Therapy for Men in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County and Online in CA
You care deeply about the people in your life.
But you’ve been distant, irritable, shut down, defensive, and stuck in your own head.
You want to feel more calm, connected, and present in your life again.
You don’t have to keep carrying it all alone.
I get it, and I’m here to help.
Signs Stress May Be Catching Up With You
A lot of men I work with don’t come to therapy because their life is falling apart.
They come in because they’re exhausted from holding everything together.
From the outside, you may look successful, reliable, productive, and capable. But underneath that:
Your mind never fully shuts off, it’s hard to relax or sleep
Relationships are distant or tense, and your partner is telling you it’s a problem
You feel checked out, apathetic, or unmotivated
You’re constantly stressing about work, money, or what might go wrong
You find yourself zoning out or getting distracted during conversations
Resentments, pressure, and loneliness is building up inside
A lot of men don’t realize they’re struggling because they’re still functioning.
But surviving and functioning are not the same thing as actually feeling connected, energized, and fulfilled in your life.
I’m Angela Sitka, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
I specialize in helping men navigate relationship struggles, emotional disconnection, stress, and the pressure of trying to hold everything together.
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I use an approach called ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy), which is a practical, evidence-based form of therapy that helps people respond to stress, emotions, and relationship challenges more effectively instead of staying stuck in the same patterns.
My style is active and collaborative. I will ask thoughtful questions, challenge unhelpful patterns, and give straightforward, practical feedback.
Some of the ways I help men in therapy include:
Understanding why you react the way you do under stress, conflict, or pressure
Improving communication and handling difficult conversations more effectively
Learning how to manage anger, shutdown, avoidance, anxiety, or emotional overwhelm
Identifying patterns in relationships, work, and daily life that are no longer working
Clarifying your values: the kind of partner, father, leader, or person you want to be
Developing practical tools for handling difficult thoughts and emotions without letting them control your behavior
Creating concrete strategies and action steps you can apply outside of therapy sessions
Helping you feel more connected, grounded, confident, and intentional in your life and relationships
My Specialties in Therapy for Men
Help for men who feel frustrated, inadequate and stressed out
Help for men in relationships on the edge of breakup
Help for independent men to build satisfying and trusting relationships
Do I really need therapy? The question most men ask me before starting therapy.
Therapist for men in Santa Rosa, Sonoma County & California
Angela Sitka, LMFT, psychotherapist in Santa Rosa
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Being proactive in dealing with your stress and relationship problems is always the better approach rather than being reactive to an urgent situation.
That said, what happens when you continue to hold it all in? Here are some (not all) of the things that can happen:
Lashing out at loved ones; fights that are getting increasing difficult to make a repair afterwards
Avoiding the difficult conversations
Overworking: you work longer hours because it’s the place you still feel competent and it’s a way to avoid the discomfort at home.
You tell everyone you just want to be left alone.
Drinking/substance use more than usual
Engaging in affairs or fantasizing about alternate relationships.
Your life becomes smaller- there’s lots of things you “used to do.” Hobbies, friends, passions, just don’t have space in your life anymore.
Divorce/separations/breakups are being brought up in conversations
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Not usually in the way most people imagine.
In my practice, I have a more structured approach so that you don’t need to feel the pressure of what to say or how we will fill the session time. That’s my job to guide us!
I provide Acceptance and Commitment Therapy as well as other relational therapy modalities, to create a unique experience for my clients that is part therapy, part coaching.
Many men avoid therapy because they picture sitting in a room being pressured to talk about emotions they don’t fully understand or know how to express. Emotional awareness (sometimes we call it emotional intelligence) is a skill that can be built. I teach this to my clients, so you don’t need to know it already to start.
You do not need to “be good at therapy” to benefit from it. Many men start working with me unsure how to talk about what they are experiencing, and that is completely normal.
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Therapy is different because it is not just advice, venting, or hearing what worked for someone else.
My role as a licensed therapist is to help you understand the deeper patterns underneath what is happening in your life and relationships. I am trained to identify stress responses, communication patterns, emotional habits, and relational dynamics, so that you can start doing things differently.
Another important difference is that therapy creates space that is less influenced by projection. Even well-meaning friends can unintentionally filter problems through their own experiences, beliefs, and biases. My job is to stay attuned to your perspective and help you make sense of what is happening without turning your life into a reflection of someone else’s story.
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My approach of combining therapy with therapeutic coaching provides both the structure needed and integration of the deeper pieces that often get missed in a one-size-fits-all approach.
Rather than offering generic advice, I use evidence-based approaches that are highly personalized to you.
While life coaches, online course/programs or more generalized therapy can all have their benefit, I started my own private practice because I wanted to do something different that goes much deeper into the roots of the psychology of why we do what we do.
I intentionally keep my practice smaller and specialized so I can provide a more tailored and thoughtful therapeutic experience rather than relying on standardized treatment approaches you might find in a coaching program or a structured therapy group/class.