About Karina
Karina Fernandez is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 16 years in mental health care. She earned her Master of Social Work and has experience across settings that support people with depression, anxiety, PTSD, and trauma. Karina speaks English and Spanish and practices in Tennessee.
She focuses on practical steps people can use day to day. Sessions often start by identifying what feels most pressing. Then she and the client set clear, manageable goals and try out tools that fit the person’s life.
Background and approach
Karina draws on approaches that help change thinking patterns, manage intense feelings, and process painful memories. Her background includes work with survivors of violent crime and people dealing with complex grief and loss. She has supported those facing compassion fatigue, caregiver stress, and unique challenges like first responder issues.
Her experience spans addiction, relationship and family concerns, sleep problems, and major life transitions. In therapy she uses a client-centered stance that follows each person’s pace. She brings Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques to challenge unhelpful thoughts and Dialectical Behavior Therapy skills to build emotion regulation and coping.
For trauma that needs deeper processing, she incorporates EMDR and mindfulness practices as appropriate. Karina aims to help people uncover strengths and build routines that stick. Work with her tends to be collaborative and practical, focusing on small changes that add up.
To begin, a short matching process connects people to scheduling options.
How therapeutic approaches translate to online care
Client-Centered Therapy focuses on listening and following the person’s lead. In online sessions this means conversations start where the client feels most stuck and build from their priorities. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, uses practical exercises to change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors. It translates well to video or messaging by assigning brief homework and reviewing concrete steps together.Choosing the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will talk with each person about goals, symptoms, and preferences. Together they will decide whether to emphasize CBT skills, DBT strategies, EMDR sessions for trauma, or mindfulness practices, and adjust the plan as progress is made.
Online formats offer flexibility for different needs. Video calls allow face-to-face interaction for therapy exercises and guided processing. Phone sessions work well when bandwidth is limited or for check-ins away from a screen. Live chat and text-based messaging let people check in between sessions, try short coping skills, or keep a running journal of progress. These options help fit therapy into busy schedules and make it easier to maintain consistency.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
Also works with
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Blended family issues
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Domestic violence
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Immigration issues
- Impulsivity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Post-traumatic stress
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Self-love
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 16 years
- Licensed
- Tennessee
- Languages
- English, Spanish