About Stuart
Stuart Riskin helps people facing stress, anxiety, addiction, relationship struggles, and life changes. He is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with 28 years in the helping professions. He keeps language plain and meets people where they are.
His style is warm, respectful, and practical. Stuart arrived at social work after a first career in the entertainment business. That nontraditional path gave him varied experience in public and personal settings.
He draws on those life and work lessons when he talks with people about real problems.
Background and approach
He uses a strength-based, client-centered way of working. That means he treats people as experts on their own lives and partners with them to set goals. Sessions focus on what can change now and how to build useful routines and responses.
Stuart also blends cognitive behavioral ideas and emotion-focused methods to help with patterns that keep people stuck. He offers practical tools for managing moods, handling conflict, and responding to cravings or impulses. Mindfulness practices are used to increase calm and focus when helpful.
Clients often come with concerns about grief, trauma, parenting, intimacy, or career stress. Stuart listens for each person’s priorities and helps craft steps that fit daily life. He aims for steady progress rather than quick fixes.
He works with adults across a wide range of issues and accepts international clients. Sessions are available through several online formats to accommodate different schedules and needs.
How therapeutic approaches translate to online care
Stuart often uses Client-Centered Therapy to create a collaborative space where the client’s goals guide the work. This approach focuses on listening, understanding each person’s priorities, and helping them find their own solutions. It can help with confidence, decision making, and building motivation.He also applies Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to identify unhelpful thoughts and habits and replace them with practical strategies. CBT offers step-by-step techniques for managing anxiety, depressive thinking, cravings, and everyday stressors. Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT) is used when relationship patterns and strong feelings are central; it helps people notice emotional cycles and shift how they respond to one another.
Choosing the right approach is collaborative. The therapist will discuss goals, try methods, and adjust based on what helps most. Clients and the therapist work together to find tools and exercises that fit the person’s life and preferences.
Online options include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video works well for visual connection and longer conversations, while phone calls can be easier when bandwidth is limited. Live chat or text sessions can suit quick check-ins, coaching-style tasks, or when writing feels more comfortable. These formats make it easier to fit sessions into workdays, travel, or different time zones and support ongoing progress without requiring the same commute as in-person care.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
Also works with
- Abandonment
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Attachment issues
- Avoidant personality
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- HIV / AIDS
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 28 years
- Licensed
- California
- Languages
- English