LMFT
Christina Mathieson
Founder & Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) #115093
Human sexuality, couples work, ADHD and neurodiversity-affirming therapy, and affirming care for individuals navigating relationships, identity, and life transitions.
As featured in
Who I work with
I'm Christina Mathieson, LMFT #115093, founder of My Mental Climb. Here's who I work with: couples rebuilding trust or reconnecting intimately; individuals working through trauma, sexuality, or the patterns that keep showing up in their relationships; people figuring out ADHD, neurodivergence, or identity questions they've been sitting with for years.
I also work with anyone who's tired of sexuality being treated as a taboo topic in therapy. In my room, sex is a normal, healthy part of being a person, and desire is something we can actually understand.
You don't have to pretend any part of that is smaller or simpler than it is.
My approach
Here's how I work. I hold a comprehensive sex therapy lens alongside Gottman Method training, which means I can move fluidly between relationship dynamics, sexual health, trauma processing, and identity work.
You don't have to repeat your story to three different specialists, or wonder whether the therapist in front of you is the right one for this particular part of your life. I can sit with all of it.
What I want you to know: showing up is the hard part, and you're already doing it. My work is warm, direct, and grounded in the research. I use humor in the room, and I'm just as comfortable sitting with what's uncomfortable to name. Whatever you're working on is learnable, workable, and worth the time.
Specialties
- ·Sex Therapy
- ·Couples Therapy
- ·ADHD and Neurodiversity-Affirming
- ·LGBTQ+ Affirmative
- ·IFS (Internal Family Systems)
Modalities
- ·Gottman Method (Level 2)
- ·Comprehensive Sex Therapy
- ·Neurodiversity-affirming care
- ·Telehealth
Education
- M.S. Marital and Family Therapy, Chapman University
- B.A. Psychology, California State University, Long Beach
Certifications & Training
- Buehler Institute Comprehensive Sexology Program
- Gottman Method Couples Therapy, Level 2
- IFS (Internal Family Systems) training
- Domestic Violence Certificate
- Intimate Partner Violence screening
- LGBT-Affirmative Psychotherapy Certificate (AAMFT-CA)
- Trans Issues Certificate
- ADHD & Alternative Learners (multiple advanced trainings)
- Psychopharmacology, Ethics & Telemental Health certificates
Verify & credentialing bodies
- Verify Christina Mathieson's California license on the Department of Consumer Affairs license search, California Board of Behavioral Sciences
- Gottman Method, research overview and therapist training, The Gottman Institute
- Buehler Institute, Comprehensive Sexology Program, Buehler Institute
- AAMFT, LGBTQ-Affirmative Therapy resources, AAMFT
Recent writing
From Christina's notebook.
Considering Opening Your Relationship: What the First Therapy Conversation Actually Covers (and the Books That Pair Well With the Work)
What an ENM-affirming therapist actually covers in the first conversation with a couple considering opening their relationship. Recommended by Christina Mathieson, LMFT, with Michelle Cortez, AMFT, as the clinician on our team who leads this work.
Love Island and the ADHD Brain: Cortisol, RSD, and Why You're Crashing Out
When Sincere said he went through 'seven stages of grief in 25 minutes' on Love Island, the timeline accidentally lined up with what stress neuroscience already says about the acute social-rejection response. A therapist on what that actually looks like in the brain, why ADHD viewers feel reality TV so much harder, and what RSD has to do with any of it.
Why Therapy Didn't Work Last Time (and What to Try Instead)
Therapy not working last time usually means one of six fixable things went wrong: the fit, the approach, the length, the timing, the diagnosis, or an unrepaired rupture. A therapist on how to tell which one it was, and what to do differently.
Why Situationships Are So Hard to Leave: A Therapist on Off Campus and the Brain Science of the In-Between
Off Campus captured something most BookTok-era romances miss: why the 'in-between' is neurologically addictive. A therapist on intermittent reinforcement, why both partners often stay for opposite reasons, what a label actually provides, and how to have the conversation when your nervous system says no.
Featured in
External recognition.
Evie Magazine
Our Hearts Weren't Meant To Be Broken By So Many Different People
The Wellness Society
Breaking the Anxious-Avoidant Cycle in Couples Therapy
Scary Mommy
Why More & More Moms Are Feeling 'Friendship Burnout'
Organic Baby Health
Moms Are Feeling 'Friendship Burnout' and Social Media Might Be To Blame
Men's Health
16 Random Ways to Turn Her on and Get Her in the Mood for Sex
Embodied (WUNC / NPR)
Sex Therapy: Beyond The Physical
Work with Christina.
Free 15 minutes consultation with our intake coordinator. No commitment, no pressure. We'll talk about what you're working on and match you with the clinician on our team whose training fits best.
Book a Free Consult