Licensed to practice in California and accepts 21 insurances. Specializes in Anxiety, Fertility & Reproduction Issues, Life Transitions and 3 more.
(she/her)
I'm Dr. Dezetta Burnett, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, university faculty member, and founder of Burnett Clinical Group, with a Doctorate in Social Work from USC and over a decade of experience across clinical practice, behavioral health leadership, and graduate social work education. My virtual California practice serves high-functioning women and professionals navigating anxiety, burnout, relationship patterns, and major life transitions, including the waiting and grief of fertility and IVF. My clients are the women everyone else calls first: composed on the outside, privately exhausted by overthinking, difficulty setting boundaries, and giving far more than they receive. My approach is warm, direct, and evidence-based, combining insight with practical tools so you leave each session with clarity and a concrete path forward. I offer midday weekday telehealth sessions designed to fit inside your workday.
Your first session is a conversation, not a checklist. We'll spend our time getting to know each other, discussing what brought you in, and clarifying what you'd like to change or better understand about yourself and your relationships. I'll ask thoughtful questions, listen carefully, and begin identifying the patterns, strengths, and dynamics contributing to your distress. You'll get a clear feel for how I think clinically and whether our partnership aligns with your goals. You should leave with a sense of direction, emotional grounding, and a clear next step.
My greatest strength is helping clients see themselves clearly without judgment. I have a direct yet compassionate style that moves past surface conversation and into meaningful work quickly. I bring doctoral-level clinical training and over a decade of behavioral health experience, and I'm especially skilled at helping high-functioning adults uncover the dynamics that go unexamined precisely because life looks successful on the outside. Clients tell me they value my honesty and clarity. I won't let avoidance quietly shape your progress, yet our work stays grounded in respect and emotional safety. You'll feel both stretched and steadied in the same session, and you'll leave with practical, evidence-based tools and a concrete path forward, not just insight, but action.
I'm best positioned to work with high-functioning women and professionals who are successful in many areas of their lives but feel unsettled, anxious, or unfulfilled in their relationships. Privately, they may struggle with anxious attachment, over-functioning, fear of rejection, difficulty setting boundaries, emotional suppression, or giving far more than they receive. My clients are thoughtful, insightful, and motivated for growth. They are not looking for quick reassurance; they want to understand why they respond the way they do, how their history influences their current relationships, and how to build healthier, more secure ways of connecting. Many are navigating dating, long-term relationship stress, breakup recovery, career transitions, identity shifts, or the waiting and grief of fertility and IVF. They are ready to take responsibility for their patterns and do the deeper work required for lasting change. If you're ready to understand yourself at a deeper level and build relationships that actually feel good, I would love to work with you.
Other specialties
I identify as
All Savers
AvMed
Blue Shield
Carelon Behavioral Health (Commercial)
Golden Rule
Harvard Pilgrim/UnitedHealthcare
IHSS Healthy Workers
L.A. Care Covered
L.A. Care Covered Direct
L.A. Care PASC-SEIU
Optum
OptumHealth Complex Medical Conditions
Oscar
Oxford
Surest (formerly Bind)
Sutter Health Plan
United Medical Resources
UnitedHealthcare Life Insurance
UnitedHealthcare Shared Services
UnitedHealthcare StudentResources
UnitedHealthcare/Optum
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
CBT has been a cornerstone of my clinical work across more than a decade in behavioral health, and my doctoral training deepened both my command of the model and my ability to adapt it to complex, high-functioning clients. Overthinking is exhausting, especially when you can't logic your way out of it. I use CBT to help you identify the thought patterns and core beliefs driving your anxiety, relationship struggles, and self-doubt. Together we'll challenge distorted thinking, reframe the narratives that keep you stuck, and build new responses that align with who you want to become. You'll leave sessions with tools you can use the same day.
Motivational Interviewing
I've used Motivational Interviewing throughout my career in behavioral health, where meeting people at their actual readiness for change, not where anyone thinks they should be, is everything. If you're already your own harshest critic, the last thing you need is a therapist pushing you. MI creates space to honestly explore what you want versus what you feel you should want. Instead of compliance or performative progress, we build genuine internal motivation, so the changes you make actually last. This matters most in our early sessions, as we establish trust and get clear on what you truly want your life and relationships to look like.
Humanistic
Humanistic therapy has been the foundation beneath my clinical work since my earliest training, and more than a decade of practice has only deepened my conviction in its core belief: you are the expert on your own life. You don't need to be fixed; you need to be seen clearly, without judgment. If you've spent years performing capability for everyone around you, our sessions are the one place you don't have to. I bring warmth, honesty, and genuine respect for your capacity to grow, and from that grounded, accepting foundation we do the deeper work of becoming who you actually want to be.
Solution Focused Brief Treatment
Across my years of clinical practice, Solution-Focused Brief Treatment is the method I've seen serve driven, goal-oriented clients best, and it fits naturally with my direct, practical style. You don't have years to spend circling the same problems, and you won't have to. We'll move quickly from what isn't working to what's possible, identifying your strengths, the successes you've already built, and concrete steps you can act on between sessions. If you're motivated but need a clear framework to turn insight into action, this is where our work will feel most tangible.