About Chelsea
Chelsea Walker is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist helping individuals, couples, and families strengthen their relationships and rediscover emotional connection. Her approach is compassionate, collaborative, and rooted in empathy. With advanced training in Emotionally Focused Therapy, Solution-Focused Therapy, and The Gottman Method, Chelsea helps clients understand and heal relationship dynamics that cause distance or conflict. She creates a warm, non-judgmental space where clients can process emotions, restore trust, and build lasting connection.
Credentials & Education
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) — Florida | License #MT4663
M.A. in Counseling Psychology & Marriage and Family Therapy from the University of St. Thomas
Advanced training in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
Trained in Gottman Method Couples Therapy
Who Chelsea Supports
Chelsea works with:
Couples navigating relationship challenges — addressing communication breakdowns, emotional disconnection, or patterns causing distance and conflict
Partners rebuilding after infidelity or trust ruptures — processing betrayal, restoring emotional safety, and deciding whether to repair or separate
Women seeking empowerment and clarity — building confidence, processing life transitions, and developing authentic self-expression
Older adults adjusting to life transitions — navigating retirement, loss of loved ones, health changes, or identity shifts
Individuals processing grief and loss — working through bereavement, anticipatory grief, or complicated mourning
Families strengthening relational dynamics — improving communication, resolving conflict, and creating healthier family systems
Adults facing anxiety related to relationships or life changes — managing worry, stress, and emotional overwhelm
Sarasota clients value Chelsea's compassionate, research-based approach and her ability to help them move from disconnection toward mutual understanding and fulfillment.
Chelsea’s Approach to Therapy
Chelsea integrates evidence-based relational models with a collaborative, empathetic approach. Her sessions are warm, structured, and designed to foster insight, resilience, and hope.
She focuses on:
Strengthening emotional bonds in couples using Emotionally Focused Therapy — identifying emotional patterns and creating secure, lasting connection
Improving couples communication and conflict resolution with Gottman Method interventions — research-driven tools to enhance intimacy and create shared meaning
Empowering women through individual therapy focused on clarity, confidence, and personal growth
Supporting older adults through life transitions, grief, and adjustment challenges with compassion and practical guidance
Using Solution-Focused Therapy to emphasize strengths and create immediate, sustainable progress
Creating a non-judgmental space where clients can process emotions, restore trust, and build meaningful connection
Chelsea draws from research-based models to equip clients with practical tools while honoring the emotional complexity of relationships and life transitions.
What Chelsea Helps Clients With
Chelsea supports Sarasota clients experiencing:
Infidelity and trust repair
Grief and loss
Life transitions and adjustment
Women's empowerment and identity exploration
Older adult transitions (retirement, health changes, loss)
Anxiety and stress
Family relational dynamics
Intimacy and emotional connection issues
Chelsea’s Background & Training
Chelsea brings years of experience working with diverse populations in both individual and relational settings.
Her professional experience includes:
Private practice and community mental health settings
Supporting clients through marital conflict, anxiety, grief, and major life transitions
Working with couples, individuals, and families using research-based relational models
Her advanced training includes:
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) focusing on emotional patterns and secure attachment in relationships
Gottman Method Couples Therapy for communication, conflict resolution, and intimacy building
Solution-Focused Therapy emphasizing strengths and practical progress
Specialized experience supporting women's empowerment and older adult transitions
A Message From Chelsea
"Relationships are where we experience our deepest joys and our greatest pain. Whether you're navigating conflict in your partnership, seeking clarity in your own life, or adjusting to a major transition, therapy can help you rediscover connection, resilience, and hope. You don't have to navigate this alone."
Ready to work with Chelsea?
We invite you to schedule a FREE CONSULTATION with us to begin your healing journey.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) and how does it help couples?
Emotionally Focused Therapy is a research-backed approach that helps couples understand and transform the emotional patterns driving their relationship struggles. Rather than focusing on surface-level communication skills, EFT explores the underlying emotions and attachment needs beneath conflicts—helping partners express vulnerability, respond to each other's needs, and create secure emotional bonds. EFT is particularly effective for couples feeling stuck in negative cycles (pursue-withdraw, criticism-defensiveness) and wanting to rebuild intimacy and trust at a deeper level.
How does the Gottman Method differ from other couples therapy approaches?
The Gottman Method is based on over 40 years of research into what makes relationships succeed or fail. It uses structured assessments to identify specific patterns (like the "Four Horsemen"—criticism, contempt, defensiveness, stonewalling) and provides research-backed interventions to improve communication, manage conflict, build friendship, and create shared meaning. Unlike more exploratory approaches, Gottman Method is practical and directive—giving couples concrete tools and frameworks they can use immediately to strengthen their relationship.
Do you offer therapy specifically for women?
Yes. Chelsea specializes in supporting women seeking empowerment, clarity, and emotional wellbeing. This includes navigating identity transitions, processing relationship challenges, building confidence, addressing anxiety or stress, working through grief or loss, and developing authentic self-expression. Therapy creates a space where women can explore what they truly want, challenge limiting beliefs, and step into more empowered versions of themselves.
Can therapy help older adults adjusting to retirement or loss?
Yes. Chelsea has specialized experience working with older adults navigating major life transitions—retirement, loss of loved ones, health changes, identity shifts, or adjusting to new life roles. These transitions can trigger grief, anxiety, loneliness, or questions about purpose and meaning. Therapy provides compassionate support to process these changes, find new sources of fulfillment, and build resilience during significant life adjustments.
What does Solution-Focused Therapy involve?
Solution-Focused Therapy emphasizes your strengths, resources, and what's already working rather than dwelling on problems. It's a future-oriented, goal-directed approach that helps you identify practical steps toward your desired outcomes. Rather than spending months exploring why problems exist, solution-focused work asks "what would your life look like if this problem were solved?" and "what small steps can you take now to move toward that?" It's particularly effective for people who want concrete progress and actionable strategies.
Can couples therapy help if only one partner wants to attend?
Yes—individual work within a relational framework can still create positive change. If your partner isn't ready for couples therapy, working on your own patterns, communication style, and emotional responses can shift the dynamic in the relationship. Chelsea can help you understand relational patterns, develop healthier responses, set boundaries, and decide whether to continue working on the relationship or accept its limitations. Sometimes one partner attending therapy motivates the other to join later.