Therapists in La Canada, CA

The most fascinating and important part of my job as a therapist is how to have a really good conversation. It may sound too simple, but it cuts to the heart of what to expect from therapy. Through good conversation, you experience connection and understanding. When we are understood, difficult feelings change with resulting freedoms to engage life. Trained both as a Marriage and Family therapist and a psychoanalyst, I work with complex relationship issues, divorce and blended families, depression, anxiety, addictions, men's issues, and sexual trauma recovery, and integration of psychology and faith/spirituality.

I specialize in working with dually diagnosed individuals and their families with severe and persistent mental illnesses, such as Polysubstance Dependence, Schizophrenia, Schizoaffective Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder with Psychotic Features, Bipolar Disorder, and Acute Anxiety Disorders. I have always had a special interest in working with family and couples, especially where one or both suffer from severe mental illness. I am on staff at several local inpatient and outpatient mental health facilities, and help facilitate hospital admissions in a sensitive and professional manner. I offer individual and family community interventions as needed. I also help professionals coping with workplace stress.

Have you ever been lost in a dark forest? You may have felt helpless, out of control, very scared, or confused. Perhaps you suffer from anxiety, depression, and grief. If so you need someone to hold your hand and walk with you until you get home safely. When you are going through very painful suffering, your brokenness can lead you to discover how your childhood wound might affect your self-esteem and your relationships. I like to work with adult women who have been abused as a child, battered women (intimate partner abuse), and young adult women with childhood wounds.

You don't have to continue feeling depressed or anxious. I can help you learn effective ways to manage difficulties and challenges so that you may feel more in control of your life. Replace debilitating negative thoughts and embrace your strengths and capabilities. You can learn to trust that you're ready to make decisions, move forward, reach your goals, and attain what you want, feeling hopeful, motivated and optimistic. Individuals, couples and families learn new ways to communicate effectively, resolve ongoing conflicts, repair trust, learn to support each other, heal and grow a stronger relationship.

In a comfortable and supportive atmosphere, I have helped more than 5,500 clients in the last 30 years. I am dedicated to helping men, women, couples, children, and families achieve greater well-being and success. I am gentle, focused, and direct in helping people successfully resolve: Signs or Symptoms of Depression or Anxiety, Life stressors such as Family and Work Problems, Grief, Loss, Marital Distress or Divorce, Parenting, Child and Adolescent Issues, Health Related Adjustment Issues, Post Traumatic Stress.

Welcome! Reaching out for support is one of the bravest step we can make. My clinical practice is devoted to working with teens, women, and parents. I specialize in work with individuals with past trauma experience, relationship challenges, anxiety, depression, ADHD and ASD, women's health concerns, parenting challenges, self-harming behaviors, and behavioral challenges. While therapy is unique to each individual, it often includes increasing emotional awareness, processing unresolved trauma, healing attachment wounds, challenging unhelpful thoughts and patterns, and strengthening relationship bonds in order to heal and flourish.

Life is a canvas, and living is a creative process—an art form. Our mental health struggles can serve as paints for our canvas or act as binds that tie our hands. I help adults and teenagers unbind themselves, and paint their ways to fulfillment. I have expertise treating anxiety, depression, grief, and other struggles. My approach to therapy is collaborative, creative, and rooted in curiosity. These factors are key to a growth-inspiring therapeutic relationship. I strive to help clients go beyond behavior change to deeper self-understanding. Whether your aim is to navigate struggles, or achieve other goals, I may be able to help.

Loss, grief, loneliness, betrayal, despair, these experiences punctuate and define our lives.Yet all the while we’re longing for wholeness, connectedness, and authenticity in ourselves and relationships. Usually our coping strategies, often developed in our childhood, eventually stop working for us and the pain ensues. We can’t seem to find relief from the problems and find ourselves falling further into cycles of numbing or masking our pain. But I’m here to say there is hope, real change is possible! Our deepest hurts happen in relationships, but so can our deepest healing. If you want to dig deep, I'm ready to partner with you!

My specialties are relationship issues and loss and grief. I have been in practice for over 18 years. I mainly see clients virtually and find it has been just as powerful and proactive as in person. Many clients like the convenience of being able to be in three different locations. In couples therapy, I will help you and your partner identify the conflict issues within your relationship. Couples therapy involves learning how to communicate more effectively, and how to listen more closely. In couples therapy I am proactive and direct helping the couple gain awareness of their "disconnect" by pointing out observed behaviors.

I believe that every day gives us the opportunity to approach our difficulties in a new way if we are open to the experience of change. When people come to see me they are usually in some kind of emotional pain, whether that be stemming from a recent trauma, loss, life transition or relationship struggle. Talking about it helps. My personal approach combines warmth, acceptance and respect with skill and dedication to understanding my clients’ unique needs.

Do you want to make changes in your life? Do you want to make healthy choices that will enable you to reach your full potential? Psychotherapy provides a healing relationship - a second chance at discovering our capacity to grow, to love, to reflect and to change how we react to the world around us. Through the connection of the therapeutic relationship, one is able to transform patterns of thoughts, feelings and behaviors. Today you are one step closer to creating positive changes in your life. It would be an honor and a privilege to join you on this journey!

I see couples all the time who love each other desperately but just can’t seem to make it work. Some couples put it this way: “It’s like we keep having the same fight over and over again and nothing ever gets resolved. We just have a big fight, followed by silence, and then we just go back to our daily lives without ever working through the issues until the next fight happens. I don’t know what’s happening or why it’s happening but it’s just awful.”

I enjoy working with people who are open to looking at themselves in new and different ways. I help clients explore how their issues develop and how to make healthy choices toward change. I believe we are all influenced by our most important relationships and in therapy I help clients figure out how past relational patterns are being repeated right now. When we can understand that, we can create new relationship possibilities that work better. I enjoy working with graduate students and professionals in the community. I love helping clients who are involved in the arts (musicians, actors, painters, dancers).

Your wait is over! I will call you back same day to help you find the right fit. Animating Principle and my second location, Animating Principle's Workshop, are leading the way in modernized therapy and coaching with individualized services. No long waits or impersonal service. I am accessible, and offer a one-of-a-kind experience in a uniquely-designed space. Therapy and coaching approaches are completely tailored to each individual. I specialize in working with children, teens, and adults on a variety of mental health and personal growth topics in Montrose. For more information, visit www.animating-principle.com.

You know something isn't working in your life, and you want to figure out what's holding you back. Not a temporary band-aid, you want to get to the root of the problem. I work with adults and couples who want to live life to the fullest - but find obstacles in their thoughts, feelings, relationships, or experiences in their past. Together we'll confront these obstacles at your pace, without judgment.

It’s natural to feel anxious or isolated during unsure times, and I am working hard to meet to meet the needs of my clients through remote telehealth sessions. I am accepting new clients, so please reach out. My video or call sessions are personal and easy to access. Therapy is both an art and a science, and I am well versed in both. I am also kind, empathetic and fun! I am skilled at several therapeutic modalities including: Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, EMDR (a unique method of healing trauma, anxiety, depression, addictions, etc.), Art Therapy, Action-Oriented Therapy, Emotionally Focused Therapy and more.

In my capacity as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), Certified Divorce Specialist (CDS), Certified Addictions Treatment Counselor (CATC-IV), Certified Anger Management Facilitator (CAMF), trained facilitator in Systematic Training for Effective Parenting (STEP) and Professional Consultant/Mediator on the television series "Divorce Court" (5 Seasons), I have acquired an array of therapeutic tools, which I pass along to my clients to help them along their journey of self-discovery, healing and personal growth.

*Jan 2021: Hi, my active client & wait lists are full. You deserve help, keep looking!* I help adults, kids, and families in any combination find new ways to understand their concerns, and create peace in their lives. With respect, compassion, and genuine curiosity we explore issues without judgment or criticism. My office is a safe space to be yourself -- no shame, no blame. Often, it's our ability to see things from a different perspective that allows us to start healing, re-connecting, and making the changes we want, to enjoy greater academic and professional success, freedom from painful memories, and stronger emotional health.