Find a Therapist in Playa Del Rey, CA

Hi, my name is Allison. I've been a therapist for thirty years, working with individuals and teens who have experienced trauma. I specialize in attachment, complex developmental trauma, and relationship challenges. I work with individuals who have been exposed to early or chronic trauma, violence, neglect, abandonment, and attachment disruptions. These experiences can create challenging or disabling behavioral patterns affecting the body, heart, and mind. Complex trauma related to grief, loss, neglect, abuse, and abandonment can make individuals or parents feel overwhelmed, easily triggered, and chronically anxious or depressed. Learning effective strategies to create a healing path for your life and journey is always possible. We cannot shame ourselves into change! Seeking help is one of the bravest things we can do for ourselves. Breaking the pattern of intergenerational trauma allows us to become who we were truly meant to be ... our most authentic self.

In my professional experience, people come to therapy when they are feeling unhappy, stuck or blocked in some way and feel that they have exhausted their available resources and coping mechanisms. My role as a therapist is to serve as a guide to help the client identify and express their needs and wants, as well as assist the client in recognizing their strengths and abilities to heal and grow. I work with clients to help them understand their past experiences and current situation in order to move forward and make changes to facilitate the life and relationships they want. I am warm, compassionate, collaborative and interactive in my approach.

I value the uniqueness of each individual client and provide support and compassion to encourage clients to feel safe in expressing their current thoughts and feelings. I listen empathetically, affirming each client’s sense of worth and value, and at the same time, I gently encourage them to expand their comfort zone by asking questions and empowering them to take small steps towards their realized goals. A big of part of my work revolves around acknowledging my client’s vulnerable emotions. I will help you to develop a vocabulary to describe some of these emotions, including any anxieties, worries, and fears. Many of these feelings and thought patterns may stem from childhood. I use a psychodynamic and attachment-based approach to therapy which means I believe that our behaviors, feelings, relationships, and emotions are related to our early experiences. I also incorporate other evidence-based practices and modalities such as motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioral therapy, and problem solving therapy to address some of the current issues affecting each client. ‍ From our work together, you can expect to develop a greater understanding of yourself in relationships with others, including family, friends, romantic partners, and coworkers. This will in turn develop into the ability to advocate for yourself in personal relationships and acquire tools for building connections with healthy boundaries. I am excited to be part of your journey of self-exploration and personal growth, and can’t wait to work with you on your life goals and aspirations!

You may look like you are functioning well on the outside - successful, creative, accomplished - yet inside you feel tense, blocked, emotionally exhausted, or disconnected from yourself and others. Many of the people I work with are artists, performers, writers, entrepreneurs, and professionals who have learned to push through pain, self-doubt, and relational wounds without fully resolving them. At a certain point, pushing through is no longer enough - you want to feel like yourself again.

If you’re here, you may be carrying more than you let on. On the outside, you function well — you meet expectations, manage responsibilities, and hold things together. Internally, anxiety, overthinking, or burnout may feel constant. You might struggle to relax, set boundaries, or quiet the pressure you place on yourself. I work with high-functioning adults and couples in Los Angeles, and online across California, Nevada and Oregon, who want more than quick fixes. Together, we slow down enough to understand the patterns beneath persistent anxiety and relational strain. I integrate insight-oriented therapy with practical structure, helping you regulate your nervous system, clarify your needs, and make decisions from a steadier place. Working with me is collaborative and intentional. I will ask thoughtful questions, notice patterns, and gently challenge what no longer serves you. Our work is focused, grounded, and aimed at lasting change — not just temporary relief. If you’re ready for therapy that is both reflective and practical, I invite you to reach out and explore whether this feels like the right fit.

As a Marriage and Family Therapist, Clinical Art Therapist, and Somatic Psychologist, I offer pathways to healing and well-being within the context of a safe, supportive, and relational environment. With 30 years of experience in private practice, residential and outpatient treatment, my work with clients is integrative, attuned, interactive, and holistic. My work as a psychotherapist draws on a variety of theoretical perspectives, including psychodynamic, Jungian, humanistic, transpersonal, and family systems, approaches to psychotherapy, a focus on wellness through mind body integration, art therapy, clinical hypnosis, guided imagery, somatic experiencing, meditation, and mind body medicine.

I am a human first and a therapist second. I help clients grow confidence and problem-solve by unpacking their resilience, leaning into curiosity and creativity to explore untapped potential. Using a strengths-based perspective, I approach each client as an individual and a partner in the therapeutic process, and I deeply believe in the capacity for growth and positive change. Using cognitive-behavioral techniques, psychodynamic principles, somatic interventions like polyvagal theory, and your lived experiences, I enjoy helping clients build healthier relationships with their personal and professional lives. Many of us have trauma or family situations that feel too overwhelming to address, wounds bandaged but unhealed. Perhaps you feel deluged by your parental, familial, or professional responsibilities. You may be a busy mother, an exhausted partner, or employed but unfulfilled. Through empathy, authenticity, and humor, I collaborate with clients to navigate difficult circumstances by exploring their past experiences and current motivations. SPECIALTIES Having worked in the entertainment industry for over 10 years, I understand the unique pressures and hierarchies shaping your world, and the costs to your personal life. As a woman in the entertainment industry, I became painfully aware of the toxicity and time constraints people in the business face. For this reason, I work Saturdays because I believe an unpredictable work schedule shouldn't be a barrier to accessing support. To better understand the nuances of attention-deficit hyperactivity (ADHD), I've completed additional training specifically in adult ADHD to help clients learn how their brains function, and how to work with their brain instead of against it. Unmanaged ADHD can lead to depression, burnout, and exhaustion, but there are evidence-based treatments that can greatly reduce or eliminate these risks. As a working mother, I specialize in women's issues because I care deeply about the nuances of the female experience. Navigating the intersecting paths of career, motherhood, gender norms, and societal expectations can be tough. I specialize in managing the stress and anxiety that often come with trying to "do it all."

As an author, public speaker, spiritual scholar, and Licensed Clinical Psychologist, my goal is to create a welcoming space to explore the deeper realities of life. My expertise lies within combining psychological with spiritual world views, as a more cohesive path to healing. I aim to help patients heal mentally, emotionally, socially, and spiritually. I had the privilege to be under the wing of mentorship of Dr. Stephan A. Hoeller, the renowned Gnostic-Jungian scholar. With this background, I have created my own method of therapy over the last 18 years; I call it “Gnostic Pneumatherapy”. Having crafted this particular method myself, I am thus able to implement various treatment styles with patients, including talk therapy, couple’s therapy, humor, rituals, intuition, and whatever is suitable for that particular person. I also specialize in dream interpretation. Being able to help individuals identify a lack of direction in life enables them to address issues of depression, anxiety, grief, and suffering. Many people feel lost and in need of guidance; my goal is to help them discover what a successful path looks like for them. If you’re searching for a spiritual and clinical approach to healing, contact me to get started on your journey to wholeness!

My name is Christina, and I am a therapist offering trauma, relationship dynamics, identity exploration, nervous system regulation, and holistic healing. My ideal clients are artists, outsiders, freaks, queer folks, spiritually curious humans, metaphysicians, and people who don’t quite fit into conventional boxes. Many come to me struggling with trauma, anxiety, unhealthy relationship patterns, identity exploration, burnout, grief, emotional overwhelm, or feeling disconnected from themselves. I help clients better understand their inner world, regulate their nervous systems, heal old wounds, build healthier relationships, and reconnect with their authenticity, pleasure, creativity, and emotional freedom through an integrative, personalized approach. My specialties are trauma, relationship dynamics, identity exploration, nervous system regulation, and holistic healing. I offer integrative approaches blending eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), internal family systems (IFS), somatic therapy, mindfulness, spirituality, and relational empathy to help clients heal deeply, reconnect with themselves, and uncover their true selves. My history working with EMDR, somatic embodiment, inner child healing, shadow work, mindfulness, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and parts work has been extensive, profound, and sometimes hilarious. Over the years, I have supported individuals navigating addiction, codependency, complex posttraumatic stress (PTSD), and religious trauma, helping clients process painful experiences, reconnect with themselves, and create healthier patterns. I’m so stoked to meet you. My sessions are always very safe and often filled with humor, curiosity, play, expression, and wonder. I know it can be hard to ask for help, and scrolling through therapist directories can be confusing. But you found my page for some reason. Either I’m a hard yes or a hard no. Either way, I’m glad you found me.

As the director of Guide Therapy Services, my mission is to tailor an individualized environment where you can cultivate well-being, re-align with your intuition, and use a healthy self-understanding to further your advancement of effectively moving towards your needs and goals. In practice, I incorporate current evidenced-based research on the connections that exist between emotional and physical well-being with my conscientiously rigorous educational and clinical experiences as the cornerstone in the work I do with individuals, couples, and families from all walks of life. Some people begin to search for a therapist when they feel like they have run out of options and need a change. Others simply seek counseling to help boost their personal growth and ability to progress more effectively towards their optimal goals. Whatever the initial motivations are, all of my clients can expect a safe, non-judgmental and peaceful environment where they can work towards creating positive change, at their own pace.

Is your life on a satisfying path? Are your relationships working the way you want them to? Do you take good care of yourself? Through compassionate listening, searching questions and practical ideas, together we can get you heading in the right direction. We can reduce pain and anxiety, clarify your choices, examine the forces that drive you, and help make your relationships more fulfilling. I use Emotionally-Focused Therapy in my couples work, which is a profoundly powerful approach to helping gain or regain a secure loving bond.

IF YOU WANT THINGS TO BE DIFFERENT, YOU HAVE TO DO THEM DIFFERENTLY! Life has a flow. When the flow is blocked, we suffer. Suffering takes form in many ways and affects every aspect of our lives. Trauma, adverse life events and sudden tragic circumstances all contribute to suffering. The manifestations appear as drug and alcohol dependence, depression, and anxiety. The consequences can be physical in nature, such as chronic pain and stress, mental in nature, such as isolation and fear, and spiritual in nature, when all hope seems lost. My approach is to help you unblock the natural flow of your life. Regain balance and empowerment in the areas of romance, finance, sex and spirituality. Combining EMDR and Mindfulness therapies, I can help you find your FLOW: Fulfillment, Liberation, Ownership and Well-Being. You can choose a better way to live. You can live the life you choose. Now is as good a time as any!