What's My Approach to Therapy?
Space for the deeply feeling, the over-functioning, and those who’ve spent a lifetime holding space for others.
I’m Kirstin Carl, LMFT, an Encino-based therapist with nearly 20 years of experience helping adults heal attachment wounds, navigate relationship patterns, and create emotional balance in dating, partnership, and parenting. I work with clients in-person across Los Angeles and online throughout California who are ready to move beyond anxiety, over-functioning, or self-blame into relationships that feel safe, mutual, and real.
I believe healing happens in the context of authentic, trusting relationships. Many of the challenges we face in dating, marriage, or parenting trace back to early attachment patterns — the ways we learned to seek closeness, protect ourselves, or earn love. Through an attachment-based and trauma-informed approach, I help you understand how those old strategies no longer serve you in your relationships today.
Our work is collaborative and deeply relational. We slow down together to notice what’s happening in the present moment — in your body, emotions, and internal dialogue — and connect it to the story beneath the surface. I integrate guided visualization, somatic awareness, and parts work to help you build inner safety, emotional regulation, and self-trust. Over time, therapy becomes a space where you can risk being fully seen and still feel secure — the foundation for lasting change in love, family, and self.
Learn more about my approach to healing and growth at my Los Angeles therapy website:
kcarlmft.com
where I share insights on dating, relationships, and parenting.
My Practice & Services
I work with individuals, couples, and parents navigating trauma, attachment wounds, and relationship challenges. With nearly 20 years of experience, I offer a space where you don’t have to hold it all together, perform, or protect anyone’s feelings — where what’s heavy is named, what’s real is welcomed, and what’s never had room to breathe can finally exhale. I’ll walk alongside you, without rushing your process.
Whether you’re trying to make sense of the hurt behind your patterns, learning to date with intention, or parenting in ways that break generational cycles, therapy can help you shift longstanding dynamics and build more secure, connected relationships--with others and with yourself.
Clients often describe me as warm, direct, and down-to-earth. Sessions take place in my Encino office or online throughout California. If you’re looking for therapy that offers both depth and practical tools, I invite you to reach out.
Learn more at:
kcarlmft.com
where I share insights on dating, relationships, parenting, and healing attachment wounds.
Specific Issue(s) I'm Skilled at Helping With
I help clients navigate relationship and attachment challenges, trauma recovery, anxiety, and patterns of self-doubt or over-functioning. Many of the people I work with are dating or partnered adults longing for deeper emotional connection, parents hoping to break intergenerational cycles, and professionals who appear successful on the outside but feel exhausted or unseen inside. Together, we uncover the emotional roots of these patterns and build the capacity for secure connection, self-trust, and lasting peace.
What I Love about Being a Psychotherapist
I've always been drawn to what's unspoken--the quiet ache beneath the surface, the patterns we repeat without meaning to, the ways we try to protect ourselves from pain while still longing for connection.
For me, therapy was never just a career choice; it felt like a path I was meant to walk. I believe we all need spaces where we can stop performing, loosen the grip of old survival strategies, and finally feel what?s been waiting to be felt.
There's something sacred about being invited into these deep places. I'm moved again and again by what happens when someone feels seen enough to set down what they've carried alone--and begins to feel more like themself again.
On the Fence About Going to Therapy?
It's normal to wonder whether therapy is worth the time, energy, or cost. Taking that first step can feel vulnerable, especially if you're used to holding it all together or putting others' needs first. Therapy does require commitment--of both time and finances--but it's one of the most valuable investments you can make.
While material things fade, therapy creates lasting change in how you relate to yourself and others. The insights, healing, and emotional freedom you gain continue to grow long after sessions end. If you're unsure, you might gently ask yourself: What is the cost of not going to therapy?
