Barbara Pettibone

Barbara Pettibone is a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) in Colorado with 46 years in mental health care. She works with adults across the lifespan and focuses on problems like anger, loss, anxiety, depression, and life changes. She places the client at the center of care and approaches each person with warmth and direct honesty.

Her background includes work in inpatient psychiatric hospitals and outpatient settings. That range gives her experience with both crisis needs and longer-term support. She has a particular interest in helping older adults navigate aging issues such as health changes, relationship shifts, and grief.

Barbara uses practical, down-to-earth methods in sessions. She describes her style as flexible and collaborative, choosing tools that fit each person’s situation. That can include insight-oriented conversation, grief work, mindfulness practices, behavioral strategies, and skills drawn from established therapies.

Clients who prefer a clear, respectful guide may find her approach a good match. She treats people as partners in goal-setting and encourages straightforward conversation about what is and isn’t helping. Her manner is both caring and forthright, aimed at steady progress rather than quick fixes.

To begin, she asks clients to name concerns and set goals together. Over time the work may shift between talking through feelings, practicing new skills, and addressing practical problems that make daily life harder. The focus is on usable change that fits each person's needs.

Approaches that guide online work

Attachment-Based Therapy emphasizes how early bonds shape current relationships. It helps people understand patterns in closeness, trust, and conflict so they can try new ways of relating. Client-Centered Therapy focuses on the person’s experience and priorities, offering a nonjudgmental space where the client leads and the therapist reflects what matters most.

Choosing the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with each client to decide which methods fit their needs and goals. That process can include trying one style, checking what helps, and adjusting the plan together as issues evolve.

The biography does not list session formats, so confirm current options before booking. Online therapy can make it easier to fit sessions into a busy week, reduce travel time, and allow check-ins from different locations. It can also allow shorter or more frequent visits when a brief skills refresh is helpful, or longer sessions when deeper grief work is needed. Licensed professionals help clients match practical scheduling to therapeutic aims so care fits real life.