About Me

Hi, I'm Christina. A therapist based in Los Angeles, California. I offer in-person sessions in Pasadena and telehealth to clients throughout California.

I believe that most of what drives our pain, our patterns, and our choices is happening beneath the surface. In the parts of ourselves we haven't fully seen yet. My job is to help you see them. Not to judge them, not to fix them from the outside, but to understand them from the inside, in a way that actually changes things.

Long before becoming a therapist, I had already developed an acute attunement to people, the ability to read a room, understand motivations, and sense what wasn't being said long before anyone said it. That's not something I learned in a classroom. It's something that was shaped by my unique upbringing and experiences.

The people I work with leave with more than insight. They come to understand ways in which they have always been worthy and enough. They become more whole versions of themselves, closer to who they actually are underneath everything they've been carrying.

My Approach

I'm depth-oriented, which means I'm less interested in managing symptoms and more interested in understanding where they come from.

Anxiety, depression, relationship patterns that keep repeating, grief that won't lift, a life that looks fine but feels hollow…these aren't random. They have roots. And when we find the roots, real change becomes possible.

Think of it as detective work for your inner world.

At the same time, I meet every client where they are. Some people need immediate, practical relief first and I bring that too, drawing on EMDR, CBT, and somatic approaches depending on what you need and when you're ready. There's no rigid script, no one-size-fits-all method. Everything is tailored to you: your pace, your history, your life.

My Background

I hold a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from UC San Diego and a Master's in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University Los Angeles, a program deeply rooted in humanistic and relational traditions. I stay current with evidence-based research because the work we do together deserves both soul and rigor.

What It's Like to Work With Me

You don't have to arrive with the right words or have it figured out beforehand. You can show up exactly as you are and we'll work from there.

I care about the relationship we build as much as the techniques we use, because the research is clear: the therapeutic relationship itself is one of the most powerful drivers of change. You'll have a genuinely safe, judgment-free space. Not as a platitude. As a real commitment.

Outside the Office

I present as someone who has it all together. In many ways, I do.

But throughout various stages of my life, I've had to carry some very heavy things. Quietly, while life continued on the outside looking exactly as it should.

Each of those experiences taught me something different about endurance. About love that coexists with grief. About helplessness and showing up anyway. About the particular exhaustion of loving someone through something you cannot fix. About loss that doesn't arrive all at once but slowly, over time, in ways you almost don't notice until you do.

And the truth is, I'm still going through some of it. That experience lives in the room with me.

When clients sit across from me carrying something heavy quietly, while their own life looks exactly as it should from the outside…I am not guessing at what that feels like. I know. I've lived it too.

APPROACHES

Depth Psychology

EMDR — Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing

Psychoanalytic

Psychodynamic

Relational Therapy

Trauma-Based Practices

Narrative Therapy

Mindfulness Techniques

Somatic Experiencing

Jungian Psychology (dream analysis, free association, shadow work, creative arts)

TRAINING & EXPERIENCE

Clinical Skills Training Programs: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Internal Family Systems (IFS), Suicide Prevention, Family & Intimate Partner Violence, Advocacy with Mandated Clients, Healing Sexualized Violence, Substance Abuse, Shame is Relational, Trauma and Resiliency, Working with Sex Positive Communities, Eating Disorders with Weight Bias, Grief & Loss, Transference & Countertransference, Privilege & Cultural Humility, and Working with LGBTQIA+ Populations.

Couple & Family Training Program: Family Systems, The Gottman Method, Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), Systematically Oppressed Families, Gestalt Play Therapy, Sex Therapy, High-Conflict Couples, Betrayal and Affairs in Relationships, Working with Divorce, Healing from Infidelity, Trauma Bonding, Masculine and Feminine Dynamics: Understanding Polarities in Couples Therapy, Clinical Considerations Working with LGBTQ Couples & Families, Narrative Couples Work.

Workshops: Psychodynamic Principles and Techniques in Psychotherapy with Kristine Chermakyan, PCC, Intersectionality and the Mixed-Race Experience, Navigating Racial Trauma to Advance Racial Equity in Client Care, How to Start Your Anti-Racism Journey, Tapping In with Kim Cookson, PsyD, and Anger Management Essentials with Anita Avedian, LMFT. 3 month EMDR Basic Training workshop;50-58 hour EMDRIA-approved program for mental health clinicians with Curt Rouanzoin, PhD, and Michelle Gottlieb, PsyD.