Therapists for college students near UCLA

https://care.headway.co/providers/alejandra-arias?utm_source=pem&utm_medium=direct_link&utm_campaign=195190

College is a time of growth, discovery, and new opportunities—but it also comes with challenges. Balancing classes, relationships, and big life decisions can feel overwhelming, but you have the resilience and ability to navigate it all. I’m Dr. Mikaela, and I help students tap into their strengths, build confidence, and develop practical tools to thrive. My approach is down-to-earth, supportive, and action-oriented—we’ll work together to manage stress, set boundaries, and break patterns that no longer serve you. Whether you’re facing academic pressure, relationship challenges, or past experiences that still weigh on you, this is a space to gain clarity, build self-trust, and create a plan that fits your unique journey. Therapy isn’t just about working through struggles—it’s about unlocking your potential and equipping you with the skills to handle life’s ups and downs. If you’re ready to feel more in control and empowered, let’s connect and build resilience together.

I became a therapist because I believe everyone should have access to a safe space where they can feel truly heard and seen. Life’s challenges may have you feeling overwhelmed, stuck, or wondering why certain patterns keep repeating. My goal is to provide a safe, collaborative, and non-judgmental space where you can feel supported and understood. I strive to ensure that clients feel heard by providing a non-judgmental perspective and supporting them in reconnecting with themselves in a deeper and more compassionate way. I also regularly encourage clients to share feedback and discuss any concerns they may have about the therapy process. In sessions I work to build trust and a therapeutic alliance by providing a warm and welcoming space and stressing collaboration and the client’s role as the expert in their life. I’m passionate about working with individuals navigating life transitions, anxiety, depression, stress and burnout, relationship challenges, and identity related concerns. I use humor, warmth, cultural sensitivity, and curiosity to help clients gain insight into their experiences and make deeper connections with parts of themselves that they have been struggling to access. I enjoy sharing my belief in the power of routines and spending time in nature when possible, even if it’s just sitting by your window or in your yard or patio and soaking up the sun because these small habits can help alleviate at least some of our day to day stress. This often helps clients become aware of things they are already doing or may have done in the past that can have a positive effect on their well-being.

Navigating Rough Waters Therapy is my private practice. I'm Dr. Lara Kennerly, PsyD, a Licensed Psychologist with over two decades of clinical experience helping adults with a wide range of mental health challenges in various treatment settings (e.g. private practice, inpatient/outpatient, College Counseling Center, onsite PSP for Correctional staff & First responders in an active disaster zone), trained in most well-known evidence-based approaches, and am also certified in several other highly specialized approaches (EFIT, CPTSD, ADHD) I offer in-person psychotherapy in Sacramento and virtual therapy sessions for clients throughout California. I work with individuals navigating anxiety, depression, stress, trauma, PTSD, CPTSD, people pleasing, social anxiety, interpersonal difficulties, self-esteem struggles, body image issues, ADHD, OCD, perfectionism, Attachment Trauma, unprocessed pain from Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE's), and other emotional challenges. My approach to therapy is Trauma-Informed, Psychodynamic, and Insight-oriented. That means we don't just focus on managing symptoms. Instead, we explore the emotional patterns and life experiences that drive how you think, feel, and relate to others. That kind of deeper work leads to real, lasting change. Many clients come to therapy because anxiety, past trauma, or chronic stress has begun affecting their emotional well-being, relationships, or sense of purpose, and are complicating current major life challenges like having to adjust to big changes in their lives or confidently make major life decision about their futures. If you are feeling overwhelmed, stuck, or unsure about the next step in your life, therapy can help you gain insight and move forward with greater emotional balance and confidence.

Oceanside Clinics is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization providing telehealth services across California. We are in-network with Aetna and Blue Shield.

Starting college — or just trying to get through it — can bring up a lot: Am I doing this right? Do I even belong here? Who am I becoming? I’d love to help you figure it out. Together we can work through the stress of adjusting to a new place, academic and social anxiety, career uncertainty, drinking or eating patterns that feel hard to shake, or trauma that’s still asking to be understood. I especially enjoy working with students nearing graduation who are wrestling with what comes next — career direction, next steps, and the identity shift that comes with leaving college behind. Before becoming a therapist, I spent years as a professor, and my research focused on identity and belonging — so I have a real passion for working with students exploring who they are, especially those navigating race, class, gender, or sexuality, or who just feel like they’re on the outside looking in. I bring both that academic background and genuine warmth to our work together.

Are you experiencing the after-effects of traumatic events, navigating a transition, or wanting to live more authentically? If you've been through a very stressful experience, you may be feeling on edge, finding it hard to trust yourself and others, having difficulty with sleep and concentration, or struggling with intrusive thoughts. Trauma therapy techniques including EMDR can help bring relief. If you are thinking about your career path and seeking more fulfillment and balance in life, I can help with that too. We can explore your values and identify actions aligned with your goals.

Feeling overwhelmed by academic pressure, social anxiety, or navigating big life changes? As an online therapist specializing in women's wellness, I understand the unique challenges you face. Whether it's stress about grades, relationship drama, finding your identity, or just feeling constantly on edge, you don't have to go through it alone. My approach is all about helping you find your footing and thrive during these formative years. I offer a deeply compassionate space, but I'll also gently challenge you to explore what's truly going on, fostering genuine growth and lasting change. I integrate somatic techniques (connecting mind and body) with other holistic modalities and talk-therapy to help you build resilience, manage stress, and feel more grounded. We'll work on practical coping tools, strengthening your boundaries, and cultivating self-compassion so you can navigate college life with more ease and confidence. Imagine feeling more present in your classes, more connected in your friendships, and more aligned with your authentic self. You deserve a college experience that feels nourishing and empowering. As a California Telehealth Therapist, I provide convenient and accessible online support, fitting into your busy schedule. Let's work together to help you thrive, not just survive, your college journey. Reach out for a free consultation to see how we can make your college years your best years yet!

I am a Stanford trained Physician with a specialization in Psychiatry. I have advanced training in Cognitive Behavior Therapy or "CBT." CBT is a very well researched form of counseling that is highly effective for depression, anxiety, insomnia and many other conditions. I love what I do and previously served as the Director of Evidence Based Practice and Ongoing Education in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Division of Behavioral Medicine. I conducted research, taught, and saw patients at Stanford for more than a decade and I received numerous awards for excellence in these areas. I was trained for more than ten years with a person named Stewart Agras, and another named David Burns - they are pioneers in Behavioral Medicine and CBT. I was very blessed to have excellent mentors and training. I have extensive experience sharing this experience with those students I have consulted with in higher education at Stanford and in the University of California. I have worked all of my career with undergraduate, graduate, law, and medical students and believe that these formative years are critical times in the formation of a person, and they are often challenging times. I am warm, friendly and approachable. I laugh frequently (and often cry) with my patients. My family is from Italy where sincerity and the authentic sharing of emotions is valued and respected. Parlo un 'po l'italiano ma non molto bene! (I speak a little Italian but not very well!) I am very conservative with respect to use of medications and prefer to help students develop skills in managing life stressors by getting trained in CBT. This art is disappearing sadly in my field as brief medication checks are much more lucrative to clinics but there is a cost to the patient in this reductionist approach! I am very comfortable and prefer to help persons manage stress with CBT alone without medications as it can provide a lot of sophisticated and lasting protections that are well supported in the scientific research literature. As professionals, we should do what is right and not what is most profitable as we take the Hippocratic oath to defend our patients. I can add medications if they are indicated and supported by good research when CBT is not helping on its own as I am a physician trained in all scientifically supported modalities of providing support. I respect my patients' values in this. If we can work through though times without medicines, I really try to encourage that, and, for many persons willing to grow through stress, it is definitely achievable, and strongly supported by randomized controlled trials (fancy studies used to test treatments for effectiveness). There is substantial evidence that suggests that this approach is very important in reducing risk for relapse in the long term. I love helping students build confidence in themselves when the circumstances are really challenging and have many, many patients who have reached out to me over many years thanking me for the times we spent together getting through the roughest of times. I don't have a lot of material wealth. The pictures and post cards of so many smiling, happy, and good persons graduating, getting married, getting started in their careers, and getting started with their families and overall being in a good, secure place are the real treasures that I have collected in my career. I am a practicing Catholic and am very comfortable incorporating faith in treating my patients. Many persons are referred to me when seeking a caring Catholic Psychiatrist who is highly trained in using Cognitive Behavior Therapy to promote resilience and virtue when life becomes really challenging. I am sadly quite familiar with the pain of having lost very precious persons in my life including my own dear wife to devastating metastatic cancer at an extremely young age. That was tough and occurred shortly after we lost our infant daughter. I have two beautiful college aged children who are doing very well despite all of the things our family was beset with. We came together and got through. Faith, family and fellowship can be crucial sources of support when things feel really overwhelming. I was highly trained in CBT and combining this with the above made all of the difference. I will encourage you also to protect yourself with these types of resources when all seems lost. Note that I do not manage ADD or ADHD or prescribe habit forming medications or perform evaluations for these conditions or autism spectrum disorder. I do see students who need to use their insurance through Headway and MyCatholicDoctor at the links below: Headway: https://care.headway.co/providers/anthony-mascola-m-d?utm_source=pem&utm_medium=direct_link&utm_campaign=201271 MyCatholicDoctor.com https://mycatholicdoctor.com/resources/doctors/anthony-mascola-md/ Accepting insurance in private practice in Psychiatry is unfortunately not very common. The majority of the most highly qualified Psychiatrists and Psychologists forego seeing patients with insurance as it is really tough to manage coordinating insurance in a small practice and does not reimburse well. This does not feel right to me as when life is hardest, finances are tight. My Italian family were poor and commercial fishermen and I am sworn as a Catholic to help persons when they don't have a lot of resources. The portals above are trying to help persons who are seeking help who don't have a lot of money to get connected to really good care. If you are going through a tough time and looking for someone who is both qualified and kind to support and encourage you, then don't wait any longer. Don't go through this alone! Please reach out and call me. I have spent all of my life training to help you! I promise I will support you and push you to find strength that you don't even realize you have. You can't realize it when you are stressed and often working with a professional person can help. Be prepared to work though, as sometimes this means facing a fear you'd rather avoid, or examining uncomfortable patterns of thoughts and behavior. I need a willing collaborator and promise you that I want ask you to do more than you can. I know from a lot of my own life experience how devastating stress can be but I also want to be honest and real and genuine and effective. I don't see passive treatment reduce suffering effectively in the long run. I don't want my students to suffer their whole life. I want my students to grow and recover, just like a good coach or teacher. You are smart, you have a good head on your shoulders and if we can learn from the circumstances that evoke stress we will be able to overcome stress in the future. Those who do not train in CBT are often on medications for years and suffer a great deal with a very high rate of relapse. Taking time to train in CBT is a more challenging treatment but it can develop powerful skills that will help you for your whole life! If while reading this you get a good feeling inside, then please schedule a free fifteen-minute visit to see if it is a good fit for you. If you are looking for a really caring Psychiatrist who is warm and kind, highly qualified, who really enjoys helping persons find their strength with a healthy, proactive, evidence based and highly effective approach to dealing with stress, you will not be disappointed!

Hi welcome to the world of Therapy! This step can be daunting to start but rest assured that this can be the beginning of something beautiful. If you are experiencing overwhelming feelings that are hard to explain, you're in the right place. Here, you have the free space to share your thoughts and feelings without feeling judged through the process. Here you get to learn about the most important person in the room, YOU. Being a student, learning about adulting, trying to make ends meet at the end of the month, working during your "free" time and finding time to manage a social life needless to say, trying to make a relationship work is a lot! You're not alone. I can be here with you through the process. There is no shame in knowing we need help. This is the first step of adulting, knowing we can't do life on our own. We need our tribe. Feel free to contact me for your free 10-minute phone consultation where you can ask me any questions or concerns you may have about the therapeutic process. I look forward to meeting with you!

I specialize in treating Anxiety, Depression, Resolving Relationship Challenges, ADHD, Autism Spectrum and Neurodiversity, and Issues related to Sexuality Diversity. I provide a warm skillful non-judgmental therapeutic relationship to explore your current life goals, assess your progress and identify adjustments and barriers. In the therapy work, we will design a plan forward that includes your specific emotional, physical and mental health needs. Taking into consideration your strengths and unique potential for change, the therapy will explore themes such as your self-narrative, capacity to communicate and understand your needs and desires and the quality of awareness and presence you want to experience in your life. Applying evidence-based tools and strategies, my treatment approach integrates psychoanalytic relational theory, DBT, AEDP and Somatic embodiment theory and practice. These foundational psychological treatment approaches comprehensively apply cutting edge cognitive and neuroscientific concepts to help inform the path through transformation and an overall sense of dynamic balance and well-being. You can expect to develop foundational observation skills to enhance self-awareness to improve your inner control of attention which will offer a range of new possibilities and choice points to contribute to your personal development. I will show you how to manage distressing emotions and learn effective strategies for interpersonal communication. By enhancing lateral thinking abilities for creative problem solving and executive functioning planning there are limitless opportunities to create the life you have envisioned for yourself. I am a parent of three children and a somatic embodiment enthusiast. I am aspiring oneironaut who seeks to explore and map the inner and outer atmospheric dimensions of experience. I obtained my Master's degree at California Institute for Integral Studies, a holistically oriented, progressive university based in San Francisco and I have been licensed 23+ years. I am currently completing my Ph.D. coursework at California Institute for Integral Studies in the Transformative Studies Department. My research interests include the phenomenological and hermeneutic dimensions of embodiment. I am an avid advocate for displacing human exceptionalism to elevate and advance our ethical responsibility towards the more-than-human co-experients that we share the Earth with.

My personal background, culture, and values play a large role in my inspiration to be a therapist. I recognize how everyone has their own history, which will shape who they are and how they react to positive and negative situations. My cultural and educational background are a constant reminder of the importance of empathy when hearing someone’s individual story. I’m passionate about helping others who need support in current childhood challenges, processing childhood trauma, creating healthy communication habits to form strong relationships, and processing the impact of anxiety and depression. We will be working as a team to help you get closer to the goals you want to meet. With strength based approaches, I hope to empower you to reflect on your emotions and utilize the learned skills to start implementing them into your life, outside of our sessions. My priority is to include your own background, experiences, and values to set goals for treatment. Communication is key in all relationships and is necessary to feel safe and understood in your treatment. Building rapport is a vital part of beginning the trust between a client and a therapist. During my first session with adults, I like to review your goals and expectations of treatment, as well as any previous experiences in therapy, as those can shape our view of treatment. I want to make sure I take your most important values into account in order to create a safe therapeutic environment. From my experiences, children and teens have a harder time building that trust. Therefore, my first session with them includes a whole session dedicated to getting to know one another with an ice breaker activity. I find this helps form the foundation to that safe space to begin opening up.

I became a therapist because I genuinely love seeing people’s lives improve and expand in ways that feel meaningful to them. There is something incredibly powerful about watching someone move from feeling stuck or overwhelmed, to feeling more clear, confident, and hopeful. My goal is to create a space where you can show up exactly as you are, and feel truly safe, heard, and understood – without fear of judgement. I feel therapy should be a collaborative process where we work together to explore what you’re going through, and develop practical tools to help you move toward the life you want. Wherever you’re starting from, I’m here to support you with compassion, curiosity, and respect. I will help you feel heard and understood by creating a safe space where you can show up exactly as you are, and speak openly about whatever you’re going through, without fear of judgment. From the very beginning, my focus is on truly listening, taking time to understand your experiences, your perspective, and what matters to you most. I approach our work together with compassion and curiosity, and I’ll check in with you to make sure you feel supported and understood. As we build that trust we’ll work collaboratively to explore what’s been holding you back, and develop practical tools to help you move forward toward the life you want. My goal is for you to feel not only heard, but genuinely supported, respected, and empowered through our work together. I’m someone who appreciates meaningful conversation, quiet moments, and really getting to know people below the surface. I find this creates a comfortable, grounded environment where you can feel safe and at ease, being yourself, without any pressure to “perform”. I like spending quiet moments in nature. My favorite routine is drinking my morning coffee outside with my dogs, meditation, reflecting on hope and positivity, and listening to music is also inspirational for me.

Please visit my profile to learn more about my services.

A center for family psychological services providing psych testing, therapy, and treatment. We aim to create a tailored mental healthcare experience to help you towards a healthier and happier you. Our team of clinicians is here to give you the care and information you are looking for. We provide psychological testing, therapy, and neurofeedback services for people of all ages. Located in Westlake Village, our expert staff of psychologists can help provide you with the mental health care you need in-person and virtually.

Please visit my profile to learn more about my services.

Are you feeling stressed, overwhelmed, confused, or depressed? Are you feeling disconnected or lost as you navigate your college journey? Wondering if you may have impostor syndrome? Are you procrastinating and cannot find any motivation to study? Having family conflicts? Relationship issues? Boundary issues? You are not alone! I have experience working with people from all walks of life. I am here to support and collaborate with you to meet your needs and develop new skills to help you feel happier in life. There is no one-size-fits-all counseling approach. I have always used person-centered and integrated therapy approaches to help my clients, such as Cognitive-behavioral therapy, Solution-focused therapy, Narrative therapy, Play therapy, EMDR therapy, Brainspotting, Gottman Couple therapy and Art therapy. I have found that we are all unique individuals who have similar experiences but unique details in life. Since I began counseling, each modality and approach has its pros and cons; we cannot always rely on one modality or approach to handle every situation. Sometimes, being creative and flexible can help my clients better understand themselves. I have had many counselors in my life, from academic counselors to mental health counselors, and they all have brought me wisdom to help me identify my issues and have helped me realize nothing is more important than our health. Having healthy communication skills and learning about others’ cultures and practices can reduce anxiety between both parties. We often have various unique obstacles to face, but if we can be flexible to adapt to our challenges and find alternatives and resources, this can be our key to problem-solving and a huge step to our success.

Hi, I’m Iris, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and owner of Iris Therapy and Counseling. I work with college students and young adults who may be feeling overwhelmed by anxiety, stress, relationships, family expectations, past experiences, or the pressure of trying to figure out what they want their future to look like. College can be an exciting time, but it can also bring a lot of change. You may be balancing school, work, friendships, family responsibilities, relationships, and your own mental health all at once. My approach to therapy is warm, supportive, and collaborative. I help clients better understand their emotions, develop healthier ways of coping, improve their relationships, build confidence, and work through experiences that may be keeping them stuck. I provide therapy in English and Spanish and incorporate approaches such as EMDR, CBT, mindfulness, and trauma-informed care. My goal is to create a space where you can be yourself, feel understood, and get support without judgment while you navigate this stage of your life.

I am an integrative psychiatrist board certified in both General Adult Psychiatry and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry who believes in a holistic approach to mental health. I specialize in assessing and treating multiple mental health disorders including anxiety, OCD, depression, ADHD, & bipolar disorder. I tailor treatment plans personalized to you to provide the best outcomes. Treatment modalities include lifestyle adjustments, integrative services (vitamins/supplements), laboratory testing, therapy, collaboration with other providers, and/or medications. Medications are only used when indicated. My approach includes improving awareness of your own strengths and challenges to achieve realistic goals while also being empathic towards yourself. My ultimate goal is to assist you in creating your own compass that will serve as a way to better tackle future stresses and enhance your intra and interpersonal relationships.

I meet clients where they are with a grounded, pragmatic approach and we collaborate to make their daily lives more manageable and fulfilling by addressing outdated coping skills that are no longer helpful, self-sabotaging behaviors, and past traumas. I also offer coaching services, particularly for young professionals, those in counseling and wellness-oriented professions, and graduate students. I am especially interested in supporting my clients through the processes of self-development and self-innovation, as well as radical acceptance and growth.