Parenting Therapists in West Central, Pasadena, CA

Hello from the Founder and Director of Greenhouse Therapy Center...for growing people! We are located in two beautiful, vintage homes in a lovely neighborhood. If you are experiencing stress, unhappiness, or relational problems, growth-oriented therapy is perfect for helping you become a fully evolved person, partner, or parent . Using attachment theory and developmental psychology, we can help adults, teens, and children finish growing up fully so that you may feel better moment to moment, experience much deeper levels of intimacy and joy, and define and reach your life dreams.

If you are seeking therapy it’s because you are motivated toward alleviating emotional distress, which tells me that you are open to a new way of thinking and feeling. Often, when a person enters therapy, they are feeling overwhelmed by the stressors in their life. Some stressors may be with a life transition (work, school, death, move, changes in family composition, etc.), may be with intimate relationships, parenting , a loved one’s illness or disability, financial stress, community violence, housing, and so much more. Many people are unaware of how stressors in their life impact physical and emotional wellbeing.

I specialize in providing psychological services to children and adolescents. These include neuropsychological assessment and psychotherapy. Assessments can be invaluable tools that provide diagnostic clarification, treatment recommendations, and the basis for academic accommodations. The therapeutic interventions I provide to young clients can be used to address a range of common challenges including, but not limited to emotional dysregulation and behavior problems. Based on the client, therapy may take various forms and could entail a talk or play-based approach. I regularly integrate parent or family sessions when appropriate.

Understanding the brain-body connection can be helpful in treating a variety of mental health concerns such as trauma, anxiety, depression, and relationship issues. That feeling of tightness in your chest when you feel anxious or a sense of calm when you feel safe are bodily sensations that affect how we feel, think, and behave. I combine brain-body techniques, that focus on trauma held in the body, with talk therapy to gently calm, repair, and help regulate the nervous system. Today we know that combining these two approaches can address both the emotional and physical components of many mental health issues.

Please, call me JJ. Let's find ways to create stability in your relationships. I have completed the Level 3 Practicum Training in Gottman Method Couples Therapy and specialize in working with couples to rebuild the bridges of communication. I am able to work with infidelity and trauma that may have occurred in relationships. When working with individuals I can help you discover the tools you need to work through life's challenges. I believe there is a way to heal trauma, both past and present, through building a strong trusting therapeutic relationship.

Stepfamilies & Blended Families are the fastest growing families in the United States! With your blended family comes many opportunities to grow and learn about each other, but also may come with high-conflict former relationships/divorce(s), co- parenting issues, and other trials. I am here to help with the unique blending that occurs pre-marriage, post-marriage, and certainly when families are not blending so easily. I want your family to not only survive, but thrive!

"I'm not enough" - smart enough, attractive enough, successful enough, popular enough, loved enough, or happy enough. Have you ever had these thoughts? Sometimes our stories are full of shame and scarcity. We feel unworthy, but don't understand where these feelings come from, what drives them, and how to let them go. Therapy is a process of uncovering underlying issues and finding practical ways to provoke change. I will walk alongside you in your loneliness, challenge, or fear, and help you safely overcome struggles.

I have extensive experience working with families who are currently fostering a child or have built their family through adoption. I use a trauma informed and neurodevelopmental lens in all of my work, and understand how in utero and early developmental trauma affect children in many areas of their life. As a former foster parent and now an adoptive mom, I further understands how close relationships are created through a sense of safety and trust.

Recently the world as we knew it was turned upside down. With the onset of Covid-19 and a "Safer at Home" order as well as school closures, parents are under more stress and pressure than ever. I am currently providing individual therapy and parent coaching via our secure video platform. If you find yourself having difficulty managing your frustration and/or anxiety, or feeling the enormous pressure of home schooling your children while keeping up with the other demands in your life (i.e. work, home responsibilities) do not hesitate to reach out. You do not have to figure this out alone.

Jessica Richards, MS, MSW, LCSW is a licensed psychotherapist who specializes in providing therapeutic services to young children and families. She is endorsed in CA as an Infant-Family and Early Childhood Mental Health Specialist. Jessica uses relationship and brain-based modalities for comprehensive treatment. Jessica has been trained in Child- Parent psychotherapy, a relationship and play-based therapy with a strong evidence-based foundation for the treatment of trauma and family stressors. Additionally, Jessica uses the Neurorelational Framework (Lillas, 2009) for an integrated approach. Her specialized Dual-Masters education provides an advanced foundation in applied child development.

Are you wanting your relationship to get unstuck from a negative pattern of interaction? Are you and your partner feeling hopeless about your lost connection? When things like this happen it's easy for well-meaning friends to come to the rescue with ideas, but sometimes they just don't understand. Talking to a couples counselor can help. If you'd like to get started, give me a call.

Working with older children, adolescents, adults, and couples, I strive to help you understand how your early caregiving experiences are impacting your current wellbeing and interpersonal functioning. My goal is to create a secure relationship where you can feel understood and valued and better understand yourself through our work together. In working with young children and their caregivers, I hope to help parents understand how their own parenting impacts their identity as a caregiver as well as helping them understand their child’s needs and develop a deeper connection.

If you're concerned about your child, you've already taken a courageous step by looking here for help. Maybe you're feeling frightened, worried, or at your wit's end and unsure what to do. These emotions are a testament to how much you love your kid. Whether you're looking at child and family therapy as a preventative measure, or your family is in crisis, I can light a path and walk with you. Over the last 15 years working as a coach, teacher, counselor, and therapist, I've developed a knack for connecting with kids who are hard to reach.

I work with clients who are creative and want to use their talent to make a difference. I also specialize in individuals and couples who have not received the necessary support, love, limits, and validation needed during childhood. I see adults who are cautious regarding a romantic commitment because they've experienced parental abuse, addiction or divorce in childhood. I'm an adoptive mother, with a specialty in adoption. I work with birth parent grief, adoptive parent child management, adoptee resolved issues, within the context of open, closed or reunion adoptions.

I enjoy partnering with people to develop more satisfying and meaningful relationships, including with partners, children, family, and themselves. By exploring experiences of the self in relationships and the meaning of these experiences, new possibilities are created. Good clinical matches include adults in early adulthood (ages 18 - 45) and parents seeking to increase self-awareness, reflect on past experiences, make sense of their story, heal from trauma, and learn new healthier ways to be in relationship than what they learned from their family of origin.

For 23+ years I've specialized in working with children, adolescents, adults, couples and families to help them live with more confidence, connection, and aliveness. I bring extensive experience in therapy, supervision, consulting, and research in the areas of child, teen, & family life, social and emotional development, and building solid and nurturing relationships. I work with clients in a talk therapy approach that is warm, interactive, and active, but that is also flexible in including support for new behaviors, creative expression, and practical help in developing new skills for living.