Dr. Kerns is a member of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT), the Orange County Chapter of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (OCCAMFT), and  an Associate member of the AAMFT.

Dr. Kerns graduated from California Graduate Institute of The Chicago School of Professional Psychology and is a Licensed Marriage Family Therapist MFC# 50443 Using an integrative psychotherapy, a combination of various therapeutic strategies and skills depending upon a client’s unique challenges, she has experience in applying many orientations such as Jungian, family systems, psychodynamic, and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Her preference is to use a Jungian orientation in assisting client's sort through the difficulties that life has presented. This approach many times leads to fulfilling one's potential in life. Jung referred to this as Individuation. The goal is to get in touch with who you are at the core of your being, beyond the role of parent, spouse, child, sibling or employee.
The Jungian approach to therapy may help those who are:

• Experiencing anxiety or depression 
• Needing to take a step back and look at life from a different perspective
• Experiencing a loss of personal meaning in life
• Anticipating or experiencing a change in their personal or professional lives
• Exploring a decision, opportunity or challenge
• Wanting to discover a spiritual path in life
• Recovering from emotional or physical abuse
• Experiencing envy or jealousy
• Lack the ability to make good decisions

Mid-Life Transition

Are you experiencing confusion or indecision as you transition into your next phase of life?

At mid-life, people benefit most from a form of therapy that brings meaning and symbolic value to their life, as opposed to the quick fix therapy that managed care provides. Mid-life issues are not about fixing problems and relieving symptoms as quickly as possible. Jungian theory offers those going through this phase of life, a way to discover their purpose in life as they enter the second half of life, gaining a deeper awareness of the unconscious forces that have previously blocked their growth. A mid-life a person who establishes an inner relationship with their unconscious materials through Dream Awareness and Sandplay facilitates the communication between the conscious and the unconscious mind for a smooth transition into mid-life.

About Dream Awareness

Did you know that discussing your dreams with your therapist, may guide you in improved decision making?
 
I work with my clients, listening to how their life unfolds on a weekly basis, they add a dream and together, we work on discovering how this dream is trying to inform their life. Edward Whitmont a Jungian Analyst states that a dream represents the dreamer’s situation as it currently exists, “externally or internally or both; and it compensates the one-sidedness of the conscious view, that is, it relates a message which is unknown to the dreamer but is potentially vital, and in need of being known” (Whitmont, 1991, p 38) My IrvineOffice is located at 4199 Campus Drive, Suite 550, Irvine, CA 92612. My West Los Angeles Office is located at 520 Sepulveda Blvd.. Suite 302 http://www.DrMarieKerns.com 949-285-5199