Therapists in Santa Cruz, CA

The human experience brings a full spectrum of emotions as we navigate love and loss, life transitions, and traumas that can impact our daily functioning and ability to feel connected to ourselves and those around us. Together, we can explore what is affecting your mental health and your impacting your relationships, making it difficult for you to access a sense of well-being. With compassionate guidance and support, we can help you uncover what may be preventing you from being your authentic self and identify practices that will help align you with your highest purpose.

Pandemic. War. Existential shock; we can feel lack in our joy and our vitality; we feel overwhelm in body, mind and spirit. We can’t sleep, our relationships don’t feel right and we feel lost in the huge and scary waves of fear and worry about the past, the future and our survival...there is hope! we partner in practices to find compassion and radical acceptance; we dedicate space to cultivate and nourish the growth mindset and ourselves deeply— I hold sacred and safe spaces for womxn who feel stuck in fear and overwhelm so they can reboot and reconnect with their body wisdom and become the best version of themselves. regardless.

You've been thinking about this for some time. Waking up to your morning alarm and automatically dreading the day. It's exhausting to put on a brave face and pretend everything is OK, while inside you can't stop criticizing and doubting yourself. How agonizing it can be when you feel compelled to obsess over conversations or the worst moments of your life and sit in that pain. And when you do try to talk to someone they try to give you advice, "look on the bright side", or to try some yoga or something. It's so isolating when it seems like no one understands, so it feels easier to just keep trying to do this all on your own.

Therapy is about change, and I am dedicated to helping you make the change you seek. I provide a compassionate, confidential haven for addressing areas of difficulty and disturbance, for healing past hurt and loss, for mending and deepening relationships, and for helping you live a rich, meaningful life.

I recognize the courage and effort involved in seeking out therapy. I’m so happy you found my profile and hope to connect with you as a resource to support your mental health goals. Whether you would like to ease emotional distress, develop self-acceptance, self-compassion, and self-trust, improve relationships, improve coping skills, increase balance, find spaciousness, enhance wellbeing, (or all of the above and anything not mentioned), I am here to support your growth and journey toward a more meaningful life.

Are you tired of struggling with anxiety, OCD, depression, or unresolved attachment wounds and trauma? I'm here to offer you a compassionate, safe, and transformative healing journey. As a therapist educated by the renowned Dr. Gabor Maté, I have gained invaluable insights into the deep roots of human suffering and the power of connection in the healing process. In my presence, you will feel genuinely seen, heard, and understood. I create a nurturing space where you can explore your inner world without judgment or shame.

My name is Vanessa Hernandez, and I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist based in Orange County, CA, and working with clients statewide via telehealth. I work with children, adolescents, and adults with a variety of presenting concerns. I specialize in anxiety, stress, trauma, depression, ADHD, and relationship issues using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Brief Solution Focused, and Person-centered Therapy to empower my clients to make lasting and meaningful changes.

Our highest potential as human beings is to embrace the interdependence of all beings and to value full development of potentialities and consciousness. This involves an ongoing process of healing the wounds in our psyches, fully inhabiting our bodies, and increasing our consciousness while developing a healthy relationship with those parts of us that are unconscious, and deepening our relationships with other humans as well as with all the other inhabitants of the planet we share. Each of us has our own individual potential to grow towards, and our work together can support you in this process.

How do we regain balance after losing our footing? Whether through anxiety, anger, depression, fear, guilt or shame, it is normal for our lives to present challenges that throw us seemingly off course. At the same time, life’s greatest challenges can also present opportunities for growth, deep healing and the reintegration of lost parts of ourselves. In my work with clients, I provide a safe and supportive environment to express and explore challenging emotions, thoughts and beliefs and help them discover new vistas and vantage points from which to enjoy and appreciate themselves, their lives, and their relationships again.

I believe in the capacity for people to make incredible change and growth in their lives. But it isn't easy! Regardless of the particular challenge you may be facing, with the right support, you can experience happiness and fulfillment in your life on a daily basis. I have worked in the helping profession for fourteen years, and have helped hundreds of people make changes they didn't even know were possible. I love to help my clients, and hope to have the opportunity to help you!

Large and small traumas can stack up over the course of a lifetime disconnecting us from ourselves and others and leaving us feeling anxious, depressed and overwhelmed. With warmth, humor and directness I work with you to rediscover lost parts of yourself and work on the behaviors that helped you at one point but are no longer serving you. I work with couples who are dealing with conflict, feelings of betrayal, intimacy issues or disconnection. I love helping you find your way back to one another.

Would you like to feel empowered and at ease with life and yourself? Whether you're going through life transition, having relationship problems, dealing with anxiety, depression, grief, trauma or looking for a deeper purpose in life, I would be honored to support you in your process of growth and healing. When the deepest parts of you get to be seen, held and accepted, it transforms into your light and strength. In this process you'll learn how to listen and trust your innate wisdom and guidance, you'll become resourceful, empowered and free to consciously create the life you want.

I am open to and welcoming private pay clients in this new year of 2022. We are all capable of change and more contentment in our lives. I enjoy working with young adults to elder adults, couples, and families. I honor the opportunity to work with people who are seeking to explore life challenges and increase a sense of strength and ease. Together we address past and/or present circumstances creating barriers to a more content life, and create practices and strategies that increase satisfaction, contentment, ease, and enjoyment of life.

Medicare clients accepted for teletherapy (telephone, Facetime, Zoom) . I treat trauma, anxiety, depression, and life transitions. We carefully work through crises and both short and long term issues by using skillful means and tapping into your inner resources.

I’m forever rediscovering the power of intention. Simply devoting space every week to our inner growth fertilizes a mysterious process with its own trajectory. What we originally feel as pain in our lives may actually be a portal inviting us to love more deeply, live more freely, and be less like everyone else. I love sitting with sensitive individuals with intuitive abilities, unwieldy minds, and a wonderment about how to be their true selves on this bewildering planet because I never know what is going to unfold. I especially enjoy working with spiritual practitioners who want their insights to be wholly embodied in their lives.

I view therapy as a collaboration where therapist and client work together to connect with an inner healing intelligence and unconditional positive regard within each of us. We can then tend to trauma, grief, resentments, and limiting beliefs that are contributing to symptoms. With humility and reverence for the resilience, courage and vulnerability it can take to heal ourselves, I create a nonjudgemental, kind and compassionate space with room for humor, absurdity and fun.

Romantic relationships are the ultimate human experience with the highest-highs and the lowest-lows. The highs make us feel vibrant, but unfortunately the lows impair our day to day functioning leading to desperate hopelessness. We know this ought not to be, as we long to have a healthy, long term sustainable relationship that is fulfilling. You want to be heard and validated by your partner. You want change both in yourself and in your partner.

As a Level 3 Certified Internal Family Systems Therapist, I look forward to accompanying you on your healing journey, offering hope, validation, warm support. Whatever brings you to therapy - your relationships, stress, trauma, pain, fears, hurts, depression - I will believe in you until you believe in yourself - your wisdom, capacity for healing, inner strengths. Discover new ways to communicate to foster positive outcomes in your relationships and harmony to your inner world. You are entitled to experience your own delightful spirit, moments of wonder and aliveness, curiosity and spontaneity, finding joy and peace in your life.

We are social beings that thrive on connection and a sense of belonging. I believe therapy is the most effective when we feel truly seen; that we matter. Seeking support can feel daunting and it takes courage to reach out and ask for help. Thank you for stopping here to learn more about me. I support individuals and couples in accessing their own innate wisdom and healing potential. My style is humanistic and transpersonal. I find that the deepest, most impactful changes take place when we address issues holistically, by engaging the mind, body, and spirit in the therapeutic process. A bit of well-timed humor can also go a long way.