Integrative Practice
Integrative Therapy in Santa Monica and Across California
Every therapist gets asked what modality they use, and the honest answer is that no single one covers a whole person. Pretending otherwise mostly serves the therapist, who gets a clean brand, a tidy website, and a reason not to learn anything else.
I work in the middle, and I move between depth and practicality depending on what the week in front of you requires. Some therapy explains your history beautifully and leaves you with nothing to do on Tuesday night. Some hands you skills and never asks why you needed them. Both are half a job.
In Practice
What integration actually looks like on a Wednesday
You arrive having had a bad week with your partner. We spend the first stretch on what happened: the specific exchange, what your body did, what you concluded before anyone had said anything meaningful. That is the psychodynamic and relational half — we are after the meaning and the history sitting underneath a two-minute argument, because that is what makes it repeat.
Then, usually with fifteen minutes left, we get practical. What is the actual sentence you could say next time. Which skill do you use in the ninety seconds before you say the other thing instead. That is DBT and CBT, and they arrive because they are needed on Thursday, not because a protocol schedules them for week four.
The balance is not fixed. In a stable stretch we go deeper and the practical piece shrinks. In a hard month it inverts, and most of the hour goes to getting through the week without a cost you will spend two weeks repairing. You will generally know which mode we are in, because I will say so.
None of this is improvisation dressed up as flexibility. The direction is set together, reviewed openly, and changed when it is not working — which is a different thing from changing it whenever it is uncomfortable, and we will talk about the difference when it comes up.
In the Room
The two failure modes I am trying to avoid
Articulate and overwhelmed
Insight-only work can produce someone who can describe their attachment style with real precision and still cannot get through a Sunday evening. Understanding is not a skill.
Competent and stuck
Skills-only work produces someone who can name every distortion, run a clean thought record, and repeat the pattern for a decade because nobody asked what it was for.
Technique loyalty
Choosing the method before meeting the person. It makes for a coherent professional identity and a poor fit rate, and I think it is overrated.
How You Will Know
Direct, collaborative, and revisable
You will know what I think and why. Neutrality is often just withholding, and I would rather be wrong out loud than unhelpfully quiet. You are welcome to disagree with me, and disagreeing is frequently the most productive thing that happens in a given hour.
We set the direction together, check whether it is working, and change it when it is not. If something I do lands badly, telling me is useful data rather than a problem — and for a lot of people, saying that out loud to someone in authority is itself a substantial piece of the work.
If therapy has felt judgmental or disappointing before, bring that history in. Tell me what went wrong last time and we will work to avoid repeating the same shape.
Honest Limits
What integration is not
It is not a claim to do everything. There are presentations where a specialized, structured program is the right answer, and where my view is that a comprehensive DBT program or a dedicated treatment setting would serve you better. I will say that in the consultation rather than three months in.
It also is not a promise of a particular outcome or timeline. I will not tell you how long this takes or guarantee where it ends. I will tell you honestly whether I think the work is moving, and what I would change if I thought it was not.
Where to Next
Related areas of the work
Free Consultation
Start with a conversation, not a commitment.
The first step is a free consultation call. We talk about what brings you here, what you have already tried, and whether working together makes sense. If I am not the right fit, I will say so and point you somewhere better.
- · You request a time on the form, and I confirm by email
- · Telehealth anywhere in California, or in person in Santa Monica
- · Private pay, with superbills for out-of-network reimbursement
- · 48 hours' notice for changes or cancellations
Or call the office at (213) 761-8555.