Individual Psychotherapy

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The success of individual therapy is primarily based on the distinct professional relationship created between the therapist and client.  Despite the collaborative nature of such alliance, the time spent in session is exclusively about the client and for the client.  Such set up is ideal for exploration of the client’s inner world.  It allows the client to tap into deep personal wounds and connect with pain, hurts, and loss.  The client may choose to revisit important beliefs and values, process behavioral patterns, and learn how to manage and reduce symptoms of distress (e.g. anxiety, depression, etc).  Through this process, the client develops a sense of awareness, mastery, and flexibility that contribute to personal growth and identity formation.  Much of the therapy is directed toward acceptance, forgiveness, and repair of core relationships, as well as establishing new healthy and mature relationships.

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Couples Therapy

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Couples therapy allows the couple and each partner to identify and process relationship challenges.  Each partner develops an understanding of the couple’s relational dynamic and behavioral patterns.  Partners develop an awareness of how they trigger, affect, love, and hurt each other.  In this process partners learn the skills of reaching each other, reclaiming individual voices, discovering new parts about themselves, and awakening the desires that bring them to life.  Partners are encouraged to master clear non-threatening communication, open their hearts to each other, and ultimately recreate the couple’s unique story.

 

Not every voyage has a happy ending.  Restoring the relationship may not always be the goal of therapy. The key is to let the process unfold in the manner that is unique for the presenting couple.  This may result in a mature harmonious relationship or in a willful, strategic, civilized separation. 

 

Not every couple is suitable for marital therapy.  There are several major components, such as intimate partner violence, addiction, severe mental illness, or infidelity that can impede the value of therapy.  Such issues must be processed with the partner’s individual therapist for the duration of at least six months prior to entering couple therapy.  It is recommended for the partner to continue individual therapy in conjunction with marital therapy.

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Family Therapy

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In family therapy the concentration is on interactions of the family members within the family system.  The entire family is viewed as the problem, rather than the individual who presents the most symptoms.  Emphasis is placed on behavioral and emotional patterns, unresolved issues in the family of origin, sibling positioning, boundaries and rules, generational norms and values within the family, as well as the styles of communication and the roles each member plays within the system.  A dysfunction in one family member affects the whole system.  Interventions are offered to disrupt dysfunctional pattern and create an opportunity for the family to attempt to regulate itself and maintain stability and equilibrium.

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Group Therapy

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Grief Support Group:  In this process, the clients will be supported and guided through the stages of grief, the natural way of healing one’s heart.  Group members would be continuously offered information about the effect of the grief on physical, emotional, and relational state.  Members will be invited to grieve openly and meaningfully in the safe and holding environment of inclusivity, empathy, compassion, and togetherness.  The cohesiveness of the group and support of other members will create a comfortable environment for sharing feelings, pain, and stories about the loved ones.  The purpose of group therapy is to help individuals find hope and establish a meaningful relationship with loss.

 

Process Group:   A time-limited group psychotherapy allows members to explore challenges, struggles and impasses in the relationships with others.  The group provides a sense of community and belonging. It offers an excellent opportunity to restore individual perception of safety, trust, interdependency, power, self-esteem, and intimacy.  In this process, members will discover uniqueness and central meaning in disconnected parts of life.  The members are encouraged to confront their anxiety and express emotions.  Such process welcomes intimacy and involves corrective experience of interpersonal feedback and reflections of other group members.   This awakens authenticity and awareness of individual existence.

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Fees

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My fee for a 50-minute session is $260 (individual) and $290 (marital/family). The payment is due when services are rendered. Sessions are typically scheduled to occur once a week at the same time and day. I do not accept any form of insurance.

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Sample Good Faith Estimate Notice

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You have the right to receive a “Good Faith Estimate” explaining how much your medical and mental health care will cost.

Under the law, health care providers need to give patients who do not have insurance or who are not using insurance an estimate of the expected charges for medical services, including psychotherapy services.

You have the right to receive a Good Faith Estimate for the total expected cost of any non-emergency healthcare services, including psychotherapy services.

You can ask your health care provider, and any other provider you choose, for a Good Faith Estimate before you schedule a service.

If you receive a bill that is at least $400 more than your Good Faith Estimate, you can dispute the bill. Make sure to save a copy or picture of your Good Faith Estimate.
For questions or more information about your right to a Good Faith Estimate, visit www.cms.gov/nosurprises.

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Notice To Patients

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The Board of Behavioral Sciences receives and responds to complaints regarding services provided within the scope of practice of licensed marriage and family therapists (LMFT) and licensed professional clinical counselor (LPCC).

 

You may contact the board online at www.bbs.ca.gov, or by calling (916) 574-7830.