Anxiety Therapists in Santa Barbara County, CA

As a therapist, my goal is to help you live a happier and more fulfilling life. It can be difficult to know if you are on the right path, have healthy relationships, and are satisfied with your life's direction. How do you feel about where you are headed? I can support your self discovery in a compassionate and understanding way. I work towards identifying one's strengths and empowering clients struggling with anxiety, depression, substance abuse, relationship problems and life transitions. I specialize in working with young women, new moms and couples navigating the transition to motherhood and parenthood.

Amy Tetalman, MFT is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, in practice since 2008. She received her Bachelor's Degree in Psychology from UC Santa Barbara and her Master's Degree in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University, Santa Barbara. Amy utilizes a collaborative, strength-based and holistic approach to therapy. She believes in humor, compassion and unconditional positive regard when it comes to connecting with her clients. She incorporates elements from psychodynamic, interpersonal, cognitive behavioral, internal family systems, humanistic and solution-focused therapies.

New Clients Welcome! I offer a Free 15-minute consultation. I'm glad you are taking these first steps in seeking help and investing in your mental health. I can assist you with decreasing and managing any psychologically distressing symptoms and increasing and improving your overall mental health and well-being. I specialize in anxiety, depression, sex therapy, psychedelic-assisted therapy, sexual trauma, and all types of trauma. I also specialize in working with bipolar disorder, OCD, LGBTQ+ issues, PTSD and more. I hold a Doctorate degree (Psy.D.) in Clinical Psychology and am a licensed Psychologist.

I am currently only seeing clients I have worked with before as I will be starting a Sabbatical on May 1, 2024. If you have ever felt anxious, angry, depressed, lonely, unmotivated, or overwhelmed, you are not alone. Life can be stressful at times. We all need some guidance and support. My therapeutic style is dynamic, genuine, and —straightforward. I aim to help you learn practical solutions for growth and change by setting realistic goals, identifying unhealthy patterns, and understanding the underlying causes of your thoughts, feelings, and actions.

I work with individuals seeking support for mental health conditions including anxiety, panic, trauma, grief, attachment wounds, low self-esteem, chronic pain, life transitions, and unhelpful relational patterns. Together we can cultivate a new path of self-awareness, behavioral change, and self-care. Compassionate self-exploration includes increasing emotional awareness, understanding the origin of your beliefs and wounds, and identifying your needs, values, strengths, and options while skillfully navigating obstacles to healing.

To be happy and free of suffering ... this is the experience of effective therapy. When we're witnessed, deeply understood and guided to our true self, the challenges of being human can become magical. Blending multiple clinical orientations I work with the client's whole being - mind, body & spirit - to discover his/her own unique truths and capacities. Because so much of who we are is a function of our relationships, I gravitate toward couples, families and groups, teaching people how to relate to themselves and each other with refreshing honesty and authenticity.

I am an enthusiastic Psychotherapist/Clinical Hypnotherapist and NOW offering Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy. I inspire you to work through anxiety issues and become more powerful. I bring creative, supportive counseling and a positive attitude to my private practice. During my sessions I provide: Trauma Treatment, KAP, Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy, Hypnosis, Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing, & Attachment work, I tend the Soul Life in all my clients. 24 yrs in practice helping UCSB, SBCC, & Santa Barbara and California clients. My passion is you living your full potential. Give me a call to see if we are a match.

My goal as a therapist is to provide a comfortable setting that allows you to get the greatest benefit from our work together. In addition to traditional office sessions, I offer flexible solutions including phone, teletherapy, or home visits. Emotional issues can trigger or make a significant contribution to anxiety, skin conditions, skin picking issues and hair pulling (trichotillomania) issues. Relaxation, visualizations, and a mixture of cognitive behavioral therapy and body-focused psychotherapy can make the difference. You can take more control by discovering how to manage your emotional triggers and by developing strategies to alleviate anxiety, skin issues, skin picking, and hair pulling.

I welcome you to walk with me on a journey of healing and thriving if you seek harmony, peace, resilience and yes joy, in the face of life's adversities. Those who are experiencing life stresses/trauma resulting in anxiety, depression and other mental health challenges are most welcome for psychotherapy. We work together utilizing various treatments such as mindfulness, cognitive therapy and the underlying biological reactions to stress in order to help you thrive. I also offer evaluations of learning and brain functions and give life changing recommendations. The collaborative work with horses is especially powerful.

You are smart, hardworking, and psychologically-minded. Your wellbeing is important to you and objectively, most things in your life are going well. Yet, feelings of anxiety, sadness, loss, emptiness, or disappointment gnaw at you. From time to time, you think about your past, from your adolescence to relationships and choices. These things aren’t directly related to your life now so you wonder why they come up at all but you cannot reconcile them. Because you are busy with work, family, and staying connecting, these emotional blips get lost. You don’t make time to reflect and feel. You just keep plugging along … until next time.

Psychotherapy provides an opportunity to reflect on the deeper dimensions of your experience, and to recognize your own unique callings in life. The goal in existential therapy is to experience greater freedom in making the choices that empower you to be the kind of person you most want to be. Psychological freedom is twofold: freedom from the unwarranted fears, anxieties and assorted forms of emotional distress that constrict our life engagements, and at the same time, a freedom to engage in the vital relationships, creative activities, and genuine responsibilities that characterize a meaningful and fulfilling life.

Do you feel stuck, anxious, depressed? Are you ready to feel better? Drawing upon my extensive training, and vast life experience, I will help you recognize your innate ability to access wisdom and healing. I bring a relaxed, loving, and compassionate spirit to my work while helping you find graceful solutions. When I meet with you, I look towards your health and what is working for you.

If you find yourself here, I assume you are searching for answers. You are looking to make a change so you can feel better about some thing or some things that is/are giving you difficulty in your life. I am happy to tell you that you are on the right path. It is normal to come to a place in life where you have questions that are difficult to answer. It happens to everyone.

Unresolved and lingering circumstances can be difficult to wrestle with on a daily basis. They have an underlying power to influence our well-being and our relationships with others in ways we often see but do not understand. I offer a supportive, gentle space as you seek solution, revelation, and stability in your circumstances. I work with adolescents and adults addressing a variety of challenges including depression, anxiety and stress, relationships, life transitions, and conflicts in work, school, and family.

Are you experiencing emotional pain that has become too amplified to sustain in silence? Perhaps the burdens you have been carrying for so long are finally too heavy to manage alone. Unresolved past experiences, loss, dysfunctional relationships, and negative self-criticism can hinder our ability to navigate the difficulties life throws our way. Let’s work together to create a therapeutic relationship built on hope and trust.

I specialize in panic attacks, panic disorders, anxiety, and depression, as well as relationship issues. Not only do I help treat these disorders, but I help clients completely be rid of them! Believe it or not, panic, anxiety, and depression don’t have to be life sentences, and you don’t just have to just learn “coping skills”. These disorders are symptoms of a root problem that can be undone in therapy! I have helped many people break free of their lifelong anxiety and depressive symptoms in just a few months.

Life is truly uncertain, with the rapidly changing environment of modern life feeling overwhelmed seems to be commonplace. Whether you are encountering anxiety, depression, addiction, relationship issues and/or other possibly debilitating physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual obstacles they can be worked with during this time of uncertainty. Additionally, with over 15 years of experience in various healthcare settings I work with burnout, compassion fatigue, moral distress and other stressors.

Welcome to my practice!  I am a licensed clinical psychologist and consultant.  I specialize in using science based information and strategies to help my clients change their mindsets, increase self-worth, and overcome negative coping mechanisms.  Areas of specialty include anxiety, eating disorders, addiction, and empowering clients on how to use their mind to change their brain, so that they may reach their potential. My approach is strongly influence by Interpersonal Neurobiology, Psychodynamic Theory, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. I also offer EMDR, an evidence based therapy for trauma.

I primarily work with adolescents and adults who are experiencing anxiety, relational issues, and difficulties managing stress and emotions. I provide a nonjudgmental space to process feelings and thoughts as well as practical tools for lasting positive life changes.