Find a Therapist in Rancho Palos Verdes, CA

You may be feeling overwhelmed, stuck, or noticing that experiences from your past continue to affect how you feel and respond today. Maybe you are struggling with anxiety or depression, trying to cope with painful experiences, or finding that substance use has become a way of managing difficult emotions. You do not have to have everything figured out before starting therapy. I work with adults navigating trauma, anxiety, depression, substance use, and co-occurring concerns. I am based in Costa Mesa and provide online therapy to adults throughout California. Together, we can explore what you are experiencing, better understand patterns that may be keeping you stuck, and develop ways of coping that support the changes you want to make. When appropriate, we may also use EMDR to help process traumatic or distressing experiences. My approach is trauma-informed, collaborative, and tailored to you. I draw from EMDR, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Motivational Interviewing, and other approaches based on your individual needs. Sessions can include exploring what is coming up for you, identifying patterns that may be contributing to distress, and developing practical ways to cope and move forward. I am not here to judge you or tell you how you should feel. My goal is to provide a space where you can feel heard and supported while also helping you explore difficult patterns, build on your strengths, and move toward meaningful change.

Are you having some difficulties in your life or are you struggling with sadness, stress or other psychological issues? If so, then I am confident that I can help and or find you the assistance that you need. You will see that I am interested in assisting you in meeting your goals and helping you attain a more happy life. I utilize a non-judgmental but direct approach with patients. I can offer you ways to feel happier and more relaxed. I strongly expect success and provide every opportunity to achieve it. Specialties: SadnessDepression, StressAnxiety, Adjustment Issues, Life Changes, and Personal Growth.

Our team of licensed therapists brings decades of combined experience working with individuals, couples, adolescents, and families across diverse populations and life experiences. We believe healing begins through connection, understanding, and trust, and we’re dedicated to helping clients navigate life’s challenges with confidence and resilience. We create a safe, supportive, and nonjudgmental environment where clients feel heard, valued, and empowered to grow. Whether you’re struggling with anxiety, relationship difficulties, life transitions, or emotional overwhelm or you’re seeking personal growth, our team meets you where you are and works collaboratively with you to create meaningful change.

If you have difficulties in your relationship, now is the time to restore and to heal it. Whether it is your spouse, your partner, your friend, your adult child or your parent - make the first step toward closeness, understanding, and connection. Join me as we will journey together from frustration, isolation, and despair to love, care and safety utilizing the evidence-based Emotionally Focused Therapy process for relationship distress recovery. Don't spend another day wondering if your relationship can be better. Yes, it can! You can be happier, you can feel safe and you can be closely connected to the person you love. If you are looking for a warm, caring and engaged therapist, you came to the right place. Be heard, be understood and be safe as I help you to navigate through a difficult world of relationships, love, support, and care. Your wellbeing is of outermost importance to me.

Advanced Health Care is HERE To HELP during COVID-19. Now more than ever, life can be stressful, confusing, and painful at times. The purpose of our work together is to help you live a healthier, happier, and more meaningful life. We will work together to process what is holding you back, and to find ways to help you move forward. I am not here to tell you what to do or how to live your life, but to assist you in creating the life that you desire - in a way that works for you. You may be asking yourself, is this the right time to start therapy? Here are some things to ask yourself: - Do you feel like you are not on the right path? - Have you been chronically unhappy or made poor decisions? - Do you have a good life but find yourself feeling off or unsatisfied? - Are there situational problems in your life that you need guidance for? - Do you feel that your issues have been following you for years? - Do your problems seem to not have any solutions? - Are you confused as to what is even wrong? The good news is this: Psychotherapy can help. I treat a wide-range of mental health concerns, including anxiety, depression, chronic pain, coping with illness, trauma, grief, self-esteem, women's issues, & stress. I also conduct psychological evaluations, including: Workers' Compensation evaluation and treatment, Agreed Medical Evaluations, Qualified Medical Evaluations, Personal Injury Claims, Fitness For Duty Evaluations, and Independent Medical Evaluations. I look forward to helping you.

PRACTICAL HELP. RESULTS ORIENTED. 30 years of professional experience with Couples and Individual Adults has taught me that most people want to clearly understand what's wrong, and know what to do about it, so they can make changes for the better. I'll help you identify what needs changing, develop an improvement plan, take action, follow through, and get results. Author, 'Why Men Don't Get Enough Sex and Women Don't Get Enough Love (Pocket), 'Losing the Weight of the World: How to Lighten Your Burdens Through Meditation and Joyful Living' (Doubleday). Psychologist EditorReviewer: 'Good Loving' (Men's Health). Specialty: Couples and Individual Adults. Couples: I've been married over 30 years, know the secrets to success, and can help you be successful too. Clearer communication, and greater emotional and physical intimacy. Happy relationships are the #1 key to life satisfaction - Let's create it for you. I have two terrific grown children, know a lot about good parenting, and am glad to offer suggestions. Relationship Issues: Couples, Marital, Pre-Marital, Divorce Individual Adults: Ready for change? Let's work together to make it happen. Call or Email Today for a Happier Tomorrow!

I believe therapy should be a safe space where someone in need of help can express themselves without being judged. Eliminating behaviors and beliefs that no longer serve you can help you grow. I use a range of approaches tailored to your needs, assisting you to develop skills and tools that nurture your growth. I use a blend of humanistic and cognitive approaches in therapy, focusing on creating a supportive, empathetic space while helping you develop practical tools for change. A key goal of treatment is to identify and challenge unhelpful thought patterns that can negatively impact your emotions and mood, allowing for healthier perspectives and more balanced emotional well-being. (Mi lengua materna es el español para los que prefieran comunicarse asi).

My humanistic, client-centered approach honors your person, experience, opinions, views, and wishes. It is my intent to provide a genuine experience of safety, warmth, and acceptance. It is amazing what you can accomplish when you have someone in your corner who sees, believes in, accepts, and supports you—this is the experience I aim for with every client. My approach incorporates aspects of collaborative, solution-focused, and narrative therapies to help you get unstuck and get on with your life. Experience has taught me the best thing anyone can do to help themselves is take action. Action creates momentum which leads to more action, which helps create change. I can help you learn to recognize and modify the patterns, beliefs, and behaviors holding you back--things which may be preventing you from taking action. We will work together to help you develop the tools, resources, and confidence you need to begin moving forward. Action without conviction may produce changes which do not ‘stick.” This is where the client-centered aspect of our work together comes in. By developing genuine compassion, respect, trust, and acceptance for and of yourself, you will come to believe you are absolutely worth the effort—you ARE worth it. That conviction is within you, we just have to find it. Let’s find it together. A favorite analogy: if you don't plant anything in your garden, nothing will grow. Not only will it remain empty, and may fill with unwanted weeds. Metaphorically speaking, my job is to help you figure out what to plant, and to care for the garden that is your life. With effort, mindfulness, self-care, and acceptance, you can grow all the wonderful things you wish for, and I would love to help you plant it.

I work with clients who are interested in scientifically supported therapy for anxiety, depression, and related concerns. Clients work with me to address challenges such as excessive worry, panic, health anxiety, perfectionism, and obsessionscompulsions (OCD). We also work on concerns that tend to accompany these challenges, such as depressed feelings, sleep problems, and difficulties with motivation, energy, and concentration. My main approaches to treatment include cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), exposure therapy, and mindfulness. Working with me is a collaboration. We work together to identify your values, goals for treatment, and a realistic plan to achieve them. Therapy with me is also very active; we focus on things you can try in your life right now to feel better and live the life you want.

All couples experience conflict. Few, however, have learned to effectively communicate frustration without it turning into a fight. I specialize in helping COUPLES communicate after experiencing CRISIS. If you've experienced infidelity or betrayal of trust and want to give your relationship one more chance, I can help. With therapy we can create a safe enough place for each of you to express the underlying hurt and resentments that keep you from feeling connected. As an Emotionally Focused Therapist and wife in my own 35+ years of marriage, I am aware of how challenging relationship ruptures can be. It requires work and commitment. Together we can work through the challenges. There is hope for troubled relationships.