As a licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT), I specialize in the treatment of anxiety using multiple approaches to recovery.

As a queer, trans, or non-binary person, do you feel isolated, depressed, or anxious? Have you been through something confusing, scary, or painful that you are trying to understand, and are struggling to move past? Do you feel like you lack a sense of belonging? Experiences, changes, and shifts within your life might have caused you to feel or engage in behaviors that may be unlike yourself. I believe that in order to feel at ease and live authentically, we need to heal our wounds. Sometimes this can be scary, and together we can unearth your full potential to help you move forward. I specialize in supporting the highly sensitive and empathic members of the LGBTQ+ and transgender community who may also have people-pleasing or perfectionistic tendencies. I enjoy connecting on a human level to help you explore your gender identity, sexual orientation, and process trauma and grief, so that you can live life more authentically. Through talk and somatic therapy techniques, we can work together to bring awareness to your mind, body, and spirit. Together, we can change thought patterns that may be holding you back from feeling joy and continue the healing process. Feel free to check out my website, www.gnecenter.com, for more information and to set up a free consultation phone call to connect!

Each of our lives is a journey toward growth and meaning. It is inevitable that we will run into obstacles along the way. I see myself as a guide on the road who can assist you in figuring out how to best navigate and learn from the challenges you face. I will be active in engaging you in this process by listening to your individual story, supporting your life goals and dreams, and challenging you with new options when you are conflicted, stuck, or confused. My hope is that through our relationship, you can know yourself better and take action that is right for your particular path.

With 12+ years of experience, I specialize in working with couples to rebuild their relationship, intimacy, trust, and communication skills. I also specialize in working with individuals and families coping with chronic illness. My approach is to work in a collaborative team to build on strengths that naturally exist and learn additional coping skills. Each session includes real-time exercises and skills that we will work on to address your identified needs, as well as homework for you to apply between sessions to continually grow and work toward your goals.

My client-centered and reality-based approach is reflective of my interpersonal style which embraces humor, candor, and relatability. My goal is always to help each person achieve the goals they've identified for themselves. Sometimes people come in unhappy and dissatisfied with their lives but can't articulate what's "wrong". In those cases, we work together to get to the root of their troubles so our goals for therapy can become clearer and we can work towards real solutions. I affirm everyone's ability to change his or her life in a positive way. By utilizing a few time-tested treatment models and integrating them according to each persons' needs, we can find a rhythm and process that really works. Motivation, support, guidance, compassion, honesty, and empowerment are things people can expect to receive from me in the therapeutic process because those are the things I would want for myself!

We’re here with same-day appointments, with in-office and online options in California. Our Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists (LMFTs) support people of all ages, with a wide range of concerns, and from all backgrounds. We offer compassionate, ethical care for individual adults, teens, and children, as well as couples and families. We can support you on your healing journey today. Some of the areas we help with include anxiety, depression, grief and loss, parenting, behavior changes, past or current trauma, relationship issues, and more.

If there is one thing I hope you take away from an encounter with me, it is this: you are precious and valuable. That belief is at the heart of what I call Treasure Therapy. I believe every person has inherent dignity and worth, even when life, relationships, failure, shame, conflict, or loss have made it difficult to feel that way. My passion is engaging people in deeper therapeutic encounters that lead toward hope, meaning, connection, growth, and healing. I am especially passionate about helping people understand the deeper patterns shaping their lives and relationships. Rather than focusing only on symptoms or surface-level solutions, I work from a whole-person perspective that considers your emotions, relationships, history, body, beliefs, values, sexuality, spirituality, and the systems you are part of. Couples therapy is one of my primary specialties, and it has been for more than 15 years. With a PhD in Marriage and Family Therapy, I am trained to understand not only each partner individually, but also the relational system they create together: the patterns of attachment, conflict, intimacy, communication, and protection that can keep even loving couples stuck. My role is not to decide who is right or wrong. It is to understand the relationship itself, help each partner feel heard, identify the cycle underneath the conflict, and help you create a healthier, more connected way of relating. I work with couples dealing with recurring conflict, emotional disconnection, communication difficulties, trust injuries, sexual and intimacy concerns, differences in desire, parenting stress, life transitions, attention-deficit hyperactivity (ADHD) and neurodivergence within relationships, and questions about whether or how the relationship can move forward. I also enjoy working with couples who are not in crisis, but want greater closeness, emotional safety, intimacy, and depth. I also work with individuals around relationships, ADHD and neurodivergence, self-worth, anxiety, depression, sexuality, intimacy, identity, spiritual questions, life transitions, and the challenge of integrating the different parts of ourselves into a more satisfying life. I have been counseling individuals, couples, families, and groups since 2007. I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) in Maryland, Washington, DC, and California, and I am approved by Maryland to provide clinical supervision to therapists in training. My approach is evidence-based, but I also believe therapy should feel human. You should not feel like a diagnosis, a checklist, or a problem to be fixed. Good therapy should involve curiosity, honesty, compassion, challenge, and real engagement. I want to understand not only what is happening in your life, but also what it means to you, and what kind of life and relationships you want to create. Because I am also a former pastor, I can integrate faith and spirituality into therapy for clients who want that. For some people, faith is a central source of meaning, hope, identity, and strength. For others, religion may be complicated, painful, or not important at all. You do not need to share my beliefs, or hold any religious beliefs, to feel welcome here. I work with people of many faiths, backgrounds, identities, cultures, relationship experiences, and life choices. My goal is not to impose my worldview on you, but to understand yours and help you live more fully in alignment with what matters to you. Outside the therapy room, I have been married for nearly two decades, and I am the father of two boys. I understand personally that relationships do not happen in a laboratory. Marriage, parenting, work, stress, health, sex, money, faith, family history, and ordinary exhaustion all interact in real life. If you are looking for a therapist who will go deeper than surface-level advice, who understands the complexity of relationships, and who will engage you with warmth, honesty, and respect, I would be glad to work with you. Whether you are trying to repair a relationship, deepen one that is already good, rediscover intimacy, understand yourself better, heal from something painful, or simply become more fully who you are, I believe there are treasures within you worth discovering.

My clients report they got into therapy because they wanted relief from suffering. They wanted to stop their minds from racing all the time. They say the had trouble sleeping, concentrating, functioning or just being present in life. They say they felt guilty for not being able to stop overthinking. They say they felt like they were just existing but not really living, let alone thriving. If this sounds familiar to you, I can help! A lot of these symptoms are anxiety or depression based and can be linked to trauma. My treatment could be a good fit for you because I specialize in the treatment of anxiety, depression and trauma. You don’t have to suffer in silence anymore. There are ways to get relief & healing that can profoundly change your life. Please know that, with some work, thriving in life is a very real possibility. About me: I am a collaborative strength-based therapist, meaning we will work as a team to elicit your strengths so you can use them to your advantage. I use attachment-based compassion focused interpersonal therapy. I also specialize in a somatic (mind and body) trauma treatment model where you will have an opportunity to reparent your wounded inner child and subsequently heal your relationship with yourself. My style is caring, empathetic and supportive. My clients describe me as down-to-Earth , knowledgeable, engaging, with a good sense of humor they find therapeutic. I’d love to see if my services are a good match for you, so contact me so we can book a free consultation to discuss the possibility of working together.

As a multiracial cis woman, I am passionate about creating safe and brave spaces for healing. I view therapy as not only a space to unpack traumas and struggles but also to identify strengths and resources. We all deserve a sense of security, protection, and comfort, while also having the courage to speak honestly and critically about experiences and injustices. I aim to help clients gain the tools and confidence to evaluate their lives honestly, critically, and with greater awareness. In my work, I take a systemic approach to therapy, recognizing that the relationships and systems individuals engage with—family, community, and society—greatly impact their well-being. This perspective allows me to consider each client holistically, understanding their unique backgrounds, experiences, and intersecting identities. I also draw from humanistic and experiential approaches to therapy, which emphasize personal growth, self-awareness, and the richness of lived experiences. However, I acknowledge there is no one-size-fits-all approach to healing, which is why I’m here to help you find your path forward, in a way that feels right for you. I believe that every individual is the expert in their own life. Often, the answers we seek are already within us, waiting to be discovered. My role as a therapist is to support you in attuning to your needs, discovering your insights, and leveraging your strengths to navigate life's challenges.

Hello. I'm Dr. CJ Drake. I have more than 30 years of experience working in mental health care as a clinician, educator, and clinical supervisor. I prioritize confidentiality, compassion, and individualized collaborative care. My approach includes guided mindful discovery, empathic listening, client-centered processing, and targeted skill building drawing from CBT, DBT, and client-centered therapeutic approaches. I offer 50 minute telehealth psychotherapy sessions for clients dealing with depression, anxiety, adult ADHD, substance abuse, trauma histories, desired self improvement, and general coping difficulties. I would be happy to meet with you for a free telehealth initial consultation. I want to make sure that you can feel comfortable with me and that I am a good fit for assisting on your personal journey of achieving your unique therapeutic goals.

If you are like me, you would love to know what people who have had exceptional outcomes in therapy have looked for in their psychotherapist that helped them choose who to trust to coach them to a new destination in their life. Surprisingly enough, successful people find coaches that identify and build on what they are already doing right. My PhD research on coping revealed that people are more resilient when they are authentic. Yet, all of us face social and even internal pressures to present to others what we believe they expect of us. At critical moments, we often forget to remember to listen to that part of us that already knows the direction we should be going. As your therapist and counselor, my job is to point out to you what you may unconsciously already know and help you consistently choose what you have been doing right over what you have been persuaded to do that does not work for you. This is what you can expect of me: Confidence: You already have the inner resources you need to do what you want to do. Acceptance: The only place you can start is where you are now. Practical Magic: Your forward action is what brings your dream to life. Depth: You are always more than you seem to be. Encouragement: Working together, you will become prepared for the inevitable tests of life. Understanding: As you are effective in changing yourself, your outer circumstances will shift. Creativity: When you change one thing for the better, everything else improves. Efficiency: You can be most effective when you start with something that is easy to change. Courage: Hard things come easier when you have succeeded at something simple. Insight: Everything starts with a good idea. Good Will: I deeply respect my clients! I get excited about what I do!

Do you feel like you’re carrying the weight of the world? Between family expectations, cultural pressure, and the daily grind of systemic stress, it’s easy to feel stuck in a cycle of overthinking. If you are a young adult from marginalized communities navigating systemic injustice, identity questions, or the aftermath of trauma, I want you to know: you don't have to stay strong for everyone else anymore. I help people who feel "burned out" by life finally find a space where they can just be themselves. We won't just talk in circles. We will build a practical "toolbox" together. Using CBT and trauma-informed care, I help my clients: Quiet the mental noise and stop the overthinking spiral. Set boundaries with family or work without feeling like a "bad person." Process systemic and childhood trauma that keeps you feeling stuck. I know that finding a therapist who "gets it" and who you can actually afford is hard. That’s why I accept IEHP, Aetna, and First Health, and I offer sliding-scale spots for those without insurance. You’ve been navigating this alone for long enough. Let's see if we're a good fit. Contact me to schedule a free 15-minute consultation.