Find a Therapist in San Marino, California.

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.

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.

My clients often find me easy to talk to and say they feel comfortable with me, trusting quickly. This can make the psychotherapeutic process easier and more effective for my clients, especially if they are nervous or don’t know what to expect. Therapy with me can range from just talking casually with each other, leading to insights, increased self awareness, and processing through emotional issues, or it could be more intensive deeper therapy like EMDR.

My approach to psychotherapy is mostly relational. I take a family systems approach that addresses relationships in my clients' lives and improves their functioning for better health and happiness. Clients under my care learn how to unilaterally improve the functioning of a relationship through boundaries and self-confrontation. The result is individuals and relationships that thrive.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a specialized form of therapy that focuses on a person's thoughts and beliefs, and how they influence a person's emotions and actions. As a client, you will learn how to identify distorted or unhelpful thinking patterns, recognize and change inaccurate beliefs, relate to others in more positive ways, and change behaviors accordingly. CBT's ability to help change a person's thinking to be more adaptive, effective, and healthy, while helping them change unhealthy behavior patterns, will lead to the alleviation of symptoms and an improved quality of life.

Psychotherapy gives you a place that exists for one purpose: to understand you. Away from the roles you play and the people you look after, you can finally turn toward your own experience and say what's true. That alone can be a relief; over time, it becomes much more. My role is to listen with care and to help you notice what you've overlooked: the recurring themes, the feelings that don't add up, the desires and fears you may not have put into words before. Much of what shapes us runs quietly underneath the surface, and bringing it into the open is what allows things to shift. The trust we build together is part of how the work heals: being met with serious attention and care.

Psychotherapy is not anything to be scared of, or intimidated about. Seeking out a therapist or being in therapy isn't an admission of weakness or some kind of character flaw. Therapy is a collaborative process and a partnership with someone who is trained in and experienced with facilitating personal growth. And in this process, you are in the driver's seat. Our minds and emotions and relationships involve complicated machinery just like our bodies do and in the same way a medical doctor helps you stay physically healthy, Psychotherapy is designed to help you be and stay mentally and socially strong, and continually in a position to take on life's many challenges as your best self.