Elders (65+) Therapists in San Luis Obispo, CA
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Pamela Nelson, LPCC
Counselor, MS, LPCC
Verified
1 Endorsed
Verified
1 Endorsed
As a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor for 25 years, I helped young adults navigate difficult life transitions, injured workers find meaningful employment,
seniors
retain independence, and people of all ages walk through stages of loss.
Have daily tasks and decisions become overwhelming? Are your problems compounded by sadness, anxiety, addiction or grief? Whether struggling to cope with hardships, or trying to help others do so, I can help. In a warm and confidential setting, we will work together to clarify concerns, identify coping skills, remove barriers and navigate that fulfilling life you deserve.

Tommy Ferndino
Marriage & Family Therapist, MA, LMFT
Verified
Verified
Hello, my legal name is Joseph but you can call me Tommy. My work as a therapist is mostly informed by Attachment Theory and I currently work with individuals ranging from young adults to
seniors
. As human beings, we are meant to seek connection with others. Connection with a compassionate, caring, and knowledgeable therapist is one of the best ways to develop a more secure sense of attachment to the world around you. This connection can lead to the positive, long-term change you are seeking.

Margaret E O'Neill
Psychologist, PhD
Verified
Verified
Margaret is a clinical psychologist having been a therapist for over 30 years. I received my PhD from United States International University in San Diego. Prior to that I received my BS and MS in nursing from UCLA. My specializations are in stress management, psycho-spiritual issues, women's issues,
seniors
issues, depression and anxiety . I am a Certified Trauma Specialist, and have worked with the San Luis Obispo Ca. Fire Association. I have had private practices in Ventura, Sutter Creek, Morro Bay, Los Osos and now teletherapy due to covid virus. I only work with individual adults.

Erik Edler
Marriage & Family Therapist, MA, LMFT
Verified
10 Endorsed
Verified
10 Endorsed
Sooner or later, we all need some help. You're wise to seek out a professional who can help you gain clarity and direction. I know you're struggling now, but I'm excited about how much better things can be for you. Modern life is certainly generating a lot of anxiety & depression, and taking a heavy toll. I'm here to help you get through these difficult times. My primary focus is helping young and midlife professionals get grounded, gain clarity, and build strong confidence in themselves. My approach to therapy is compassionate, interactive, focused on new perspectives, working through emotions, and skill building.

Danielle Atencio
Pre-Licensed Professional, ASW
Verified
1 Endorsed
Verified
1 Endorsed
“Look beside you, and I’ll be there;” this is my credo, both as an individual and as a therapist. Life is difficult; there are always challenges and struggles, and in many instances, it is the connection and support that one person gives another that makes the difference. I use a strength-based, client-centered approach to therapy. My work focuses on assisting clients to identify their own personal strengths and unique goals for treatment, express and process difficult and/or uncomfortable emotions, and learn effective coping and interpersonal skills that will help them throughout their life.

Desiree Troxell
Marriage & Family Therapist, LMFT
Verified
4 Endorsed
Verified
4 Endorsed
Welcome to wellness. You have taken the first step toward exploring your full potential. Embarking on a path of self discovery enables you to unearth your hopes for yourself, your relationships, and your future. Authenticity, communication, forgiveness, love and humor are essential to living a healthy life. Knowing yourself allows you to have healthier relationships with your family, friends and colleagues. I have experience helping people who are encountering grief, anxiety, depression, mood disorders, trauma, marital difficulties, life transitions, family conflict, relationship conflict, stress, self harm, and substance abuse.

Camille Johnson
Marriage & Family Therapist, MA, LMFT
Verified
18 Endorsed
Verified
18 Endorsed
I offer a soulful and deep approach to therapy for individual adults who are struggling with an array of relational and emotional concerns. As your therapist, I’m here to guide and walk along side you on your personal journey; collaborate and partner with you to move through areas in your life that are not serving you well. I aim to help others find health for their mind, balance for their lives and emotional wholeness. I truly believe that people grow through therapeutic relationships and therefore seek to help those I come in contact with achieve a deeper connection with themselves and others.

Karen Schneller
Marriage & Family Therapist, LMFT, CEDS
Verified
Verified
You are living a daily battle in your head about what you can eat, how much you should exercise, if you are worthy of taking up space. You are consumed by counting calories and by the negative voice inside that tells you, you’ll never be good enough or thin enough, smart enough or pretty enough. You are fed up with how the society/culture tells you how you should look and feel and behave. Your behaviors have you feeling exhausted and depleted and you wonder how you can go on another day. Others may think you have it all together on the outside, but the mental torture inside is killing you and feel like your life is shrinking.

Josiah Loomis
Marriage & Family Therapist Associate, AMFT
Verified
1 Endorsed
Verified
1 Endorsed
I feel grateful for the opportunity to journey alongside you on your path towards personal growth and healing. I believe that the ability to create a life of meaning comes from within and that everyone is capable of reaching their most personal and intimate goals. I have found that therapy can be beneficial to those at any stage of life and enjoy working with people of all ages. I’ve provided child therapy to children in elementary schools, worked with adult survivors of domestic violence and those who live with mental health challenges as well as with elders transitioning through the final phases of life.

Rebecca Velasquez
Clinical Social Work/Therapist, LCSW
Verified
4 Endorsed
Verified
4 Endorsed
Anxious or burned out? Seeking greater life purpose rather than just getting by in life? Time to step into your best, most authentic self! For over 15+ years, Rebecca has treated teens & adult clients with: anxiety, college/life transitions, pre-postpartum issues, addiction recovery, parenting issues, etc. Rebecca is solution-focused & psychodynamic in her approach and utilize various modalities including CBT/DBT tools, mindfulness, and creative body-based approaches. Whether you are a high school/college student, career professional, parent or spouse, being an adult can often feel stressful and challenging. Rebecca can help.

Alyn Bartick
Marriage & Family Therapist, MS, MFT
Verified
Verified
Now is the time to remove the barriers to the life you desire. Using a supportive, strength-based, and straightforward approach, I will guide you to the more richly experienced life you deserve. I offer solution-focused sessions that achieve results quickly. From our first meetings, you will be less stuck and more prepared to move forward. After more than twenty-five years, I continue to find immense joy in helping clients to live healthy lives filled with meaning and contentment.
Not accepting new clients

Jayanta 'Jay' Hegde
Psychologist, PhD
Verified
1 Endorsed
Verified
1 Endorsed
I'm a clinical psychologist practicing with those who suffer from loneliness, anxiety, obsessions, trauma, anger, aloofness, issues of identity and intimacy, difficult life circumstances, and many other problems. While I value knowledge about psychopathology, I find a strictly diagnosis-based approach to be insufficient. Instead, we might be curious together about the many aspects of life that bear on your particular suffering. This broad exploration and discovery can only happen in a safe and confidential relationship. I feel so privileged when someone chooses to reveal themselves to me on these deeply personal levels.

Leah DeRose
Marriage & Family Therapist, MS, LMFT
Verified
9 Endorsed
Verified
9 Endorsed
The heart of the work we will do together centers around supporting you to heal, work towards changing your thought process and to help you develop skills to work through challenging life situations. The decision to look for a therapist takes strength and courage. Therapy is a resource that promotes healing and growth; and as amazing as that is, it can also be intimidating. I use a combination of therapeutic techniques to help support you to identify and process through areas that you feel are impacted negatively. Working together, I will support you towards healing and empower and guide you to move forward in a healthier way.

Debbie Whitney
Marriage & Family Therapist Associate, MA, AMFT
Verified
1 Endorsed
Verified
1 Endorsed
Debbie (licensed as Deborah Whitney) provides caring therapy to individuals and couples. From serving community members at a non-profit mental health agency and private practice to three decades of teaching preschool—a variety of life experience makes her a kind therapeutic partner to support children, adolescents, and adults. Beyond motherhood and postpartum issues, areas of expertise include anxiety, depression, trauma, substance use, phase of life transitions, parenting skills and relational challenges.

Jacqueline King
Psychologist, PsyD
Verified
1 Endorsed
Verified
1 Endorsed
I specialize in psychological assessment. Whether you would benefit from accommodations at school or work, need testing for private school admission/gifted placement, require an evaluation for employment or a medical procedure, are facing legal problems due to mental health issues, are interested in clarifying a diagnosis, or simply desire more insight into yourself and your strengths and weakness, I can help you obtain the answers you need. I am one of several psychologists at CCES, a specialized practice committed to providing the most up-to-date, comprehensive and objective psychological evaluations. Types of evaluations include:

Lifespan Therapy- Jennifer Sale, LCSW
Clinical Social Work/Therapist, LCSW
Verified
Verified
Do you ever wonder why you have anxiety, nervous tension, mood fluctuations, an inability to concentrate, or a lack of motivation? There are reasons for symptoms such as these, some of which may be environmental, including past trauma or adverse childhood experiences, some biological or hereditary and some related to current stressors. But it is important to have an understanding of these factors, as this type of knowledge is power. In my practice, I offer supportive, compassionate counseling that encourages insight and understanding on the part of my clients, but is also solution-focused with feedback and guidance where needed.
Not accepting new clients
Nettie M Rosburg
Marriage & Family Therapist, MA, MFT
Verified
1 Endorsed
Verified
1 Endorsed
I work with individuals and couples from the ages of 18 to 80-something. I like to help restore vitality to all sorts of relationships and life in general. I focus on assisting persons who want to make conscious choices for more satisfying living, and who want to develop positive and effective relationships and cope well with life challenges. My work is collaborative, is focused on the here and now and the achievement of a feeling of personal wholeness and satisfaction. I have 38 years of experience working positively with individuals or families affected by problems related to substance abuse.
Dorothy Pitkin
Clinical Social Work/Therapist, PhD, LCSW
Verified
Verified
I like working with people who recognize that they want or need to change something in their lives that they haven't yet figured out how to do by themselves. This includes people who feel they are stuck creatively-- working on a particular project that just doesn't move forward. Sometimes it is a question of what needs to change, as well as how to make that happen. While this process requires work that only they can do, therapy gives them a place to learn ways to do this work, using cognitive and experiential techniques.
Not accepting new clients

Deborah Lyon
Marriage & Family Therapist, LMFT
Verified
2 Endorsed
Verified
2 Endorsed
Are you struggling with communication in your relationship? Maybe you are feeling isolated, lonely, disconnected, or even unsafe in your relationship. It might feel like you are on your own, that you are not on the priority list, or that no matter how hard you try, you can never get it right.

David C. Lichti, LMFT
Marriage & Family Therapist, LMFT
Verified
Verified
Currently, I'm mostly using Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy with my clients. When, as a child, we find ourselves traumatizing or trapped in negative circumstances, parts of our self system compensate by locking away that which at that time was too much for us to handle. Later, if we do not go back to this locked away material, the pain, confusion and injustice of what happened to us long ago, can get triggered, or, awakened, when similar such challenges arise in the present. IFS provides a safe way for that locked away material to be approached and reprocessed, allowing our core self to take back control of our lives.
See more therapy options for San Luis Obispo
How can I find a therapist in San Luis Obispo?
Search for nearby therapists or counselors by inputting your city, town, or suburb; or zip code; or a provider’s name into the search bar. From there, you can filter providers by the issues they treat, cost, insurance, gender, and other factors to find providers who are well-suited to your needs. To navigate between locations within the same country, enter a new city or zip code into the search bar.
Learn more about how to find a therapist.
Learn more about how to find a therapist.
Is online therapy a good option?
Therapy conducted online or over the phone can be just as effective as in-person therapy, as long as there is a strong alliance between the client and the therapist. To find a therapist who provides telehealth services to clients in your area, click “Online Therapy” on the directory homepage and search by your city or town or your zip code.
What’s the difference between a psychologist, a therapist, and a counselor?
Therapists, psychologists, and counselors are all licensed mental health professionals. In the United States, psychologists have earned a doctoral degree. The terms “therapist” and “counselor” are used somewhat interchangeably, but generally therapists offer longer-term, mental health care, while counselors offer shorter-term care that may focus on one domain, such as marriage, career, or academic challenges.
What type of therapist is right for me?
Clients should consider factors such as insurance coverage and their primary reason(s) for seeking therapy to determine the type of professional best suited to their needs. Someone struggling with mental health challenges such as depression or anxiety, for example, may wish to seek out a clinical psychologist, psychologist or therapist, while someone navigating career obstacles or marital upheaval may benefit from seeing a counselor who can offer short-term, targeted support.
Is everyone in the Psychology Today Therapy Directory a licensed therapist?
The Psychology Today directory lists providers who offer legitimate mental health services to the public, including psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and counselors. Many have been licensed by the country or state where they practice; providers whose license or primary credential has been verified by Psychology Today are signified by a “Verified” symbol. Some clinicians or organizations provide services for which their state or country does not offer licenses, such as pastoral counseling. They may be selectively included without the “Verified” seal.
What type of therapy is right for me?
The type of therapy best suited to a particular individual depends on several factors, including their primary reason for seeking therapy, their preferred timeline (some therapy types last for a set number of sessions, while others are open-ended), and their personality and preferences—some may prefer a more structured approach. For many individuals, multiple types of therapy could provide a good fit.
Is online therapy cheaper than in-person therapy?
Many therapists charge the same amount for online therapy as they do for in-person therapy—though clients may still find this cost-effective if it cuts down on their transportation costs. Health insurance plans often offer equivalent coverage for online and in-person therapy; indeed, in many places, they are legally required to do so. Text-based or on-demand therapy apps may be cheaper than traditional one-on-one psychotherapy; however, the practice may be less effective and is not likely to be covered by insurance.