Dr. Marva Bourne, LMFT

Dr. Marva Bourne is an LMFT (Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist) practicing in California with nine years of clinical experience. She combines advanced training with a focus on how early childhood trauma affects brain development and life trajectory, helping individuals, couples, and families navigate challenges such as trauma, grief, depression, anxiety, relationship conflict, and parenting concerns.

Her academic background includes a doctoral degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from Loma Linda University and master’s degrees in Marriage and Family Therapy and in Education Counseling. This training supports a broad professional foundation that has extended into social work settings, offering opportunities to work with troubled adolescents and families involved in foster care or adoption.

Dr. Bourne integrates evidence-informed approaches, including cognitive behavioral and emotion-focused therapies, to address symptoms and patterns while centering attachment and relational dynamics. She supports clients through life transitions, addiction and recovery issues, eating and sleeping concerns, ADHD, and intimacy and family complexity. Dr. Bourne invites clients to a collaborative process of self-discovery, awareness, and healing guided by clinical expertise and empathy.

Approaches for Online Therapy and Relational Healing

Dr. Marva Bourne uses several therapeutic approaches that translate well to online care. Attachment-Based Therapy explores how early relationships shape current patterns and emotional responses - it helps clients understand and change relational dynamics, especially in families, adoptive situations, and intimacy concerns.

Client-Centered Therapy emphasizes empathy, active listening, and the client’s own strengths. This approach supports people working through grief, life changes, low self-esteem, and identity questions by creating space for their priorities and pace.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying and shifting unhelpful thoughts and behaviors. It can be effective for anxiety, depression, panic, obsessive thoughts, and coping strategies for stress and addiction-related issues.

Finding the right approach is a collaborative process. Dr. Bourne works with clients to assess needs, goals, and preferences and adjusts methods over time so the therapeutic plan fits each person or couple.

Online therapy offers practical flexibility - sessions can occur by video call or phone, and shorter check-ins are available via live chat or text-based messaging. These options make it easier to maintain consistency, fit therapy into busy schedules, and access licensed professionals from different locations within California while preserving the therapeutic relationship.