About MeLicensed Clinical Social Worker • California
I'm Esma.
Clients come to my practice looking for a therapist who can get to the root of their problem. I help clients overcome anxiety, set boundaries, process unresolved trauma, and improve relationships. I’m nurturing and caring while also being direct and focused.
I'm an integrative psychotherapist based in California, and I work with clients who are feeling stuck but are highly motivated to improve. I combine compassionate support with straight talk and practical solutions to help you reach your goals and achieve change.
My approach isn't about surface-level coping skills or generic frameworks. We go to the root using Brainspotting, IFS, and somatic work to access the parts of yourself that talk therapy alone can't reach.
I hold an MSW from the University of Southern California and have over 10 years of clinical experience with post-graduate training in trauma treatment, including advanced Brainspotting 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 practice is intentionally small so that I can offer each client thoughtful, focused care. Working together is designed for meaningful transformation.
How I Show UpI’m Caring and Straightforward
Clients appreciate that I’m both caring and direct.
Real support. Clear conversations. Lasting change
I’m not afraid of hard conversations, and I won’t tiptoe around the things that matter.
Clients appreciate that I’m both caring and direct. I’m not cold or overly clinical, but I also won’t sugarcoat things or avoid difficult conversations. I help clients get underneath the surface and start making real changes.
I also use humor naturally in session because sometimes humor creates the exact amount of honesty, perspective, and relief people need to finally let their guard down. Therapy can be deep and challenging without feeling rigid or performative.
I’m both caring and straightforward. I bring warmth and honesty into the room equally. You’ll feel supported, but you’ll also be held accountable. I believe both are necessary for growth.
my therapeutic styleTherapy That Feels Human — And Helps You Grow
I believe good therapy should actually move you forward. Not just give you a place to vent. Not keep you stuck in endless self-analysis.
My approach is honest, direct, and deeply compassionate. I’ll support you and help you make sense of the patterns shaping your life and relationships — but I’ll also challenge the behaviors, beliefs, and coping strategies that are no longer serving you.
Therapy with me is collaborative, active, and grounded in real life. I’ll ask difficult questions, reflect patterns you may not notice yourself, and help you build healthier ways of relating to yourself and to the people around you.
Above all, I want therapy to feel human. Honest conversations. Genuine connection. A space where you can stop performing, stop avoiding, and start showing up more fully as yourself.
That’s the space I try to create: A place where you can show up fully, be challenged compassionately, laugh when needed, and create meaningful change that actually lasts.
healing from the rootWhat Does Healing Look Like?
Many people find that deeper healing happens when the nervous system is included in the process. Here are four signs that healing is happening.
Who this is ForI Work With Adults Navigating Life’s Challenges—You’re Not Meant to Do This Alone
I help clients navigate and resolve challenges in the following areas
Breaking Cycles- Self-Abandonment ·Anxious Attachment· People-Pleasing ·Over-functioning · Difficulty with Boundaries · Avoidant Attachment · Disorganized Attachment ·Parentification · Enmeshment · Mother Wounds ·Mother Hunger · Codependency ·Father Wounds ·Inner-Child Healing
Anxiety that just won't stop including health anxiety, relationship anxiety, and high functioning anxiety
Relationships and Love- Healing from toxic relationships · Moving on from an ex · Healing fears and being open to love · Situationships· Putting an end to chronic cheating · Trauma Bonding
Dysfunctional Family Systems- Guilt tripping/Emotional manipulation ·Estrangement from family
Complex trauma or C-PTSD (including what happened and what didn't happen but should have)
this is a place for youIntegrative, Depth-Oriented, Human
I work especially well with people who are sensitive, high-functioning, and look fine on the outside but feel stuck on the inside. Insight alone isn’t enough. Lasting change happens when awareness turns into action.
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.
“My therapeutic approach is one of wholeness. Rather than finding temporary relief of symptoms, I help clients find lasting growth and healing.”
How I workTherapeutic Modalities
I don't use just one approach. I pull from multiple evidence-based modalities based on what the moment calls for.
Brainspotting
A powerful, brain-body approach that accesses unprocessed trauma and emotional material by using your visual field to locate and process "brainspots" — points where the body holds activation. It bypasses the thinking brain to access what talk therapy often can't reach.
ACT, CBT & DBT
Evidence-based frameworks that build concrete skills — identifying thought patterns, developing distress tolerance, and learning to act from your values rather than your anxiety. I draw on these as needed, woven into the deeper relational work.
Internal Family Systems
IFS works with the "parts" of you — the protector who people-pleases, the inner critic that won't shut up, the exile carrying old pain. We get to know them, understand their role, and help them update to the present.
Somatic Approaches
Your body keeps the score. Somatic work means paying attention to what your nervous system is doing — the tightness, the numbness, the activation — and using that information as a doorway into deeper processing.
healing from the rootWhy Brainspotting?
Brainspotting works through the relationship between your eyes and your brain — by finding specific eye positions linked to where the brain holds unprocessed emotional material. It accesses deeper brain regions that talk therapy alone can’t reach, which is why it’s central to the work I do.
When the nervous system has been under chronic stress, the parts of the brain responsible for clarity, regulation, and choice stop communicating effectively. Brainspotting helps the system become aware of where it’s holding tension and protection, and supports its natural capacity to reorganize — rather than forcing it to change.
Intentional, Results-Oriented CareDesigned to Support Real Progress and Long-Term Well being
You want an approach that supports meaningful growth and evolving independence over time
Meaningful progress. Not indefinite therapy:
My goal as a therapist is not to keep clients in therapy longer than needed, but to support them in reaching a level of healing where they feel less reliant on ongoing, consistent sessions.
Clients who work with me often find that they are able to make meaningful progress in their healing. As a result, many clients graduate from weekly therapy to biweekly sessions and then to as-needed support. My goal is to help you achieve your goals, so that you can move on.
Services
Depth-oriented therapy for people who are done with surface-level solutions.
Individual Therapy
One-on-one sessions tailored to your history, your nervous system, and your goals. We work at your pace — and we go as deep as you're ready to go.
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Couples Therapy
For couples ready to move beyond surface-level fixes. We work with the patterns underneath — the ones that keep showing up no matter how many times you try to talk it through.
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Intensive Therapy
A focused, immersive approach for people whose lives are too full for weekly sessions. Dedicated time to go deeper — with momentum, depth, and care.
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Brainspotting Group Therapy
A curated group experience combining Brainspotting with the healing power of being witnessed. There's something that shifts when you realize you're not the only one carrying this.
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Take the First StepReady to Stop Managing
and Start Healing?
You don’t need to have it all figured out. If what you’ve read resonates, let’s talk.