Therapeutic Philosophy
The word psychotherapy comes from the Greek psyche (soul, inner life) and therapeia (care or tending), and I hold this meaning close in my work.
Therapy, for me, isn’t about “fixing” you; it’s about tending to what hurts, reconnecting with your wholeness, and exploring what healing means for you. I approach therapy as a collaborative, relational process that honors both your lived experience and the systems that shape it.
My work is rooted in a holistic understanding of care, one that holds space for the nervous system, identity, culture, spirit, and collective struggle. You won’t be asked to shrink, over-explain, or disconnect from yourself here.
You deserve care that is attuned to your lived experience, your healing, and your sovereignty.
This practice is guided by anti-capitalist, anti-racist, anti-oppressive, and intersectional feminist values. I offer LGBTQIA+ and neurodivergent-affirming care and stand firmly against white supremacy, genocide, and systemic violence.
Therapeutic Modalities
I center collaboration, curiosity, and cultural humility in my sessions. I don’t use therapy models in a one-size-fits-all way; instead, I bring a mix of approaches that we adapt together based on your needs, values, and lived experience. I welcome the use of these tools as long as they’re working for you, and I’ll never push approaches that don’t feel aligned.
Some of the approaches I integrate include:
Liberation Psychology & Holistic Healing Frameworks
These frameworks honor the whole person: mind, body, spirit, identity, ancestry, environment, and lived experience. Centering collective care, community resilience, and the impact of systemic oppression on mental health.
Mindfulness-Based Practices
Grounding and awareness tools offered with cultural humility, focused on connection, not productivity.
Feminist Family Therapy
Explores power, gender roles, and relational dynamics within families and systems, with attention to social justice and intersectionality.
Somatic & Sensory Regulation Tools
Body-based strategies that support nervous system awareness, grounding, and sensory sensitivity.
Narrative & Strengths-Based Approaches
Helps us explore and re-author internalized stories, while naming and building upon existing strengths.
Comprehensive Behavioral (ComB) Model (for BFRBs)
A flexible, research-based model that identifies patterns and supports behavior change for hair-pulling, skin-picking, and related behaviors.
Habit Reversal Training (HRT) (for BFRBs)
A structured approach for interrupting and replacing repetitive behaviors through increased awareness and supportive alternatives. Also, commonly used with BFRBs.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) (aspects, not full model)
Tools for emotion regulation, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness and mindfulness, integrated in a way that supports individual agency.
Play Therapy (for younger therapy participants)
Uses play as a medium for emotional expression, processing, and connection in a developmentally attuned way.
Beyond the Therapy Room
I also recognize that therapy is just one part of the healing ecosystem. Community, rest, nature, art, spirituality, movement, protest, and ancestral connection can all be deeply therapeutic. These forms of care are welcome here, and I honor whatever else supports your wholeness.
Hours
Mon – Thurs: By appointment only
Fri – Sun: Closed
Office
1455 Frazee Road, Suite 500
San Diego, CA 92108
Contact
(619) 839-9397
info@therapywithmicaela.com