Online Relationship Therapy
Relationship Therapy in Berkeley, CA
A Berkeley-based Licensed Clinical Social Worker offering online couples and relationship therapy to clients across California.
Looking for a relationship therapist in Berkeley? Fanshen Thompson is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW #25004) based in Berkeley, offering online couples and relationship therapy to people located anywhere in California. Sessions are held by secure video, so you can meet from Berkeley, Oakland, the wider East Bay, or across the state.
A Berkeley therapist, without the Berkeley commute
Being based in Berkeley means working with a therapist who understands the pace and relationship culture of the East Bay. Working online matters just as much for couples: no one has to leave work early, fight bridge traffic, or coordinate two schedules to sit in the same waiting room. You join from wherever you both already feel comfortable, which for most couples makes it far easier to keep showing up for the work.
Who this is for
This practice works with the full range of relationships: married, partnered, dating, long-term, and newly serious; gay, straight, and LGBTQ; monogamous and consensually non-monogamous. The approach is humanist — it adapts to the relationship in front of it.
Common reasons people reach out: communication that keeps hitting the same wall (the same argument, different night); disconnection (feeling more like roommates or co-parents than partners); rebuilding trust after a rupture or a long stretch of distance; intimacy and desire that have faded or fallen out of sync; and big transitions — moving in, marriage, a new baby, blending families, or deciding whether to stay together.
What the work looks like
The approach draws on the Gottman Method, one of the most researched frameworks in couples therapy, so the work is structured and skills-based, not just venting. First, a shared picture: early sessions map the patterns, not just the last fight. Then new skills practiced in real time — ways of talking, repairing, and staying connected during conflict instead of escalating or shutting down. Then the deeper layer: underneath most recurring fights are attachment needs and longings, and the work helps you hear each other's. The goal is a relationship you actively nurture again, with tools that outlast therapy.
Individual and sex therapy, too
Not every relationship question is a two-person conversation. Fanshen also offers individual therapy and sex therapy — for desire discrepancy, sexual shame, intimacy, and the parts of relational life that are easier to explore one-on-one first. Learn more about couples therapy or the Gottman-informed approach.
Questions people often ask.
No. Fanshen is Berkeley-based but works entirely online with clients located anywhere in California.
Let's start with a free conversation.
A 20-minute consultation so we can see if we're a fit — and so you can get a feel for how I work.