Find a Therapist in Florence Graham, California.

Psychotherapy provides a supportive and steady space to explore your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors while uncovering the patterns that hold you back. My approach is both compassionate and practical, helping you gain insight, develop healthier coping strategies, and create meaningful change. Whether you are navigating stress, trauma, relationship challenges, or personal growth, therapy offers tools to build resilience, self-awareness, and clarity so you can move forward with confidence and purpose.

I am a Counseling Psychologist, therapist who uses Psychotherapy as a healing process, directed in assisting persons who deal with difficulties of daily life functioning. The initial consultation can focus on identifying the immediate problem and a solution. The following sessions are directed to longer term goals and a resolution. The treatment model in your therapeutic process is best tailored to suit your personal, emotional needs.

Are you struggling with insomnia, or worrying constantly? Do you have a traumatic event in your past that is haunting you? Have your relationships become difficult to manage? Are you concerned about your effectiveness as a parent? Is your family in a constant state of conflict and unable to effectively communicate? Psychotherapy is an effective way for helping individuals and families better cope with these circumstances, as well as other overwhelming life events and concerns. Working with individuals and families to create a safe where they can work through their challenges and develop strategies for a more fulfilling life.

The issue is not what happened to you, it’s the impact it had and how you are able to deal with it. Psychotherapy helps. It involves our talking together to address the problems you’re having in your life. We’ll see what works, what doesn’t, why not, what you’ve tried, and what other options there may be. We’ll look to understand how the difficulties came to be and what gets in the way of changing them. We’ll see what’s happening in your life now and how old patterns of thinking and behaving may interfere for you. We’ll explore other alternatives. I strongly believe people can change, and I see that happening in my office regularly. You’d be surprised how therapy can change your life.

I believe that psychotherapy is helpful to help clients who are experiencing a wide variety of issues. I employ a blend of cognitive behavior therapy and psychodynamic therapy to help clients start feeling better quickly while giving them time and space to work on deeper issues. This approach can help you in making progress with anything from anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship issues, self-esteem, panic, and more. My approach is collaborative, supportive, and direct. We will work together to determine your goals and tailor a plan to reach them. Let me help guide you towards feeling your best self.

My approach to psychotherapy involves a comprehensive evaluation to examine the specific needs of the client. Several modalities are utilized for treatment. Cognitive behavioral therapy, psychodynamic therapy. Therapy generally involves not only examining how our past experiences have informed our sense of self and well being, but understanding how to move forward effectively by developing healthy coping strategies. I treat individuals, couples, families in an outpatient setting. I treat both adolescents and adults.

My view of psychotherapy is a very personal one. My relationship with my clients is of utmost importance, because our work needs to feel safe, respectful, caring and effective. My clients and I decide together on goals for our work. The safety can allow my clients to explore parts of themselves and their histories that have shaped their views of self and views of others, including the meaning of life and their deepest fears and needs. Our work will respect who you are, what you have experienced, your fondest desires, and the blocks you have learned to set up for your protection and that perhaps no longer serve you. You may find that you no longer have to feel alone and untended.

I believe in creating an atmosphere in therapy in which you can feel safe and comfortable with me so that you can share what is bothering you without judgement. Clients give me feedback that I am warm, caring , humorous, and easy to talk to. I believe that successful therapy also involves learning new skills and learning to think differently about your life or whatever is bothering you. To achieve this, I often encourage between sessions "homework" to accelerate therapeutic progress.

I provide a safe environment for you to share your story, address the challenges you are facing, and explore your hurts, hopes, and dreams. My approach to working with you includes a combination of psychodynamic, existential, and attachment-based concepts. I believe your history is important and we take time to address and understand how it has impacted you. We will look at how the person you are today is working for you and address areas that keep you from reaching your current goals. I also want to know how your past affects your ability to be in relationship with others. I will walk alongside you through this journey of healing and personal growth.

I am a psychodynamic trained therapist. Psychodynamic psychotherapy is a form of depth psychology and is similar to psychoanalysis. It is also known as insight-oriented therapy and focuses on unconscious processes as they are manifested in a person’s present behavior. The goals are for a client to become self-aware and understand the influence of their past on their present behaviors. The psychodynamic approach enables the client to examine unresolved conflicts and symptoms that arise from past dysfunctional relationships.

Psychotherapy can provide you with insights and concrete strategies for coping and growing. We all have experienced frustrations from childhood that can develop into triggers, provoking intense feelings. Therefore we look for triggers and their roots, explore thoughts and feelings to facilitate understanding and healing. The focus is on new coping skills, relaxation techniques, restructuring your thoughts. You also learn to live more consciously and apply new strategies. It takes time -- it’s like building muscle strength. In close collaboration, we will together monitor your changes and process your reactions to weekly events as they relate to our work.

I have almost 20 years experience treating individuals and couples in psychotherapy. I find that finding a good match with your psychotherapist is of utmost importance. One needs to feel safe with the therapist and in the environment in order to feel more comfortable to share extremely personal and become emotionally vulnerable for the process to be more beneficial. I have treated individuals and couples of ethically diverse backgrounds, the LGBTQ community who have offered me the feedback of feeling surprisingly comfortable undertaking the psychotherapeutic process with me.

My approach to psychotherapy does not involve years of talk about issues until the client reaches a "catharsis," and suddenly is cured. It is more of a collaboration and involves the client to engage in his own therapy. We look for solutions, rather than talking about "problems" endlessly. As a person-centered therapist, I believe an authentic, respectful and caring relationship with the client fosters growth and self-actualization. The use of cognive-behavioral methods, allows us to look for underlying beliefs the client may have about his place in the world, and unrealistic thought patterns, such as "all-or-nothing" thinking. These can be redirected to provide positive outomes.