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About Ava

Therapy should feel like a place to exhale

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Hi, I’m Ava

I’m originally from Chicago, IL and moved to California after completing my Masters degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI. Before this, I graduated from the University of Miami with my Bachelor’s in Psychology with a minor in Sociology.

One of the mantras I carried with me throughout my education in psychology is: seek to understand. This one phrase is exactly why I became a therapist; I am endlessly curious about humanity in its purest form. I believe it is not only important, but crucial in this world. My goal is to carry this phrase with my as I work alongside my clients. I will ask questions to help you deepen your understanding of yourself. I will challenge where appropriate and offer skills and techniques that will change the channel on how you experience your feelings. You already know what you’re feeling, I’m here to widen the net with you.

My therapy practice is deeply human; through my clients’ experiences, I get to continually widen my own perspective of the world. Every one of us has an especially unique viewpoint and this is something that never gets old for me—I love to learn from my clients.

Therapy shouldn’t feel like a chore or an obligation. It should feel warm, inviting, safe, and a place where you can be honest and not worry about judgement. Therapy should feel like a bubble bath with all of your favorite things; a book you can’t seem to put down, a plant you’ve worked on all spring finally blooming, a music album you’ve been waiting all year for and just can’t stop listening to. That’s the kind of space I hope to create with you.

Life is challenging and I strive to make it a little easier for you to navigate on your own. I offer in-person and virtual sessions in Redondo Beach and throughout CA.

My approach

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Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT)

CBT works with the triangle theory of being; thoughts, behaviors, and feelings are all connected. If we influence one, the others will follow suit. This is one theory I draw from to deepen your understanding of how you experience your thoughts, emotions, and how you take action.

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Often, we get stuck in the “thinking” rather than the “feeling”. Here, I pull from somatic therapy and mindfulness skills to help you feel your emotions and move them through the body.

Mindfulness & Somatic Work

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Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

DBT works to move people out of a rigid black-and-white thinking structure and into a more flexible and adaptive one. Here is where I pull my practical skills and tools for emotion regulation, mindfulness, interpersonal effectiveness, and distress tolerance.

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Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

EMDR works to process traumatic experiences, let go of negative beliefs, and reduce panic, anxiety, and stress. Here, progress feels possible.

A cozy corner with a light green armchair draped with a chunky beige blanket, an open book resting on it, a tall wooden shelf filled with various green and neutral-colored vases, and dried flowers in a vase on the floor. Sunlight filters through window blinds, casting shadows on the wall.

Exposure and response prevention (ERP)

The “gold standard” for OCD; ERP works to help people manage their obsessive thoughts and the compulsions that come with them. In this structured process, we work to increase your ability to manage the anxiety that comes with core fears.

we’ll make sense of what’s happening, and then figure out what to do with that understanding.

What therapy with me feels like

Stack of books on a beige blanket with a cup of coffee, a newspaper, and a cozy blanket in a sunlit corner, with a framed picture on the wall and sunlight casting shadows.

I want therapy to feel like a space where you can settle in, take a breath, and be yourself. You don’t need to have the right words or perfectly organized explanation of what’s going on.

You know yourself better than anyone. My role isn’t to tell you who you are or what you should do. We’'ll work together to understand what’s happening, consider different perspectives, and figure out what actually feels useful for you.

We’ll approach your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors with curiosity rather than criticism. Sometimes the things that frustrate us most about ourselves make a lot more sense once we understand where they come from.

Insight matters, but I don’t want therapy to be another place where you spend an hour analyzing yourself and then leave wondering what you’re supposed to do with it. We’ll work on skills and strategies you can actually take with you outside of our sessions.

You don’t have to perform your healing here. Some sessions might involve big realizations; others might feel messy, uncomfortable, or even a little funny. All of it belongs.

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Let’s Talk

Interested in working together? Fill out some info and I will handle the rest!