Find a Therapist in Hermosa Beach, California.

When providing psychotherapy ("talk therapy"), I offer a safe and compassionate space where you can bring your full self without judgment. Together, we’ll explore your thoughts, emotions, and experiences to uncover patterns that may be keeping you stuck. My goal is to help you gain clarity, heal from past hurts, and develop tools that support lasting change. Through this process, you can strengthen your emotional well-being and move toward a life that feels more balanced and fulfilling.

As a psychotherapist, it is my belief that by entering therapy, a client is entering a journey of self exploration that leads to personal growth and fulfillment. I believe it takes courage and strength for an individual to accept the challenges in their lives and take steps toward health and happiness. I am a directive therapist who educates, teaches, and instill insight for my clients that enhances their relationship within themselves and with others. I guide clients in obtaining insight as to sources that hinder their potential for happiness as well as provide coping mechanisms and tools clients can utilize to manage their emotional challenges.

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 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.

Processing and validating experiences with a trusted professional can facilitate healing. Therapeutic relationships provide an opportunity for self-reflection, connection, and growth. Increased self-awareness can benefit our relationships, decision-making skills, and overall well-being. I am committed to supporting your individual process and maintaining a safe, non-judgmental environment.

My goal is to provide a safe and non-judgmental place where I can help my clients reach their full potential by processing feelings (past and present issues), improving communication, and exploring family issues that may be a barrier to success. I have worked with adults, children, adolescents, couples, and families with various issues including: Depression, Anxiety, Communication, Coming Out Issues, Increasing Intimacy, Sexual Identity, Attention Problems, Self Esteem, Anger Management, Addiction Issues, Bereavement, Relationship Issues and Trauma.

Are problems from your past creating issues for you today? Do you need help learning more constructive ways to deal with life's challenges? Do you feel stuck in the same unhealthy patterns, and can't find your way out of them? If this sounds like you, I'd like to help. I am committed to creating a place where you feel safe to heal, and uncover emotional wounds and memories, so that you don't continue with self-defeating, maladaptive behaviors.

The fact that you are considering psychotherapy shows that you are taking a powerful and courageous step towards enriching your life. I specialize in providing psychotherapy in an empathic, stimulating, and collaborative environment that will help you heal, grow, and find fulfillment in your life. Together we will explore your unique personal circumstances and come to understand how these circumstances have effected and continue to effect your life. Ultimately, we will explore your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors so that you can heal and grow.

I like to ask good questions rather than solutions. I am a professional collaborator. When it comes to anxiety and trauma, there are practical tools I use to help clients relieve their nervous system. I use deep brain-based work called brainspotting. In my talk therapy, I like to use the foundation of narrative therapy to help clients feel dignified and learn to use their values to help carry them forward. Its the best of both worlds using a processing technique and another technique that requires thinking. I use all areas of the brain.

If your young adult is feeling isolated and alone, I can help them explore the circumstances that have led them to this place in their life. Sometimes healing is derived from simply gaining understanding of how their life experiences have impacted them and shaped who they are. I can help your young adult examine how their early childhood experiences have influenced the lens through which they currently view the world. I can also help them evaluate any rules they made up about the meaning of life. Together, we can design a new and more fulfilling story for their future.

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.

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 enjoy working with adults and adolescents and specialize in the treatment of eating disorders, substance abuse, self-harm and other maladaptive behaviors (including underlying issues of anxiety, depression and trauma), which may be preventing my clients from living a life of inner peace and enjoying fulfilling connections with others. I am a licensed Clinical Psychologist through the California State Board of Psychology (PSY 27951).