Sheri Pate, LMFT

Sheri Pate is a California LMFT (Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist) with 16 years of clinical experience. She works with adults on concerns such as stress, anxiety, anger, self-esteem, relationship and family issues, trauma and grief. She also supports people facing life changes, sleep problems, parenting challenges, career shifts, ADHD, bipolar and depression. Sessions use straightforward, practical tools rather than jargon.

Sheri uses mindfulness and relaxation exercises as a core part of her approach. She has led mindfulness, meditation and yoga groups since 2011 and brings those mind-body methods into sessions. These practices are presented as exercises clients can use between meetings to manage stress and difficult emotions.

She combines mindfulness with cognitive behavioral ideas and interpersonal strategies. That means working on the thoughts and behaviors that keep a problem going, and on patterns in close relationships that affect daily life. Sheri also draws on attachment-based and emotionally-focused perspectives to look at how early relationships shape current reactions.

Her background includes a bachelor’s degree in psychology from UCLA and a master’s degree in counseling psychology from California Lutheran University. She grew up in Los Angeles in a diverse neighborhood and describes herself as Hispanic Caucasian and a first-generation college graduate.

Sheri creates short, practical exercises such as guided imagery, visualization, and awareness practices. She has also developed a simple card tool called Witness Cards to help people identify areas for growth. The work in sessions is collaborative and focused on skills people can try between meetings to reduce reactivity and build steadier responses.

Approaches you can use in online sessions