About Me

Licensed Clinical Social Worker • California

I'm Esma.

I offer integrative, depth-oriented online therapy for adults throughout California. My work centers on anxiety, complex trauma, and attachment-related patterns, the kind that show up in relationships, in the body, and in the way you move through the world. I get to the root, not just what's on the surface.

I hold an MSW from the University of Southern California and have over 10 years of clinical experience with advanced post-graduate training in trauma treatment, including Brainspotting through Phase 5 directly with David Grand, PhD, the founder of the model. I have also trained at the Pacific Trauma Center, where I deepened my work in complex trauma and attachment-based treatment.

My path

Why I Do This Work

I became a therapist because I've lived what my clients describe. I've experienced attachment trauma myself. I know what it feels like to understand your patterns clearly and still feel caught in them, and I know what it takes to move through it.

I spent years in my own therapy, doing the intellectual work. Understanding my patterns. Naming my attachment style. And still, something in my nervous system hadn't shifted. The insight was there, but the felt experience hadn't changed.

That's when I found Brainspotting. And something moved that insight alone couldn't reach.

It wasn't about thinking harder or understanding more. It was about finally accessing what was stored beneath the story. That experience changed how I practice. I don't do therapy that stays in your head. I do therapy that reaches the places where the real work lives.

Today, I work with people who are ready for that kind of depth — people who've done some version of the work before and know there's more underneath. People who are done managing and ready to actually heal.

My Approach

Integrative, Depth-Oriented, Human

Your nervous system, your attachment history, and what's emerging in the moment all shape the work. I attune to where you are and adjust the approach accordingly, so the pace always feels manageable.

I weave Brainspotting, Internal Family Systems (IFS), and somatic approaches responsively. Different moments in therapy call for different tools. The modalities shift based on what's needed. The relationship stays steady.

Sometimes we need to talk. Sometimes we need to sit with what the body is holding. Sometimes we need to listen to what a part of you has been carrying for a long time. I follow the thread wherever it leads.

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What Brings People Here

What I Work With

I specialize in the patterns that are hardest to see from the inside.

Anxiety

Anxiety often has roots in how we learned to relate, both to ourselves and to others. The overthinking, the tension in the body, the constant vigilance. We work with the nervous system to get to the root of these patterns, not just manage them.

Trauma

Trauma lives in the nervous system, not just in memory. The thing that happened, or the thing that didn't happen but should have. It stays in the body long after the mind has made sense of it. We process it where it's stored.

Attachment

People-pleasing, difficulty with boundaries, over-functioning in relationships, pulling away when things get close. These patterns often circle back to attachment: how we learned to connect early on. We work with them at the level where they formed.

How I Practice

What I Stand For

Depth Over Speed

Real change takes time. We go at the pace that actually serves the work, not faster than your nervous system can integrate.

Honesty

I'll be direct with you. Kindly, but directly. You deserve a therapist who tells you the truth, not just what you want to hear.

Body & Mind

The body holds information that thinking alone can't access. Working with both mind and nervous system is how change becomes lasting.

The Relationship

Therapy is relational. The safety and trust between us isn't a nice-to-have. It's the foundation everything else is built on.

Resources

No previous Brainspotting experience required. All group participants receive a complimentary 45‑minute individual orientation session with Esma and a digital therapeutic resourcing guide.

Check Your Coverage

See if your insurance plan covers out-of-network therapy.

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Insurance Reimbursement Guide

Step-by-step guide to submitting out-of-network claims.

Download PDF →

Brainspotting Group Therapy Info Sheet

An overview of the group, what to expect, and how to get started.

Download PDF →

Take the First Step

If Something Here Resonated

If you're ready for therapy that meets you where you are, let's talk.

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