About Alina
Alina Gastesi-De Armas uses a collaborative, person-centered approach to help people facing stress, anxiety, trauma, and low self-esteem. She draws on practical techniques to help people manage depression and cope with life changes. Alina is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, with 28 years of experience in clinical work in Florida.
She talks with clients in English and Spanish. Her sessions begin with listening. She helps people name what feels hard and identify small steps they can try.
Background and approach
Alina focuses on real skills you can use between sessions, like grounding techniques, thought strategies, and values-based actions. Alina blends cognitive behavioral ideas with acceptance-focused work and a client-centered stance. That means she helps people notice unhelpful thinking, practice new behaviors, and clarify what matters most to them.
She also uses tools from dialectical behavior therapy to teach emotion regulation and distress tolerance when feelings feel overwhelming. People come for help with communication problems, guilt and shame, forgiveness, and finding life purpose. Sessions aim to build self-love and stronger social confidence.
The work is paced to each person’s needs and readiness. She offers direct support for trauma and abuse recovery alongside strategies for everyday coping. If you prefer talking in Spanish, she can meet in Spanish as well.
The focus is on practical, steady progress and helping people feel more able to face daily demands.
Therapeutic approaches and how they work online
Alina commonly uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in her online work. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) helps people notice thoughts and feelings without getting stuck by them, then choose actions that match their values; it is useful for anxiety, stress, and finding purpose. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on spotting unhelpful thinking patterns and testing new behaviors to reduce symptoms like depression and social anxiety.Choosing the right approach is part of the work together. She will listen to your goals, struggles, and preferences and then recommend a blend of methods. Clients and therapist make decisions together, adjusting techniques as needs change during therapy.
Online sessions use video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to fit different lives. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation and visual cues. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited. Live chat and text sessions work well for brief check-ins, written reflection, or people who prefer typing. These options make it easier to schedule sessions around work, childcare, or travel while keeping therapy consistent.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
Also works with
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 28 years
- Licensed
- Florida
- Languages
- English, Spanish