Sharon (Shonnie) Brown
Compassionate, direct therapy for life's transitions
LMFT California
- Experience
- 30 years in practice
- Focus areas
- Stress, Anxiety, Relationship, Self esteem
- Approaches
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Attachment-Based Therapy
- Languages
- English
About Sharon
Sharon (Shonnie) Brown is a California-based licensed marriage and family therapist with three decades of clinical experience. She draws on a long career helping people navigate stress, anxiety, relationship challenges, grief, trauma and abuse, career questions, and self-esteem concerns.
Background and approach
Her background includes work with separation and divorce, infidelity, co-parenting education, social anxiety groups, and difficult life transitions, and she often blends practical tools like goal setting, coping skills, mindfulness, and writing exercises into her work.
Her style is straightforward and empathetic, combining client-centered attention with cognitive and solution-focused techniques, family-systems ideas, existential reflection, and elements of dialectical behavior therapy when helpful. She values a strong therapeutic relationship while encouraging self-compassion, improved emotional tolerance, and steps toward healthier boundaries and self-protection.
Sharon also brings personal experience with cultural adaptation and life change to her practice, and she weaves writing and reflective practices into therapy for emotional processing and recovery. Sharon holds an M.A. in counseling psychology and a B.A. from UC Berkeley, and maintains California licensure as an LMFT (CA LMFT 30787).
Her work emphasizes realistic, gradual progress and practical skills to help clients take manageable steps toward meaningful change.
Combining proven approaches with online care
Sharon frequently uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people identify and shift unhelpful thinking patterns and build concrete coping skills for anxiety, depression, and stress-related concerns. She also draws on Attachment-Based Therapy to explore how early relational patterns influence current relationships and emotional regulation, which can be useful for intimacy issues, attachment concerns, and trust challenges. Additionally, her client-centered stance emphasizes empathy and collaboration, giving clients space to lead the pace and focus of work while she offers guidance and practical tools.
Choosing the right approach is treated as a collaborative process. Sharon discusses goals, preferences, and life circumstances with each person to find methods that fit their needs, and she adapts techniques over time based on what is most helpful for progress and emotional well-being.
Online sessions are offered via video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to provide flexibility around work, caregiving, and location. These formats make it easier to access consistent support, practice skills between meetings, and maintain continuity during life transitions while collaborating with a licensed professional.
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Areas of expertise
Primary focus
Also works with
Additional focus areas
Therapeutic approaches
Experience
30+ years
Licensed
California
Languages
English