Therapists for college students near 90089

Please visit my profile to learn more about my services.

I am a licensed professional counselor in California, Arizona, Texas and New Mexico. Currently, I am doing remote counseling only. I have experience in trauma, anxiety, grief/loss, addiction, anger management and life transitions. I am multi-culturally sensitive and LGBTQIA+ affirming. I was born in El Paso, Texas and both my parents are Mexican-American. I am bilingual Spanish/English. I moved to California in 2021 after living in Arizona for 30 years where I was faculty at Phoenix College teaching Psychology, Sociology and Women's Studies. I have Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology (ASU) and an MA in Counseling (OU). I believe life is not about the destination but about the journey. Sometimes we run into rough spots along the way. Let me walk beside you for a while until you get past the rough spots and are able to continue on your own. Counseling is a process that you control by telling me what you want to accomplish and then we work together to get there. Sharing your story with a stranger is sometimes hard. I want to be your ally in therapy and provide a safe space where you can talk and be yourself without fear of judgment. I promise to be honest with you and support you as you explore who you are and who you want to be. I will work to earn your trust and to shine a light on the road ahead as we travel.

My experience covers a wide variety of presenting concerns and backgrounds. Working for a decade in higher education I spent a great deal of time with high achievers who were managing anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship and identity concerns. I am a strengths based, person centered therapist at my core, who utilizes perspectives and interventions from many areas of treatment, e.g., identity development models, systems theory, interpersonal and cognitive behavioral therapy. I believe people often have the answers for themselves if given the proper conditions for reflection and growth.

Dr Richa Bhatia is a Board Certified Psychiatrist with 15 years of clinical experience, including serving as faculty at leading universities such as Dartmouth College and Stanford University School of Medicine. She is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. She strives to provide high quality care in a warm, empathic, patient centered manner. Her practice focus is providing psychiatric and psychotherapy care to individuals suffering from Anxiety, OCD, maladaptive perfectionism, and/or adjustment difficulties in response to life stressors.​ Dr Bhatia provides a comprehensive evaluation to understand a patient’s unique concerns, needs and strengths. She strives to gain an understanding of each person's emotions, beliefs, life challenges, values, past experiences, and other factors that may be contributing to their present situation. Treatment may also involve understanding biological factors such as the potential effect of medications and/or medical conditions on your mental health where applicable.     She utilizes various psychotherapy modalities such as psychodynamic psychotherapy (insight-oriented), mindfulness based interventions, CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), and acceptance and commitment therapy. Medication management, where needed, is nuanced, with close monitoring, using shared decision-making. Starting a medication is a collaborative decision that is approached with nuance and thoughtfulness, aiming for the lowest effective doses. Dr Bhatia attempts to keep the medication regimen as simple as possible and has often helped simplify patient's polypharmacy regimens when indicated.

Dr. Aw's primary interest is the intersection between mental and physical health. Dr. Aw’s philosophy is that one does not exist outside the other. Furthermore, depression and anxiety in patients who are also suffering from medical issues can feel significantly worse, and it is his goal to get patients on a holistic road to recovery. An ideal patient for Dr. Aw understands that it takes a team to get them feeling better, and it is a collaboration between the patients themselves and Dr. Aw.

I work with adults and teens who are feeling stuck and at the mercy of depression and anxiety, but are ready to move forward and make sustainable changes. I have specialized training in perinatal mental health, including postpartum depression and anxiety, and practice trauma-informed treatment, including EMDR. If you've ever felt like you "should" be happier, doing more or coping better, I can help. We'll work together to rediscover your authentic sense of self, learn tools that help you navigate challenges, and live your life more fully. You don’t have to face hard things alone. My approach is authentic, person-centered and collaborative, and rooted in providing an emotionally safe and accepting environment. I provide brief solution-focused therapy or longer term work. I incorporate psychodynamic and cognitive approaches including modalities such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and EMDR. Your decision to seek therapy is an empowering step towards positive change. If you're ready to begin your journey of healing, growth, and resilience, I invite you to connect with me. Please reach out with any questions you have and we can set up a time to discuss your needs and determine if I am the right fit.

Empower Youth Therapy provides individualized therapy for college students navigating academic pressure, anxiety, relationship stress, identity development, transitions, and trauma. Our approach is warm, validating, and practical — focused on helping students understand themselves more deeply while building real-life coping skills they can use in classes, friendships, and daily routines. We serve students from San Joaquin Delta College, CSU Stanislaus, CSU East Bay, Sac State, and surrounding Central Valley / Bay Area campuses. We offer a non-judgmental space to talk honestly, process what’s overwhelming, and explore who you’re becoming — especially during transitions like moving away from home, choosing a major, or preparing for your next step after graduation. We also support executive functioning, stress management, and strengthening healthy habits. We offer individual therapy for college-age students. We accept insurance and private pay. Free 15-minute consultations are available.

Great to meet you! As a therapist, I believe that healing begins with understanding the full context of who we are—our cultures, identities, and lived experiences. I approach therapy through an intersectional and culturally responsive lens, recognizing how overlapping identities shape our challenges and strengths. In my work, I take a collaborative approach, partnering with clients and their support systems to foster meaningful and sustainable growth. My goal is to create an environment of trust, safety, and comfort, where you feel seen and supported as you explore your personal goals. Show more A bit about my approach to therapy My practice is grounded in evidence-based approaches, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), attachment theory, and somatic strategies that integrate mind and body awareness. I work with individuals navigating life stage transitions across the lifespan, helping them adapt, heal, and thrive through periods of change. What you can expect from our first session In our first meeting we will spend some time getting to know one another. After I've begun gaining an understanding of your goals and reasons for coming to therapy, we will work together to create a plan for how to approach those goals. We will define and refine them together, until you have a clear idea of what comes next! I am always open to feedback and collaboration, so I try to keep this process dynamic. Nothing is set in stone. We will work together to try to get you where you want to be.

Very often feels that if one area of your life is going well, another takes a nose dive. Often the clients I work with are determined, successful and focused but still, something feels like it is not correctly aligned. Many of my clients struggle with relationships, feeling comfortable with others, anxiety and depression. College is a formative time but can very often feel that you are alone trying to figure everything out: what do I want to do? How do I separate what I want from what my parents, friends, professors or peers want? Do I feel ready to be an "adult?" Therapy can help you figure out who you are and where you want to go. Most importantly, meeting with a therapist can help you make sense of it all.

Dealing with challenges in life is never easy; nor is deciding to seek professional support with a therapist. As a therapist, I strive to provide a safe and supportive space for you to heal and grow. I am looking forward to working with you together to increase awareness, explore your strengths/identities, and develop new ways to live your life. Witnessing my clients to better connect to themselves, their loved ones, and grow new potential is the most fulfilling part of my work. My approach is integrative, strength-based with an emphasis on psychodynamic, relational, and Jungian psychology principles. Before moving to the US, I worked at National Taiwan University Hospital as a licensed clinical psychologist and a supervisor. My experience of transitioning between and practicing in different countries deepened my passion working with international students, immigrants, children of immigrants, and Asian Americans in multicultural and feminist perspectives. I provide individual therapy in English and Mandarin. I completed pre-doctoral internship at California Pacific Medical Center and postdoctoral residency at Kaiser Permanente, Santa Clara. I specialize in helping preteens(9-12)/teens, adults, and parents on a range of multicultural issues. Let's connect and see if we are a good fit!

I work with adults of all ages, couples, and adolescents. I offer virtual and in-person sessions at my office in the Castro. I have extensive experience working with college students and graduate students. I can help with a wide range of issues including: anxiety and stress, depression, self-esteem, relationship issues, grief, identity issues, transitions, ADHD/neurodivergence, difficulties with regulating alcohol use, gender and sexuality, loneliness, and more.

PHILOSOPHY I believe meaningful connections are at the center of the human experience. We are social beings that thrive when we feel accepted, connected, and loved. These feelings can give us the confidence to show up in the world as our authentic selves and embrace our uniqueness. When we have a deeper understanding of ourselves and engage in unconditional self-acceptance, we gain a greater capacity to have fulfilling relationships. APPROACH My clients find my style humorous and compassionate as well as engaging and down-to-earth. My approach is holistic, engaging in all aspects of your wellness, with consideration for your mind, body, spirit, and heart. Thinking of my client’s needs, I use an eclectic and integrative method, pulling from traditional, innovative, and evidence-based techniques. Some of the modalities are Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and Motivational Interviewing. My objective is to help my clients feel better as soon as possible, so I maintain a Solutions-Focused framework, offering direct feedback, actionable steps, and strategies to cope with current stressors. I am committed to having a therapeutic lens that is culturally sensitive, LGBTQIA+ affirming, health at every size acceptance, and social justice oriented. My ultimate goal is to assist you in identifying your unique gifts and using them to actualize your best self in the world.

I specialize in deep, long-term therapy for people who want to better understand themselves, their relationships and the world around them. We all create patterns and parts of ourselves to survive as best we can in an unpredictable world. One of the most enriching endeavors to embark on is an explorations of ourselves in a deep and intentional way. It can be transcendental to work with someone to unravel behaviors and unconscious patterns and to begin to discover our essential selves.

You’re trying to find your footing after a major loss, a breakup, or a life transition that’s turned everything upside down. Whatever has led you here, one thing is likely true: something has shifted and you’re left trying to make sense of it. I offer a space to process the complex layers of change including grief, transition, and identity exploration. You may be holding the weight of a loss while also trying to figure out who you are and where you’re going. That’s a heavy lift. In our work, we’ll explore how your past has shaped you, how your values can guide you, and how to build a life that both honors what you’ve lost and allows you to stay connected to hope. Through compassion, insight, and gentle challenge, I’ll help you rediscover your worth and reconnect with the parts of yourself you’ve missed. This work is personal to me. My own experiences with grief and therapy are what led me here, and they give me a lived understanding of what it’s like to rebuild after loss—not from a textbook, but from my own life. I’m not here to lead from a distance. I’m here to be with you through the work, honoring your process while drawing from what I’ve learned in my own journey. If you’re feeling lost, isolated, or unsure where to start, I want you to know—you don’t have to figure it all out alone. I’d be honored to walk alongside you. Text, call, or email today and let's take that first step together.

My name is Nadia. I have a dual degree in Psychology and I am a License Marriage and Family Therapist and Registered Associate Professional Clinical Counselor. The most important part of my professional philosophy is my clients are my priority. I make sure that I provide my clients and my couples with professional support and alliance in a safe space. Sometimes you might feel like you get stuck in your life and could not find a way out of it. Sometimes we all are going through various challenges or adjustments in our lives which may include dissatisfaction with our career filed, relationship, a sense of our identify, and self-image.. During the therapy process, individuals as well as couples have an opportunity to communicate and process their stressors and then explore their strengths and alternative options to develop a sense of hope, rebuild self-confidence, positive self-talk, and improve interaction with their partners and friends. I use: Person-Centered therapy: I love to utilize this model with my clients because with this model they have a space in which they can communicate and process their present emotions, feelings, and thoughts with certainty that they are being understood and supported rather than judged. Solution Focus Therapy, a tool that helps individuals as well as couples repair their distressed relationship with themselves and with their loved ones, and gain greater awareness of their emotions surrounding their stressors. This model also provides individuals with strategies to effectively cope, regulate, and transform their emotions and feelings, while building tighter bonds with the people that matter most. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps you learn how to recognize and change the automatic negative thoughts that negatively influence on mood and behavior. If you feel like you’ve found yourself in a difficult situation of your life and don’t know how to deal with it on your own, please don’t hesitate to reach me out for professional help.

Are you struggling with intense anxiety, frequent worry, or obsessive thoughts? Do you avoid important activities because of your anxiety? Do you find it difficult to enjoy life and pursue goals because of these problems? We all experience anxiety sometimes, but if it interferes with your social life, daily functioning, or work I want you to know there is hope. I'm an experienced psychologist with a passion for helping people suffering from anxiety, worry, OCD, insomnia, low self-esteem, perfectionism, and depression. In the context of a caring and supportive relationship, let's work together on tools to combat these problems. Research has found Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Exposure Therapy are effective treatments for anxiety and depression. The CBT techniques I utilize will help you feel happier, content, less worried and anxious. Clients who are willing to work hard experience improvements in just a few months, and often retain these gains after therapy has ended.

Please visit my profile to learn more about my services.

If you are reading this you are likely ready for a shift or change in your life. How to proceed in creating a more satisfying life is often confusing, but it is possible. If we listen deeply and compassionately enough to the wisdom of our body and mind the obstacles to our wholeness can become the catalysts of deeper awareness, meaning, agency and fulfillment. I aim to help you explore both the known and unknown parts of yourself so that you can more easily navigate your inner world, your relationships with others and the complex demands of being human.

I am a cancer survivor, an active duty military spouse, and a child of grief after losing my father at a young age to addiction. Building resilience and fostering hope is not just something that I practice professionally, I have lived it. These experiences combined with my clinical background have given me a unique perspective on healing. I value the realness of showing up as yourself in and out of the therapy room. When I am not wearing my therapist “hat” you can find me at the movies, cuddled up on the couch with my two fur babies, or in the kitchen. I am a serious foodie, dog mama, bookworm, Bravo-binge-watcher, coffee fiend, and yes….I am a millennial. I love to paint, listen to 90s country, decorate for the holidays, and travel (when I can!).

I believe that the most important thing in therapy is finding a safe space to process the good and the bad of life. My goal is to guide you through your life experience and collaborate to create a plan that would help you achieve your goals, whether they are about work, health, relationships, family or personal growth. As a Marriage and Family Therapist I am trained to help children, teenagers and adults in individual, couples and family therapy. I have specially worked with Depression and Anxiety, Parenting and Behavioral Problems, Acculturation Problems and Domestic Violence. I work with CBT, Client Centered Therapy and Solution Focused Therapy based on your needs. Feel free to ask what is therapy about if this is your first time. If you are considering returning to therapy, congratulations in being the best advocate for your health. Our minds need care just like any other organ of our bodies and therapy is one of the best ways to protect our amazing minds.