Therapists in 90024

People are my passion and I feel blessed to have found my calling. My background includes being a pastor's grandchild and having a military family, I have been a wife, and also a teacher. I am still a mother and a grandmother which all have led me to become a therapist. I began working in group homes, foster families, juvenile probation, private practice, schools, and the county jail. I have loved my jobs and feel blessed that, "I Get to go to work, I don't Have to go to work."

I specialize in helping individuals and couples overcome struggles with anxiety and depression. I am a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and received my Master of Arts Degree in Psychology, with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy from Pepperdine University.

Are you seeking a safe space where your unique identity is understood and celebrated? Do you find yourself straddling the complexities of many marginalized identities: POC/BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, ADHD/neurodivergent, 1st-gen American/adult child of immigrant parents? The weight from the social pressure to conform to immigrant family roles / expectations—especially the “minority model” stereotype and resulting perfectionism—can leave you feeling anxious, stressed, and overwhelmed. Navigating these challenges can be daunting, but you’ll find answers and guidance here.

Maybe you're overwhelmed, maybe you feel nothing. Maybe you're lost. Maybe you're running in so many directions, the world has stopped making sense, and you have stopped caring about your dreams, your loved ones, or people in general. I invite you to sit down with me. Let's work together to come back to peace, strength, sweeter awareness, and maybe even joy. I work with students, artists, performers, writers, and other professionals including the tech, medical, legal, and entertainment industries. I treat individuals navigating anxiety, depression, learning differences, and mood disorders hoping to live with a lighter heart.

I work with those wanting to find a way forward from "stuckness" and inner conflict, coping with disappointment, illness, loss, and grieving. I can help with better understanding and resolving your challenges, handling anxiety, alleviating depression, exploring their root causes and larger unconscious meanings. I can help with making sense of the imprints left by your lived experiences to bring about the changes that you want and feeling more at home with yourself, in your own unique skin.

Even as an experienced clinician, I approach each and every client as if they were my very first. You are an original. Coming to therapy, especially if it's you've never been, is a big decision to make. I will do my best to make you feel at home while bringing an acute interest in hearing your concerns with dynamic attention to your needs. In other words, we will form a lively dialogue meant to open up new perspectives that support growth and healing. Sometimes it will be hard. Sometimes it will be pleasurable. But it will always be infused with life.

I approach psychotherapy as a co-creative alliance between client and therapist. I seek to create a safe, humorous and collaborative space for clients to explore their own ability to access greater insight, clarity and self-awareness. I gravitate towards humanistic, psychodynamic and in-depth psychology (Spiritual) approaches - while also tailoring each session to my client’s particular needs and strengths.

Each of us may begin psychotherapy for different reasons; an immediate crisis or traumatic experience, painful symptoms of depression, anxiety, loneliness, addictive behaviors, or grief. Exploring early life experiences and resolving trauma while addressing the here and now can help you be more engaged with others, make progress towards what you want in life, and experience more ease. Many individuals seek more existential but no less important questions of meaning, identity, sexuality, spirituality, philosophy, gender issues, psychology, politics, and power. All of these are excellent reasons for engaging in depth psychotherapy.

I work from a depth perspective which means that therapy is about exploring the root causes of behavior, often making way for true understanding and significant, long-lasting change. I see individuals, couples, and families dealing with big life transitions, trauma, anxiety, and intimacy issues.

Remote sessions now available. The focus of my practice is helping people who have reached a crossroad; men and women in the second half of life who have lost their sense of meaning and purpose; young adults striking out on their own for the first time and wondering where their genius lies; couples about to be married; and couples in conflict wondering how to stay together. These new experiences are fraught with unexpected moods like anger, fear, self-doubt, and loneliness. Old ways of coping no longer work. But fear not. This is a perfect time to rediscover your innate talent, courage, and imagination.

While 'regular therapy' focuses on the past and the emotional wounds that come with it, coaching focuses on goal setting and taking action, understanding our present and finding ways to create a brighter future. It's about changing old habits, developing new ones, embracing change and moving with ease towards a more fulfilling life. Hypnosis is a relaxed state, where the mind is more receptive to certain ideas. Combining life coaching with hypnotherapy brings about the most positive changes, engaging both, the conscious and subconscious minds, empowering people to achieve lasting results and enhanced mental / emotional attitudes.

As an individual who feels stuck, lost or unfulfilled, you often wonder if you can ever feel peaceful again. You feel like you’ve tried everything, but nothing seems to work – at least for too long. Perhaps you feel like you take one step forward and three steps back – pushing you even deeper into the dark space you’re in. Seeking help from a therapist can seem scary because you want to make sure you choose someone who you truly connect with. What if you could return to a state where life felt happy, fulfilling and clear?

The gift of therapy is priceless and highly transformative. I am walking proof of the impact and have lived through tremendous challenges related to grief & loss, high conflict relationships, health related battles, career challenges and changes, intergenerational trauma, raising young adults and lived experiences in different parts of the country. My therapeutic journey was led by a skilled therapist and through that learning an inherent calling to help others arose. Today, I work with clients in California and am trained in Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR,) Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR,) and Reiki.

Rooted in depth psychology, mind body and complementary practice, integrating trauma based psychotherapy and other evidence based psychological methodologies and modalities, I see adults, teens, couples struggling with personal, emotional, relational, parental challenges, life transitions, anxiety, depression, stress, disillusionment, as well, young adults navigating individuation, contending with middle, high school, university and post graduate adjustments. My approach is to open a present, safe, focused sphere inviting vulnerability and honest expression of true experience moving deeper and deeper into one's own knowing sense.