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LCSW

Tammy Foster, LCSW

  • Experience22 years
  • LocationCalifornia
  • Focus areasStress and Anxiety, Addictions, and Relationship
  • Therapy approachesInternal Family Systems and Attachment-Based Therapy
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About Tammy

Tammy Foster is a California-based Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with 22 years of clinical experience supporting people facing stress, anxiety, depression, addictions, relationship struggles, grief, trauma, parenting challenges, ADHD, and life transitions.

Background and approach

She brings a background that includes early work as an addiction specialist and interventionist and administrative experience at an adolescent treatment center in Northern California, which informs her understanding of substance-related problems and coming-of-age difficulties. Her way of working is warm, interactive, and strengths-focused, blending client-centered listening with practical skills drawn from cognitive behavioral and dialectical behavior approaches.

Tammy also draws on attachment-based ideas and Internal Family Systems to explore internal conflicts and relationship patterns. She combines coaching and counseling perspectives to help clients move from problem-focused cycles toward clearer goals and greater emotional balance.

Tammy emphasizes collaboration and holds a hopeful stance about change, inviting clients to discover resilience, healthier boundaries, and improved communication. Her practice supports people navigating career pressures, intimacy and sexual issues, codependency, caregiving stress, and other concerns that interfere with everyday functioning and wellbeing.

Integrating proven approaches into online care

Tammy uses Internal Family Systems to help clients identify and compassionately relate to different parts of themselves, which can be useful when addressing internal conflict, shame, or patterns that fuel anxiety and addictions. Attachment-Based Therapy is another component that explores how early relationship patterns affect current bonds and communication, making it helpful for intimacy issues, codependency, and family concerns. She also employs Client-Centered Therapy principles to create an accepting, empathic space where the client's goals guide the work.

Deciding which approach fits best is a collaborative process. The therapist and client will explore needs, goals, and preferences together, adjusting methods as trust grows and new priorities emerge. This partnership helps tailor interventions so therapy remains relevant and practical for each person's circumstances.

Online sessions are offered via video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to provide flexibility for busy schedules and varying comfort levels with communication. These formats can make it easier to maintain continuity during life changes, to access care from different locations within California, and to choose the interaction style that best supports progress.

Frequently asked questions

What kinds of concerns does Tammy address?
She works with a range of issues including stress, anxiety, depression, addictions, relationship and intimacy-related problems, grief, parenting challenges, trauma and abuse, bipolar concerns, ADHD, and many life transitions.
What is Tammy's therapeutic approach and style?
Her style is warm and interactive, blending client-centered, strengths-based listening with practical techniques from CBT, DBT, attachment-based work, and Internal Family Systems to help clients explore emotions and behaviors.
How much experience does she bring to therapy?
Tammy has 22 years of experience, including several years as an addiction specialist and administrator at an adolescent treatment center, and many years supporting clients through grief, relationship issues, and life transitions.
What credentials and location are on record?
She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with license CA LCSW 80131 and practices in California.
Can sessions be conducted in other languages or from other countries?
Sessions are offered in English only, and she is not currently accepting international clients.
In what formats are sessions available?
Therapy is provided through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to accommodate different communication preferences.
How is cost handled for sessions?
Cost varies with location and therapist availability; sessions use a subscription model that can be canceled at any time.
What are the steps to begin working together?
To get started, select the Start Therapy button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and schedule according to the therapist's availability.

Areas of expertise

Primary focus

Stress, AnxietyAddictionsRelationship issuesSelf esteemDepression

Also works with

Family conflictsTrauma and abuseGriefIntimacy-related issuesParenting issuesAnger managementCareer difficultiesBipolar disorderCoping with life changesCoachingADHD

Additional focus areas

AbandonmentAdoption and foster careAging and geriatric issuesAttachment issuesAutism and Asperger SyndromeAvoidant personalityBlended family issuesBody imageCancerCaregiver issues and stressCodependencyCommitment issuesCommunication problemsControl issuesDivorce and separationDrug and alcohol addictionEmptinessFamily of origin issuesFamily problemsFatherhood issuesFertility issuesFirst responder issuesForgivenessGuilt and shameHoardingHospice and end-of-life counselingImpulsivityInfidelityIntellectual disabilityIsolation / lonelinessJealousyLife purposeMen's issuesMidlife crisisMoney and financial issuesMood disordersMulticultural concernsObsessions, compulsions, and OCDPanic disorder and panic attacksPersonality disordersPost-traumatic stressPregnancy and childbirthProcess addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)Self-harmSelf-loveSex addictionSexual assault and abuseSexual dysfunctionSexualitySmoking / vaping cessationSocial anxiety and phobiaWomen's issuesWorkplace issuesYoung adult issues

Therapeutic approaches

Attachment-Based TherapyClient-Centered TherapyCognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT)Gottman MethodJungian TherapyMindfulness TherapyMotivational InterviewingNarrative TherapyPsychodynamic TherapySolution-Focused TherapyInternal Family Systems

Experience

22+ years

Licensed

California

Languages

English