expect a collaborative, down-to-earth style.
Donald aims to support, encourage, and at times challenge people so they can move toward greater satisfaction. He helps people find what brings them joy and practical ways to get there.
Approaches that translate to online work
Client-centered therapy focuses on the person’s own goals and values and creates space for conversation that follows what matters most to the client. It is useful for people who want a supportive place to think through choices and feelings.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at how thoughts, feelings, and actions connect. It offers concrete ways to test unhelpful thoughts and try small behavioral changes, which can help with anxiety, depression, and many everyday problems.
Mindfulness Therapy teaches simple attention and grounding practices to reduce reactivity and increase awareness. It can be paired with other methods to help manage stress, cravings, rumination, and emotional ups and downs.
Finding the right mix of approaches is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with each person to pick methods that fit their goals, preferences, and life circumstances. That process can shift over time as needs change.
Online sessions offer practical flexibility. Video calls are close to face-to-face conversation and support visual cues. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited or when someone prefers not to be on camera. Live chat or text-based messaging works well for brief check-ins, journaling between sessions, or people who prefer writing. Together these options make it simpler to fit therapy into a busy schedule.
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
Also works with
- Abandonment
- Adoption and foster care
- Attachment issues
- Avoidant personality
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Career difficulties
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Co-morbidity
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Immigration issues
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 40 years
- Licensed
- California
- Languages
- English, Portuguese