Anna Dow, LMFT

Anna Dow is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) practicing in California with seven years of professional experience. As an LMFT, she holds a license to provide therapy focused on relationships, families, and individual mental health concerns. She brings both clinical training and lived experience to her work, identifying as queer and non-monogamous and prioritizing an inclusive, nonjudgmental approach to people of all sexual, gender, and relationship orientations.

She has specialized training in supporting neurodivergent clients, people navigating non-monogamous relationship structures, those in unstable partnerships, and individuals facing LGBTQ+-related challenges. Her background includes work in psychiatric mental health settings, where she served as a therapist in a hospital and in inpatient residential programs, experiences that expanded her skills in addressing a broad range of mental health challenges and diagnoses.

Her therapeutic style is tailored to each person’s personality and needs, and she commonly integrates mindfulness practices, expressive arts, Internal Family Systems (IFS) parts work, dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and somatic interventions. She also helps clients explore ways to build and strengthen support networks, operating from the view that connection with community is a key resource in addressing anxiety, depression, overwhelm, and loneliness.

Anna emphasizes that clients are rarely as alone as they feel, and she offers collaborative, compassionate support as part of a client’s broader team while they navigate relationships, identity questions, neurodivergence, and the ups and downs of life.

Evidence-Based Approaches and Flexible Online Care

Anna Dow often draws from cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to help clients identify and shift unhelpful thinking patterns and behaviors - a practical approach useful for anxiety, mood concerns, and stress. She also uses dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) skills to teach emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and clearer interpersonal communication, which can be especially helpful for relationship and intensity-related issues. In addition, Anna incorporates Internal Family Systems (IFS) parts work to explore internal conflicts and build self-led internal balance, supporting clients who want to understand complex inner experiences.

Choosing the right approach is part of the therapeutic process. Anna works collaboratively with each person to assess needs, goals, and preferences, and together they tailor techniques that feel most helpful rather than applying a one-size-fits-all method.

Online therapy with Anna includes video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging to increase flexibility and access. These options make it easier to fit therapy into a busy schedule, maintain continuity of care during life transitions, and connect from wherever the client is located within California, while preserving a collaborative, evidence-informed therapeutic experience.