Warm, practical counseling by secure video for children, adolescents, adults, and couples across Yuma and nearby communities.
People generally reach out to a counselor at a particular moment: a marriage that has gone quiet, a child whose behavior has changed, a season of grief or pressure that is no longer passing on its own. What helps most at that point is a steady relationship with someone who listens closely and then works with you on something concrete.
Continuing counseling with a specialist has been hard to arrange locally without a long drive out of the county. Alethea Braun-Dunagan, LPC, sees Yuma clients by secure video, and her experience runs deepest with postpartum mood disorders, women's issues, couples, and school-age children and adolescents.
Fit matters more than credentials on paper, which is why Ms. Braun-Dunagan, who is also this practice's intake specialist, offers a complimentary 20-minute video consultation to new clients. It is a chance to describe what is going on, ask whatever you want to ask, and decide whether to go further, with no obligation attached.
This localized Yuma service is provided by Psychotherapy.Com℠, the clinical practice of Arizona Behavioral Health Associates, P.C. We are proud to offer expert care not just locally, but to clients across the state. To learn more about our statewide services, our clinical team, or to explore resources, visit our Arizona Counseling, Psychology & Telehealth Services page.
The six areas below are where Ms. Braun-Dunagan's experience is deepest, and together they cover most of what Yuma clients bring to a first session.
Worry, school refusal, and sudden shifts in behavior are common reasons a young person is referred. Ms. Braun-Dunagan has long experience advocating for children and helping repair relationships that have frayed at home.
Counseling for anxiety is structured and forward-moving. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is used first to show how the worry actually functions, then to rehearse small, specific departures from avoidance.
Two people rarely disagree about what happened; they disagree about what it meant. Sessions slow a recurring argument down far enough to see each person's part in it and to try something else.
The months after a birth can bring mood changes nobody prepared you for, and they respond to treatment. This work also covers the wider ground of women's issues: caregiving, career strain, and the identity shifts that accompany each.
Pacing protects the work. Stability, grounding, and dependable sleep come first, and the harder material is approached later, deliberately, and only when you say you are ready for it.
Substance use sits inside a set of circumstances. Alongside relapse prevention planning, counseling examines the pressures and the relationships that quietly hold a pattern in place.
Counseling is collaborative, and it has a direction. Cognitive Behavioral techniques are applied within a holistic, individualized approach, which in practice means we attend to sleep, health, family, and culture rather than to a symptom list alone. Meetings are typically weekly across a span of months. We do not offer a quick fix and would rather say so plainly than imply otherwise. For clients in Yuma, we keep the work anchored in the realities of life here, from bilingual households to shift schedules to a summer that shapes everyone's days, so what you practice between appointments actually fits your week.
Counseling for Yuma clients is provided by Alethea Braun-Dunagan, M.A., LPC, with clinical oversight from our Clinical Director, Della S. Lusk, Ph.D.
Licensed Professional Counselor · Intake Specialist
Ms. Braun-Dunagan is a Licensed Professional Counselor working with children, adolescents, adults, and couples. She applies Cognitive Behavioral techniques within a holistic, individualized framework. Her professional interests include women's issues, postpartum mood disorders, stress management, and relapse prevention, and she has particular expertise in youth advocacy and in resolving trauma.
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Clinical Director · Bilingual Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Lusk is Clinical Director of Psychotherapy.Com℠ and a bilingual Licensed Clinical Psychologist whose career spans more than twenty-five years. She oversees clinical practice and is available when a psychological evaluation becomes part of the picture.
Request an appointmentFull biographies, training, and areas of expertise are listed on our providers page. You are welcome to ask any clinician directly about their qualifications and experience.
Meeting by video means the counselor you work with is chosen for fit rather than for proximity. Sessions are private and stable, and an hour held from a quiet room at home is much easier to keep week after week than one that requires travel.
For most counseling, video is not a compromise. Conversation, history, skills practice, and review of the week all carry over intact, and the arrangement makes it realistic to stay in steady contact through busy stretches when an office visit would have been the easiest thing to drop.
We work with families navigating the local school systems, and with students and instructors balancing coursework and employment at Arizona Western College and at the NAU-Yuma branch campus. A confidential hour away from campus is often what makes a heavy term manageable.
Counseling is available to residents of Yuma, Somerton, San Luis, and the wider Yuma County area through secure video, which puts specialized support within reach whatever the distance from town.
Yes, and it is one of Ms. Braun-Dunagan's strengths. Approaches are matched to a child's developmental stage, and parents are kept involved in setting goals and supporting them at home, because that is usually what makes the gains last.
Our office emails a secure link before your appointment. At the scheduled time you open it from a private space on a computer, tablet, or phone, and your counselor joins you there. Nothing needs to be installed beforehand.
It is twenty minutes by video with Ms. Braun-Dunagan, at no charge, to find out whether this is the right match. You can describe the situation, ask about her approach, and leave it there if you decide someone else would suit you better.
Couples work is a regular part of the practice. Sessions concentrate on communication, on the conflicts that keep repeating, and on rebuilding trust, and it is common to alternate joint appointments with individual ones when that serves the work.
Our rates are sent in a fee agreement when you schedule an appointment. Any questions you may have about out-of-network coverage are settled with our office in advance of a first appointment. Ring (844) 774-7997 and someone will explain it fully, which keeps your session time on what you came to discuss.
To get started, telephone our office and ask about a counseling consultation. Ms. Braun-Dunagan is our intake specialist, so she or a member of staff will listen to what you need, send the fee agreement, and find a time that works.
Call (844) 774-7997We accept all major credit and debit cards, and we gladly accept HSA, FSA, and HRA cards so you can use pre-tax dollars toward your care. Our practice generally operates out-of-network. This allows us to protect your privacy, keep care highly personalized, and avoid insurance-mandated session limits.
Our rates are sent in a fee agreement when you schedule an appointment. Please check with your insurance company regarding your out-of-network benefits. As a courtesy, we will submit claims on your behalf upon request, and any reimbursement will be sent directly to the insured. Call (844) 774-7997 or email info@psychotherapy.com if you have questions.
Our services are by appointment only, during normal business hours. Evening, weekend, and early morning appointments are sometimes available for established clients.
We do not offer crisis, walk-in, or inpatient services of any type, and this page is not a substitute for emergency care.
This page provides general information about psychotherapy, counseling, and psychological testing services. It is not medical or psychological advice, does not create a clinician–client relationship, and does not diagnose or treat any condition. Whether a particular service is appropriate for you is determined with a clinician during a confidential consultation. Arizona Behavioral Health Associates, P.C., 710 N Beaver Street, BLDG 4, Flagstaff, AZ 86001-3139 · (844) 774-7997
