Therapists in East Village, San Diego, CA

I use an eclectic approach that creates a safe, healing space that includes the client’s needs. I soundly believe that if you can change your thoughts, you can change how you feel and improve the overall quality of your life. We are meant to have fulfilling lives. My goal is to assist clients recognized the strengths that they naturally hold while helping them feel encouraged and supported through this journey of personal growth.

I've spent years helping individuals, couples, and families achieve their goals with trauma-informed and multiculturally competent care. I use a mindfulness and attachment-based approach while providing tools to help in real-time. I have advanced knowledge and training in LGBTQIA-affirming care to provide a safe space for the diverse population I serve. My work outside of the therapy office includes the facilitation of couples' communication workshops, self-care and mindfulness workshops for burnout, and LGBTQIA trainings.

I see therapy as a collaborative process where I bring my training and experience into the therapy room and you bring your life experience in order to work towards making life better. The collaborative process is important in all aspects of the therapy process, creating a safe environment, setting goals, doing the work between sessions, checking on progress, and checking on the overall process. My hope is that we are moving towards creating a rich and meaningful life and we move towards that together.

NOW Accepting NEW Clients! Do you constantly worry about what others think of you only to find yourself drained, on edge, and unfulfilled? Do you seem to fall into toxic relationships and are unsure how to find a healthy relationship? Do you struggle to talk about your feelings and constantly worry about people's reactions? I help people who think outside the box and are tired of pretending to be someone they're not. Here, you will find a therapist who understands your identity and what you have been through so you can feel comfortable in the world and within yourself.

I work from a foundation of client-centered, trauma-informed, narrative approaches/philosophies, and utilize Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Motivational Interviewing (MI), Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) in practice and interventions. I feel confident in short-term models that include psychoeducation, skill building, and processing in tandem. I care deeply about the emotional health of my clients and wish for their independence and freedom from emotional distress interfering with their goals and values.

My collaborative approach helps me meet you where you are and work towards creating a deeper understanding of your life views and personal perceptions. I believe in providing a safe space to really hear what you have to say and the journey you are embarking on. Through compassion, empathy, and collaboration, I am honored to help guide you through embracing your strengths and promoting resiliency. I am an open-minded and non-judgmental therapist who demonstrates a conversational type of treatment while making true connections to what can be at the root of any obstacles that may present.

I bring a strengths-based and humanistic approach to help my clients feel confident about themselves. My goal is to not only help clients heal and move forward by being compassionate and gentle but also teach clients lifelong skills to cope with difficult situations in the future. I use a variety of therapeutic approaches to help clients identify individual needs.

I work with clients via multimedia platforms and assist them in attaining their therapeutic goals by providing more accessibility and an interactive approach. I like to work with my clients by helping them find their path to self-discovery, renewed mental health, and counsel them to living emotionally satisfying lives. I maintain a strong foundation in many theoretical approaches but believe in working from an eclectic orientation. I work with my clients utilizing diverse therapeutic techniques to develop individual treatment plans that suit their therapeutic goals and needs, while helping to bring them to a place of healing.

I have experienced the complexities of family relationships, stress and anxiety, grief and loss, phase of life changes, work-related issues, motivation, self-esteem, adjustment disorders, and of course persistent diagnoses as well such as depression. I am compassionate about how we experience the world as an individual and as a collective. I am a person-centered therapist who uses an integrated approach to therapy. Even though I pull knowledge from all theories and practices, I use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Solution Focused-Brief Therapy, Dialectical Behavior Therapy Mindfulness Practices and some Family Systems Therapy.

Making the decision to seek mental health therapy is not easy. I am glad that you made the first step and are here! It has been my experience that clients know themselves better than anyone, they are their own best resource when it comes to engaging in treatment. I see therapy as a joint process in which the client’s own knowledge and skills are combined to create solutions. I believe that our wellness comes not just from physical health, but from spiritual health and mental health. It's important for me to help clients make that connection in their healing journey and learn new skills that will help create healthy relationships.

In my experience and approach, I have found it best to come from a place of compassion for the client. That involves meeting the client where they are and where they would like to go in the treatment process. It is my belief based on knowledge, experience, and training that trauma can impact an individual in many facets of their life. Working with clients to identify trauma and how it continues to impact their life is significant in the treatment process.

I believe in empowering clients by helping them build confidence in their ability to understand and have control over their own mental health. I strive to create a safe space for clients in session where they can explore their thoughts, feelings, and emotions. I tailor my therapeutic interventions to individual needs through a variety of frameworks and modalities including Psychodynamic therapy, Cognitive Behavior Therapy, mindfulness techniques and motivational interviewing. I have worked with clients experiencing anxiety, depression, trauma, and adjustment disorders in both inpatient and outpatient settings.

Finding a therapist who you feel comfortable with and who fits your needs can be a challenging task. My hope is that the information provided here will allow you to move closer to finding the therapist that is right for you, or continuing your search elsewhere. Therapy can be scary, vulnerable, difficult, exciting, unexpected, rewarding, and completely life changing. I’m here for all of that and whatever else our work brings us. I love being a therapist. While I can serve and help many people with a variety of life’s challenges, I am currently working towards a certification in Sex Therapy.

As a clinician, I take a genuine and authentic approach and value the client-therapist relationship. I appreciate the opportunity to walk with clients in their journey and I strive to seek solutions and strategies that are meaningful to them. My goal is to encourage healing and growth during the therapeutic process.

I believe in getting to know my clients, building a relationship with them and earning their trust through the therapeutic process. I understand that everyone's healing journey is the not the same and I want to be able to meet clients where they are in their journey. I strive to provide my clients with a safe space to assist them with processing traumas, identifying triggers, and most importantly different techniques/interventions for coping in order to have a life worth living.

When people are challenged with changes that affect the ability to manage stressors, there comes a time for positive change and support. I am passionate about focusing on the healing process, whether it involves the challenges of exploring maladaptive behaviors or the triggers of trauma. I help my clients, who include children, adults, and families to find healthy coping mechanisms and self-autonomy which will lead to positive perceptions. This, in turn, creates personal identification and self-worth, thus creating healthy relationships.

Many of the people I work with come to therapy because they are feeling stuck or overwhelmed, seeking relief from anxiety or depression, needing support as they adjust to a change in their life, or wanting to develop a better understanding of themselves. While we don’t have control over some circumstances in life, we can work to optimally navigate what comes our way. My goal is to create a non-judgmental and supportive space for exploration and change and to help my clients improve their sense of well-being.

In my clinical role, I work with a broad range of mental performance and mental health concerns including, but not limited to, depression, anxiety, grief and loss, identity issues, trauma, and sports-related mental performance concerns. I practice from a strength-based client-centered approach focusing on culturally informed evidence-based practice which attends to the unique diversity of the individual and the sociocultural environment in which the individual lives.

Creating a safe, accepting, and empathetic environment can allow one to tune into their resources, resiliency, sense of strength, and connection to others. Creating this environment helps individuals uncover their stories, find healing and learn new approaches to living the life they want. I specialize in providing psychotherapy to individuals, couples, and families. I have extensive experience treating anxiety, depression, life transitions, relationship and dating difficulties, communication issues, food and body image struggles, addictions, and family conflict.