Dr. Natalia Rivera, LCSW, CSW

Dr. Natalia Rivera practices with a mix of cognitive and humanistic approaches that focus on practical change. She uses clear, goal-oriented methods to help people manage stress, anxiety, depression, and trauma. Dr. Rivera draws on 13 years of clinical experience and a long history of service in the U.S. Army to inform her work with service and civilian life concerns.

She aims for a warm, direct style in sessions. Conversations are interactive and often include tools to manage emotions and behavior. She combines Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), and client-centered techniques to tailor a plan to each person’s needs.

Her background includes active duty service as an Army officer and roles in Military Treatment Facilities. That experience shaped her work with trauma, combat and military sexual trauma-related stress, and operational stress. She also has experience addressing grief, sleeping problems, parenting concerns, and substance-related issues.

Dr. Rivera works with adults over 18 and also provides behavior modification or Applied Behavioral Analysis for children under 18 who have a diagnosed neurological condition. She practices as an LCSW and CSW licensed in North Carolina and Georgia and brings a straightforward, compassionate voice to treatment planning.

Her schedule is generally evenings on weekdays, with occasional flexibility by arrangement. To begin, people complete a short questionnaire and schedule according to availability so sessions can match real-life routines.

How therapeutic approaches translate to online care

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) focuses on helping people notice what matters to them and take small steps toward those values. It often uses short exercises to build willingness to face difficult thoughts and feelings. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and teaches concrete skills for changing unhelpful patterns. It commonly uses homework and practice between sessions to see real change. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) targets distress linked to traumatic memories by combining focused attention with guided processing to reduce the intensity of those memories.

Picking the right approach is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with each person to decide which methods fit their goals and preferences. That choice can change over time as progress is tracked and treatment plans are revised.

If you are considering online therapy, confirm the current session options before booking since formats are not specified here. Online sessions can make it easier to fit appointments into busy evenings, shorten travel time, and allow for brief check-ins when schedules are tight. Many people find that video or phone sessions let them use therapy tools in the context of daily life and maintain continuity of care when in-person visits are difficult to schedule.