About Me
Mercedes R. Mitchell is a Spanish-speaking Licensed Clinical Social Worker who earned her Master of Social Work from San Diego State University. Her employment experience includes over 15 years of Child Welfare and Adult Protection Services. She specializes in the treatment of trauma with children, adults & elderly/dependent adults from diverse populations using a trauma-informed approach. She understands the complex impact of trauma and how it affects a client's efforts to cope and function in all areas of life.
Our First Conversation
Our first session is a conversation, not an intake form. I'll ask what brought you in, what you've already tried, and what you're hoping changes. We'll figure out together whether we're a fit; if I think someone else on the team would serve you better, I'll say so.
From there, weekly 50-minute sessions are typical for the first few months. We'll check in periodically on what's working and recalibrate if something isn't. I send no homework you didn't agree to, and I don't grade you on between-session work — but I'll often suggest small experiments that move things forward faster than talk alone.
What You Can Count On From Me
The clients who've stayed longest tell me three things stand out. I track the throughline across sessions and bring it back into the room so a pattern you couldn't quite name becomes hard to miss. I push back when I think you're circling something rather than landing on it. And I treat fit as my problem to solve, not yours — if I think someone else on our team would serve you better, I'll say so before you've invested weeks finding out.
Who I’m Here For
My strongest fit is with adults in their 20s through 40s who look like they're handling life from the outside but feel persistently anxious, depleted, or disconnected underneath. That includes professionals running hot from burnout, partners working through the long aftermath of a rupture, and people processing grief or family-of-origin patterns showing up uninvited in adult relationships.
My Therapeutic Approach
I draw primarily on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). With CBT, I'm less interested in worksheets and more interested in helping you notice the thoughts that drive the loop you're stuck in — and then experimenting with what changes when you respond differently. ACT adds the piece CBT alone can miss: defining what actually matters to you, and using that as the anchor when life pulls in other directions.
For clients carrying trauma, I'm trained in EMDR and integrate it when it fits, with full transparency about what we're doing and why.
Treatment Methods
Solution-Focused
An evidence-informed therapeutic approach used by our providers. Ask your therapist how they integrate this method into your work together.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT helps you identify thought patterns that contribute to anxiety, depression, and stress — then build skills to interrupt and change them. Highly effective and well-researched.
Person/Client-Centered Counseling
An evidence-informed therapeutic approach used by our providers. Ask your therapist how they integrate this method into your work together.
Note: Each session is 60 minutes, whether it’s your first consult or an ongoing visit.
Insurance Accepted
Kaiser Permanente
Don’t see your plan? Call 909-295-5805 — we can verify your benefits.
Age Preferences
Young Adults (18-30)Middle Adulthood (30-64)Elderly (65 +)
Clinical Focus
Adjustment IssuesAnger ManagementAnxietyCareer CounselingCoping SkillsDementiaDepressionDomestic ViolenceGrief and LossLife CoachingLife TransitionMood DisordersObsessive-Compulsive DisordersSelf EsteemTrauma
Location
Sessions are offered via secure video. Available statewide across California.
