Dialectical Behavior (DBT) Therapists in Santa Barbara, CA

I aim to help my clients identify the obstacles standing in the way of living a more full and meaningful life that is in line with their deepest values. I team up with my clients to address a range of issues that might be keeping them stuck, including eating and body image concerns, anxiety, perfectionism, and shame. I also accompany people navigating life transitions and identity exploration, and I enjoy supporting and guiding parents and partners of folks with eating disorders in caring for their loved one and themselves. Lastly, I specialize in treating athletes with eating disorders and other mental health concerns.

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.

It is my privilege to support folks in their healing, growth and attaining their desired changes. In my 13 yrs in practice, I developed an eclectic approach in which I try to get clients their progress as early as possible, customizing a variety of methods. During sessions, I give my full attention, compassion, skills-teaching, and honest feedback. I customize sessions for what they need (consider their upbringing, values, goals & ability). I work with clients of a wide range of cultural, political, religious, or spiritual backgrounds/value systems. Focus is on clients feeling more self-empowered, at peace & self-satisfied.

Whether you are stuck in self-defeating patterns, struggling with stress, anxiety or depression, or having difficulty getting your needs met in your relationships, I am ready to listen and give you the tools you need to make meaningful changes and live a more peaceful, joyful, and satisfying life.

As humans, our emotions can often be painful, confusing, and intense. Whether you are struggling with managing intense emotions, patterns of unhelpful coping, or are generally feeling lost or stuck in your life, I'm here to support and guide you in creating your unique life worth living. I strive to help my clients gain a new understanding of themselves and the world around them in a compassionate, safe, and accepting environment. Over the course of our work together, I will help you learn new ways to navigate the many challenges life throws our way and empower you to use the strengths that already lie within you.

Life does not proceed as we each envision it. It can be unexpected, messy, complicated, disappointing, tragic, and challenging. In countless ways we strive and struggle. We can feel ourselves to be adrift. Yet we are connected, radically interdependent. Even so, we all have our own perspectives on life and our struggles. We are tethered to our environment, our social roles, cultural identities, interpersonal, historical, professional experiences, and so on. Through exploring this web, and the various vantage points that the web offers, a unique therapeutic process emerges for each person.

Now that you have PTSD from drowning in a sea of therapist marketing profiles, I’m here to help! Hit me up if you’re a high conflict couple and you’re fighting too much, or an individual and you’re fighting with (parts of?) yourself (or others?) in your head too much. I’m foundationally "humanistic-existentialist", meaning I join you on your journey with curiosity/authenticity/empathy, and help you become more confidently you through a relational process. But I'm trained in lots of acronyms: Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR) Internal Family Systems (IFS), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT).

Finding the right therapist can be challenging. I listen deeply to my clients and work collaboratively to facilitate change. I bring a warm and intuitive approach to complement 20+ years of clinical experience, so you can expect to feel seen and heard while you open up to the therapeutic process. I utilize EMDR, CBT & DBT modalities to transform old beliefs that no longer serve you, and treat single incident trauma as well as complex trauma from childhood. I address the impact that neurodiversity has on individuals, couples & families. Autistic & ADHD clients' benefit and thrive from having this awareness in the therapy room.

Do you find yourself repeating generational patterns but don't know how to stop? Do you punish yourself when things don't go your way? Do you find it hard to be vulnerable and allow yourself to be loved? You may know what it is you "have to do" in order to take better care of yourself, but what you really need is to dig deep into the wounds of intergenerational traumas and childhood traumas that continue to bleed into your present life. The human spirit needs be felt, seen, and understood in order to feel through an emotion. I'd like for us to be able to do that together. You do not have to heal yourself alone.

It is an honor to accompany individuals into the psyche where our deepest wounds are sometimes hidden. Healing energies can often be found in those depths, stimulating growth toward a more whole, authentic and satisfying existence. Sometimes the pain is on the surface, and symptom relief is necessary to allow the individual to return to a more effective functioning level. This can be accomplished through a combination of cognitive approaches (i.e., Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy) and body-centered approaches (i.e., focusing, embodied dream work, mindfulness).

No matter the challenges you or your child is facing, it can all be sorted out with time, patience, curiosity, and support. There are many ways in which we can move forward, sometimes we just need a little help finding the way. I encourage you to reach out to see if you think we'd be a good fit for one another!

I work to assist adolescents and adults improve their self-esteem, address disordered eating, manage urges and engagement in self-harm, maintain safety, and continue to build and maintain healthy relationships. I also support the development of skills to improve concentration, anxiety management, emotional regulation, and socialization.

If you are browsing this site, you are likely looking for a safe, competent person to help you sort through a difficult issue. I am a warm, highly experienced therapist with specialties in the areas of eating disorders, codependency, addiction, attachment trauma, and spiritual abuse. I understand the complexity and depth of disordered eating and body-related issues. Also, if you suspect you may have a parent or significant figure in your life with a personality disorder, I can help you heal the attachment trauma and empower your true self. I also work with those navigating relationship with church and spirituality.

The experience of being a parent can be discouraging; doing the same thing over and over again while seeing little change in your child is exhausting. My goal is to support you and your child in regaining a sense of competence and joy in your relationship. I am an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist who supports children and adolescence in navigating emotional and behavioral challenges. I collaborate with parents to ensure they are involved in the therapeutic process and provide strategies to support their child's progress at home.

My passion is to support clients through empowerment in order for them to reach their goals. I work with adolescents, teens, women, men and couples through short and long term therapy. My approach is to meet the client where they are at and find the best path that can positively propel them in the direction of their goals and further support positive change.

I specialize in therapy with teens and young adults. If we work together, we’ll come up with a treatment plan that taps into the why and how that’s keeping you stuck, and then learn new skills to support you moving forward in your life and relationships. My style is personal, collaborative, and caring, and I believe our relationship is fundamental to supporting your positive transformation.

As a Marriage and Family therapist, I work with couples & individuals: *With couples,I focus our work within a developmental framework to achieve empathic communication and differentiation leading to deepened emotional intimacy; *With those experiencing life transitions, we explore the impact on us as individuals & on our relationships; *In navigating depression, life style choices, anxiety, and other struggles I provide the opportunity to challenge & ability to realize your potential *Teaching communication skills, the focus is to make the accompanying shift from looking outside ourselves for explanation to taking responsibility for Self. *I offer DBT for individuals/groups to develop the ability to regulate emotions.

My clients present with mild-severe anxiety/depression, most often caused by trauma, grief/loss, emotional pain from attachment trauma experienced in childhood, due to various family dysfunctions. Most feel isolated, lonely and confused in their struggles, often ashamed that they cannot cope and too fearful to ask for help. Reaching out is a courageous step, and my clients seek to find relief from overwhelming emotions, to tell their story, be heard, seen, validated and understood from their perspective. In our sessions they improve awareness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation and coping through insight and renewed clarity.

In my practice, I employ therapeutic models like Solution Focused Therapy, CBT, DBT, Narrative Therapy, and more. With specialized training in child psychology, learning, and development, I apply research-based strategies to address educational and developmental challenges. My focus is on overcoming obstacles related to student learning and behavior. This involves crafting personalized plans such as BIPs and IEPs, conducting FBAs, assessing progress, and offering counseling to students and families. My services aim to support students academically, emotionally, and socially by integrating mental health with learning and behavior.