The primary focus of my work is to support my clients in cultivating practices, relationships, and lives that reflect the things they care about. My approach to therapy prioritizes the unique hopes, preferences, experiences, and histories that each of my clients value. Though the shape each conversation takes is specific to the client, I work collaboratively to identify supports that mobilize people toward their preferences, thoroughly explore the contexts that often make those preferences feel inaccessible, and help clients enact those preferences in meaningful ways.
While I have experience working with both individuals and partners facing a variety of obstacles, a combination of my interests, experience, and identities often lead me to focus on the following:
- Relational and Sexual Diversity (including LGBTQ+, Poly, Ethical Nonmonogomy)
- Intimacy and Desire
- Navigating Conflict and Communication in Relationships
- Intersectionality and Contending with Experiences of Otherness or Minoritization
I completed my Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy at the University of Southern California and continued my training at The Southern California Counseling Center (SCCC). During both my education and continued training I was drawn to themes of social justice, sexuality, cultural humility, and fostering community.
License no. AMFT 106810
Location
143 N. Larchmont Boulevard Second Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90004
Contact
t: 310.439.9501
e. sydneydtherapy@gmail.com
What are you up against? What are your hopes, dreams and what gets in your way? There are times when we can get caught in an isolating loop of problems which limits our vision, and our story about ourselves gets stuck. Sometimes living in a culture which cements alienation, disconnection, and unrealistic expectations can leave us needing extra emotional support. Other times, we feel called to create new meaning and purpose in our lives. Whatever in your life needs attention, I would like to have the opportunity help you create the change you are seeking.
I see therapy as a relational and collaborative process where you feel safe, supported and able to look at your life’s challenges. Working together, we will determine your goals, focusing on the present while exploring how your past influences the way you see yourself in the world. We will utilize a blend of mind/body practices to invite an aliveness of thought, calm the nervous system, and reawaken channels to your creativity, spontaneity, and resilience.
I’ve been fortunate to have had prior careers in the creative arts which inform my work as a therapist. This life experience, outside my work as a therapist, gives me a broad understanding of what it feels like to work in a demanding, stressful job, and what it means to make big career changes. As a 50+ woman I have grappled with many of the transitions and life stages that so many of us move through, and I have found that even with seemingly impossible challenges come new opportunities to evolve and to connect with ourselves and the world around us.
My approach is pragmatic, strength-based and non-pathologizing. My style is warm, conversational and direct. My intention is to help you create your preferred life. Let’s start with right now. Let’s pause long enough to invite awareness. Let’s get curious about what matters to you and expand what is possible. The first step is to set up a free 15-minute phone consultation so that I can answer any questions you may have and see if we’re a good fit.
I work with both adolescents and adults. My areas of emphasis include:
• Unexpected life events,transitions, and identity issues
• Work related stress, procrastination, and career flux
• Intimate relationship challenges, including disconnection and conflict
• Family strife and parenting
• Anxiety
• Loss and Grief
Member of CA Association for Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT)
License no. AMFT 111130
Location
143 N. Larchmont Boulevard Second Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90004
Contact
t: 213.357.0065
e. laurenmalkasian@gmail.com
Kevin O’Bryan, AMFT
Supervised by Lynne Rosen, LCSW
My approach to therapy is collaborative. I wholeheartedly believe that you are your own expert on your life. Through therapy, my goal is to help you identify and work through the challenges and obstacles that may be standing in the way of gratifying relationships, a satisfying work life, and living the life you wish to lead. Your problems are not what define you as a person. I am interested in helping you clearly express your strengths, hopes, and values, which may have become lost amidst life’s struggles. I do my best to create a safe and supportive environment with warmth, respect, kindness, curiosity, and a little humor.
While I have broad experience working with persons from diverse backgrounds and experiences, my areas of specialty are:
• Trauma-informed therapy
• Individual/couples/poly with relationship difficulties
• Sexuality and sexual dysfunction
• LGBTQ+ struggles
• Discrimination at work or in personal life
• Use of mindfulness and somatic therapy for anxiety, anger, and pain
With prior careers in kinesiology (exercise physiology) and computer science, I was driven by an interest in helping people live out more meaningful lives. Those interests moved me to pursue a career as a therapist and I completed my degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from the University of Southern California. While there, I focused my training on postmodern ideas, non-normative sexual expression, and LGBTQ+ affirmative perspectives. During and after my time at USC, I have been working at The Southern California Counseling (SCCC) Center where I have extended my training to include trauma-informed methodologies. I also have led groups in the community for adults and teens dealing with a host of subjects including mindfulness meditation and managing the effects of anger and anxiety.
I am a Registered Associate Marriage and Family Therapist, AMFT100462, in Los Angeles under the supervision of Lynne V. Rosen, LCSW19324. Thanks for taking the time to learn more about the way I work. I look forward to learning whether we may be a good fit for working together
License no. AMFT 100462
Location
143 N. Larchmont Boulevard Second Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90004
Contact
t: 323.362.2884
e. kevin@kevinobryanmft.com
Raquel Ross, AMFT
Supervised by Larry Zucker, LCSW
As a figurative artist, I always had a deep curiosity about people which led me to study psychology at the University of Oregon. While in Oregon, I spent some time working in county mental health programs, eventually running several state-funded mental health adult foster homes. During that time I also became a student of Buddhism, which inspired me to pursue a master’s in psychology and continues to inform my work with clients today. I went on to earn a master’s in clinical psychology from Antioch University. I completed a traineeship in narrative therapy under David Marsten and Larry Zucker at Miracle Mile Community Practice and I am currently seeing clients under the supervision of Larry Zucker.
The Dalai Lama says, “Every noble work is bound to encounter problems and obstacles.” We don’t often regard our own lives as noble work due to the enormity of the problems we face and the complicated contexts we are living in. It is my intention to help clients see themselves as daring humans living in an extremely difficult world rather than fragile humans living in a perfect world. I view difficult feelings as sacred grounds upon which preferences and values can be built. I assist clients in re-authoring their problems as only a small part of their hero’s journey as they embark upon greater pursuits of meaning.
License no. AMFT 112832
Location
252 N. Larchmont Boulevard Suite 202
Los Angeles, CA 90004
Contact
t: 323-456-5576
e: r.simone108@gmail.com
Rachel N. Feldman, M.A. AMFT
Supervised by Larry Zucker, LCSW
My clients typically orient as: Non-monogamous/Polyamorous, Anti-capitalist, Kink/Fetish, Feminist, and Queer/Trans. Normativity can be a tyrannical agent of unhappiness when our chosen expressions of intimacy or preferred embodiments of identity deviate from conventional, cultural scripts. My therapeutic approach does not privilege traditional ways of romantic coupling, nor is it prescriptive about how you ought to experience being in the world. Choosing to live along the fringes of normativity is not an easy choice; but it can be a worthy choice. It can be fulfilling and purposeful, and yet accompanied by high personal costs that may require help.
Upon commencing a Master’s program in Human Rights at Columbia University, I obtained an M.A in Marriage & Family Therapy, with the idea that the optimal way to address the existential challenges so particular to our current social context lies in our ability to address the ways we internalize broader social discourse, at the local level of individual experience.
I am very open-minded and create a safe, non-judgmental therapeutic environment that aims to be curious rather than assessment oriented. While it is my agenda to challenge ideas in an effort to facilitate conversation that may lead to a more fulfilling and purposeful existence for my clients, I do not come into session with foregone conclusions about what is best.
License no. AMFT 115392
Location
252 N. Larchmont Boulevard Suite 202
Los Angeles, CA 90004
Contact
t: 805-907-2810
e: RachelFeldman.PrivatePractice@Gmail.com