Find a Therapist in Westmont, California.

Psychotherapy on it's own or in combination with medication services can have a profound positive impact on a person's livelihood. Often times, there are patterns and cycles in life that an individual might be unaware of. It is my job to learn about a person through talk therapy, and conceptualize and help bring awareness to these patterns and cycles. Awareness is the first step towards change.

I work with an entire person--the mind, emotions, body, spirit, relationships. I offer an alternative approach to traditional psychotherapy because sometimes we are stuck beyond our thoughts. I believe we are often stuck beyond how we think about something, but by how our body holds and remembers the experiences. After all, we feel the anxiety in our chest, shoulders or stomach. When we are depressed, we struggle to move, sleep, concentrate etc. I work to remove the block from wherever it is stuck. My clients come to me after years of ineffective therapy. They are looking for more than talking about their struggles or identifying how they think about them in favor of a change in living.

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 am broadly trained in Psychodynamic/Psychoanalytic therapy. As needed, I will utilize and borrow from various other approaches including ACT, CBT, and art therapy amongst others. I believe to create lasting change, it is necessary to discover the roots of the underlying problem. We will then create and utilize the tools required to bring about change.

How long does therapy take? This is a question I am often asked and yet is so difficult to answer. So much depends on what you expect and want from their therapist. Some people want a to address a specific problem they are facing and others want and ongoing therapeutic relationship. Personally, I much prefer working with patients who are looking towards the longer term commitment. I love getting to know my patients and becoming the holder of their stories as I try to facilitate growth and change.

Psychotherapy is the use of psychological methods to help a person change behavior and overcome problems in a positive manner. Its aim is to help people understand the thoughts behind feeling anxious or depressed and addressing these thinking patterns. Psychotherapy will help you change behaviors and habits that are limiting you, to experiencing your fullest potential.

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.

Learning about yourself through Psychotherapy may be the best gift to give yourself. It is a form of learning your strengths and weaknesses and finding out how to use the results to help you thrive in life. Various activities and techniques are tools used to help you explorer, discover and become the best version of yourself. Psychotherapy can help you thrive!

Having the desire to deeply experience, explore, and feel our emotions that are related to both present and past circumstances is at the core of the process. Unexamined feelings can often lead to negative feeling or experiences which their cause is not understand. The process of understanding one’s feelings and emotions allows us to grow. Psychotherapy can awaken us to discover the real reason we choose our behaviors.

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.

I have 20 years of diverse professional experiences and extensive training. I am a published writer, lecturer and passionate about my field. I specialize working with Individual Adults and Teens. My style is conversational, and I strive for a collaborative and compassionate practice with my clients. Though, I am trained in a variety of therapies, I primarily work in narrative and psychodynamic theory. Additionally, I may draw upon other similar or complimentary theoretical approaches to create a highly personalized treatment plan based on your needs and goals.

Thinking outside the box: New insights and self-empowerment for lasting change. With extensive experience as a supervising psychotherapist and project contractor, I have worked with government agencies (CDC, INS, City of New York), NYC hospitals, nonprofits, and the private sector. As a cited resource in books and articles, I have presented numerous times on psychodynamic therapy and treated adolescents and families in both inpatient and outpatient settings. By integrating self-empowerment tools with state-of-the-art, evidence-based treatment, I help individuals open new pathways to break habits, solve problems, or resolve conflicts, fostering lasting personal growth and wellness.

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.