Valerie Abitbol, MA, LMFT | Psychotherapist for Individuals and Couples

Online therapy for adults and couples in Colorado and California

I’m Valerie Abitbol, MA, LMFT, a psychotherapist offering online therapy to adults and couples located in Colorado and California. My approach integrates somatic therapy, EMDR, psychodynamic therapy, parts work, and polyvagal-informed approaches to support people navigating trauma, anxiety, relationship challenges, grief, and life transitions.

My practice began as Denver Flow Counseling. Today, my work is fully online, allowing me to support clients across Colorado and California through secure video sessions.

A Relational, Multicultural, and Real-Life Approach

Before becoming a therapist, I lived a few professional lives. I was a modern dance teacher, a waitress, a paralegal, an advertising account director, a small-business owner, and — still — a serial student.

Those experiences gave me a close-up view of ambition, burnout, office politics, creativity, financial stress, reinvention, and the sometimes messy process of trying to build a meaningful life while also staying human.

I’ve also lived in Paris, New York, San Francisco, Denver, and Montreal, which means I know something about the strange experience of feeling alone in a crowded city, starting over in a new place, and trying to find belonging when life, culture, language, or expectations shift around you.

And no perfect mom here. As a parent, I understand the demands, compromises, guilt, humor, exhaustion, and deep joy that can come with caring for others while trying not to lose yourself.

I often work with therapists, lawyers, business owners, and other professionals who are used to holding a lot for others, performing under pressure, and quietly carrying more than people around them may realize.

My multicultural background, bilingual family, and experience living across countries shape the way I work. I’m especially attuned to people navigating transitions, relocation, cross-cultural relationships, professional stress, and the feeling of being between worlds.

My Approach

I’m no stranger to life’s ups and downs. My own experience as a therapy client has informed my personal and professional choices for the better. My passion for therapy comes from having personally experienced its healing power, and from a genuine desire to be of service.

I take a holistic and integrative approach to therapy. I believe healing involves not only the mind, but also the body, emotions, relationships, and nervous system. Depending on your needs, our work may draw from somatic therapy, EMDR, psychodynamic therapy, parts work, polyvagal-informed therapy, mindfulness, and practical tools for everyday life.

My style is collaborative, respectful, and warm. I offer a space where you can be fully yourself — without needing to perform, explain everything perfectly, or hold it all together.

Together, we may explore the patterns that keep showing up in your life and relationships, the protective strategies that once helped you survive, and the parts of you that may be asking for more care, honesty, or freedom.

When helpful, I may gently challenge your perspective or invite you to try something different — always with respect for your pace, your boundaries, and your own inner knowing.

What We Might Work Toward Together

In therapy with me, you can receive support and tools that are tailored to your situation, your history, and your goals. Our work may help you feel more grounded in the midst of chaos, increase your confidence, deepen your relationships, and respond to life’s challenges with more clarity and compassion.

You may also learn to notice your triggers for anxiety, stress, shutdown, conflict, or old relational patterns before they take over. Over time, therapy can help you build more choice in how you respond to yourself, to others, and to difficult moments.

Therapy can support you in learning to:

  • communicate more effectively

  • assert yourself with greater confidence

  • build intimacy in your romantic relationships

  • understand and soften anxiety or stress patterns

  • increase self-esteem and self-trust

  • navigate grief, change, and major life transitions

  • feel more grounded in work, family, and relationships

  • relate to yourself with more compassion

Professional and Educational Background

I have a diverse professional and educational background, including:

Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology
Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, California

Bachelor of Arts in Journalism
Metropolitan State College of Denver, Colorado

JD-level law education in Human Rights and Civil Liberties
University of Paris X, France

BA in French and Anglo-American Private Law
University of Paris X Nanterre, France

I’m licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist in Colorado and California, and I offer online therapy to clients who are physically located in Colorado or California at the time of session.

I’ve been honored to spend thousands of hours supporting people on their journeys. To support this work, I continue to study, train, and integrate approaches that help people heal not only through insight, but also through the body, nervous system, relationships, and lived experience.

For more details, you can visit my LinkedIn profile

Begin Online Therapy

If you’re wondering whether working together might be a good fit, I invite you to reach out for a free 20-minute video consultation. This is a chance for us to talk briefly about what you’re looking for and whether my approach feels supportive for you.

EMAIL ME TO BOOK A FREE 20-MINUTE VIDEO CONSULTATION