Trusted Providers

About

Hi, I’m Dr. Alena Schuss, a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and the founder of Aera Mental Health. I am deeply passionate about walking alongside individuals, couples, and families as they navigate life’s challenges and uncover pathways toward healing, growth, and lasting change.

Originally from Austria, my journey brought me to the United States in 2017 on a full athletic scholarship for cross-country and track. Prior to that, I spent several years competing as a professional triathlete. These experiences shaped not only my resilience, but also my deep understanding of the mental and emotional demands placed on high performers.

I hold both Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy, complemented by academic training in Business Administration and Exercise & Sports Science. I am currently completing my second doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology and working toward licensure as a clinical and forensic psychologist, with the goal of expanding my work in psychological assessment. I am also further developing specialized training in child custody evaluations.

Therapeutic Approach

My work is collaborative and grounded in the belief that people are shaped by the systems around them—families, teams, workplaces, and communities. As a marriage and family therapist, I pay close attention to those relationships and to the patterns that quietly repeat within them, so that change can hold outside the therapy room as well as inside it.

I approach trauma, grief, anxiety, depression, and addiction with a trauma-informed lens and a steady, unhurried pace. Having competed at a high level myself, I understand how performance pressure can make asking for support feel like a weakness, and I work to make therapy a place where that pressure can finally be set down and examined honestly.

Specialized Experience

Over the years, I have had the privilege of working extensively with first responders, veterans, athletes, and high performers—individuals whose roles often carry invisible emotional weight.

I am an assigned clinician for the Anaheim Police Department through The Counseling Team International and regularly respond to critical incidents, providing support in high-stress, crisis environments. My doctoral dissertation, “The Lived Experiences of Adult Children Raised by Police or Fire Service Parents,” reflects my ongoing commitment to understanding and supporting those impacted by high-demand professions.

About

Hi, I’m Grace Huang, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and therapist in California with over ten years of clinical experience. I work with adults navigating anxiety, trauma, depression, chronic stress, burnout, grief, relationship challenges, cultural expectations, life transitions, and difficulties with emotional regulation. If you are feeling overwhelmed, emotionally exhausted, or stuck, I am passionate about helping you find hope, healing, and transformational change.

My approach is warm, collaborative, and client-centered. I believe that every person’s story is unique, and that therapy should be tailored to your goals, values, lived experiences, and cultural background. I work to create a safe, supportive, and nonjudgmental space where you feel heard, understood, and empowered to explore your thoughts, emotions, and experiences. Together, we identify patterns that may no longer serve you, strengthen self-compassion and self-awareness, make sense of your nervous system and somatic responses, and develop healthier ways of coping.

Therapeutic Approach

I integrate evidence-based treatments — Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), mindfulness-based interventions, trauma-informed care, and EMDR — pairing practical coping skills with deeper work on the childhood, relationship, or trauma experiences that still shape the present. My goal is not only that you feel better, but that you build lasting resilience, emotional regulation, and healthier relationships.

As an EMDR-trained therapist, I also offer Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, which helps the brain safely reprocess distressing memories in a structured, supportive setting. It can be an effective treatment for trauma, anxiety, panic, grief, and PTSD.

Specialized Experience

I have a special interest in working with high-achieving professionals, parents, caregivers, and individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds. Many of my clients struggle with perfectionism, people-pleasing, burnout, imposter syndrome, cultural or family expectations, and difficulty setting healthy boundaries. I understand the pressure of balancing career, family, caregiving responsibilities, and personal well-being, and I work collaboratively with my clients to build confidence, self-compassion, emotional balance, and self-care practices that hold up over time.

Beyond one-to-one therapy, I am passionate about increasing mental health awareness and reducing stigma through community outreach, speaking engagements, clinical supervision, psychoeducation, and professional collaboration. I believe mental health care should be accessible, culturally accepted, and grounded in compassionate care. My mission is to offer practical tools, evidence-based strategies, and solution-focused support so people can navigate life’s challenges with greater confidence and healthier relationships, and build meaningful, long-lasting change.

If you are looking for compassionate, culturally sensitive, and evidence-based clinical care, I welcome the opportunity to support you. Whatever season of life you are in — navigating anxiety, trauma, burnout, relationship challenges, or a major life transition — I will meet you where you are and walk alongside you on your journey toward hope, healing, and emotional wellness.

About

A core priority in my work is helping clients reclaim the power of their voice. Therapy is most meaningful as a collaborative process where you are not only heard, but where there is a genuine effort to know and understand you.

I strive to ensure every client feels truly heard, understood, and seen. Together, we approach therapy with mutual curiosity, respect for your lived experience, and attention to the personal and cultural stories that shape how you move through the world.

Therapeutic Approach

I prioritize a collaborative relationship grounded in trust, authenticity, and curiosity. My integrative approach draws from somatic therapy for nervous system regulation, Internal Family Systems (IFS), and Narrative Therapy to support embodied, meaningful, and sustainable healing through the lens of your own personal story and experiences.

Because vulnerability can feel difficult with a stranger, I strive to create a relationship where clients feel safe enough to be known. I am committed to a socially conscious practice that honors each person’s experiences within their broader social and systemic context.

Specialized Experience

As an Iranian American therapist, I understand the richness and complexity of holding multiple cultural identities.

I especially enjoy supporting Highly Sensitive People (HSPs), as well as teenagers and adults navigating identity formation, relationships, and the often tender process of growing into themselves. I also find meaning in working with people experiencing grief and complex trauma.

About

Hi, I’m Seung-Wan—pronounced like “I had sung a song” and “I waved my magic WANd.” I was born and raised in Southern California (Go Dodgers!) and attended UCLA as an undergraduate. After spending 10 years in entertainment, I transitioned to mental health and earned my Master’s at Antioch University Los Angeles, whose program emphasizes social justice and queer-affirming therapy.

I integrate social injustice and systemic violence into my work, viewing people within the context of their environment and focusing on intergenerational patterns. I think therapy can be daunting, so I try to make the process more approachable.

Therapeutic Approach

Therapy can be intimidating, and I focus on creating a collaborative space centered on your goals. I explain concepts and provide education about how therapy works, especially for people who have never been to therapy. In session, I’ll ask whether what I’m sharing accurately reflects your experience and welcome feedback about your experience in therapy.

I think therapy can be approachable and personal—a place to change what is no longer working, an opportunity for growth, and a space to exhale. I take my work seriously, but I also believe there is room for humor and lightness. That means I’ll likely bring up pop-culture references and memes in session, and probably ask to see your pets.

Specialized Experience

I specialize in working with couples who want to understand each other better or are finding it difficult to communicate. I also enjoy working with therapy first-timers, first- and second-generation Americans, people from immigrant backgrounds, emotionally avoidant people, and men.

About

I’m a bilingual therapist providing virtual therapy to adults and couples in California and Washington. I especially enjoy working with Asian American and immigrant clients who are navigating anxiety, burnout, insomnia, relationship challenges, family expectations, cultural identity, and major life transitions.

My background includes outpatient psychiatry, hospital and community mental health, and private practice. I understand that people can appear highly capable on the outside while privately feeling overwhelmed, disconnected, or unsure of themselves. My goal is to offer a space where clients do not have to perform or have everything figured out before we begin. I provide therapy in English and Mandarin.

Therapeutic Approach

My approach is warm, collaborative, and culturally responsive. I take time to understand both what is happening now and the experiences and relationship patterns that may be underneath it.

I draw from relational and attachment-based therapy, psychodynamic therapy, Internal Family Systems (IFS), CBT, DBT, mindfulness, and trauma-informed approaches. With couples, I incorporate elements of Emotionally Focused Therapy and the Gottman Method.

I am active and engaged in sessions. I offer practical tools when they are useful, while also helping clients develop a deeper understanding of themselves and create changes that feel sustainable.

Specialized Experience

Anxiety and depression; trauma and attachment concerns; relationship and couples issues; workplace stress and burnout; insomnia and sleep difficulties; Asian American and immigrant mental health; cultural identity and acculturation; intergenerational and family dynamics; and life transitions, grief, and caregiver stress.

About

Hi there! My name is Angela Medrano (she/her), and I’m a queer Mexican-Filipina Licensed Clinical Social Worker and therapist based in California. I’m honored to create a safe and inclusive space for individuals and couples exploring and holding queer identities.

I support clients around topics of sexuality, gender, grief, guilt and shame, life transitions, intersectional identity and culture, relational difficulties, and trauma. Together, we’ll explore and honor what makes you authentically you, while learning to nurture trust and connection within your body, mind, and spirit.

Therapeutic Approach

My approach is strengths-based, relational, client-centered, and psychodynamic, with a focus on uncovering and nurturing your most authentic, self-compassionate, and whole self. I draw from parts work, inner child work, narrative therapy, and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) to honor your experiences and build upon your natural strengths. I also incorporate Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT) to support couples in cultivating compassion, deeper understanding, and connection.

I believe that racism, queerphobia, and systemic oppression can profoundly shape our mental health and wellbeing, and that healing begins when our identities are witnessed, respected, and liberated. With this understanding, I focus on creating both a safe and brave therapeutic environment—a space where we can make room for difficult experiences, develop new ways of coping, and find new ways to move through the world.

Specialized Experience

My practice is a home for those who often find themselves at the intersections: first- and second-generation cycle-breakers, LGBTQIA+ folks, BIPOC folks, and those untangling patterns and trauma—both their own and those passed down through generations.

While I adore working with individuals, I also find working with couples to be incredibly rewarding. Relationships have a way of bringing our deepest hopes, fears, and old wounds to the surface. Together, we can slow down the cycles of conflict or disconnection, understand what’s happening underneath them, and begin to find each other again. We’ll make space for the moments when you miss each other and practice new ways of reaching back towards connection.

This is a space for rest, for reckoning, and for reclaiming.

About

Hello! I’m Poya, an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist in California. I’m a bilingual therapist, offering sessions in both English and Mandarin Chinese, and I work with Asian American and immigrant clients navigating the complex identities that come with differing cultural expectations.

Whether you’re just starting therapy for the first time, or you’re returning and looking to work with a new therapist, you’re welcome to meet with me and see if we’re a good fit. Therapy should feel like a safe, supportive space, and it’s okay to ask for help.

Therapeutic Approach

My approach to therapy is collaborative and culturally responsive, honoring the full complexity of your lived experience. I don’t believe there’s one “right” way to feel, heal, or move forward, especially when identity, family dynamics, and cultural expectations play such a central role in your life.

Together, we’ll explore the patterns shaped by your past experiences and relationships, reconnect with what matters most to you, and build practical tools for meaningful change. I draw from a range of evidence-based approaches to help our work together feel supportive, grounded, and sustainable, so the progress you make truly lasts.

Specialized Experience

I support individuals, children and adolescents, couples, and families navigating anxiety, depression, burnout, stress, relationships, coping skills, racial and cultural identity, and multicultural concerns. My work integrates CBT, family systems therapy, emotion-focused therapy, and person-centered therapy.

About

Hey, I’m Elley! As a licensed therapist and a steadfast believer in change and possibility, I’m here to help you create a safer refuge and more vibrant relationships with yourself and your loved ones. Born in the Philippines and raised in Southern California, I identify as an immigrant daughter who knows what it means to navigate between worlds. I work with you to explore themes of identity, challenging family dynamics, and the weight and wisdom of generational experiences.

If you are tired of feeling like a stranger to yourself and long to feel more at home in your own skin, then welcome. Together we’ll sort through inherited stories to keep what nourishes you and re-imagine what doesn’t. Therapy can be a kind and compassionate place to sit with profound feelings, reclaim your life, and end each day with more ease.

Therapeutic Approach

My style is relational, collaborative, and focused on developing a more empowering personal story that is felt in the body and reflected in your relationships. We will collect your values, strengths, and skills as key ingredients towards change. The goal of each session is for you to walk away feeling cared for, respected, and wonderfully different from how you arrived.

My life philosophy inspires my therapeutic style, which embraces personal freedom, loving relationships, and creativity as pillars for navigating our complex social world. I use a carefully threaded combination of therapeutic approaches, mainly Narrative therapy, Solution-focused therapy, Somatic therapy, and parts-work therapy. I’m also trained in Level 1 Brainspotting for those interested in brain-body based techniques.

With less emphasis on labels and more intentional thinking when it comes to diagnosis, I prioritize understanding you as a whole person and seeing the greater picture beyond your symptoms. My holistic approach aims to consider what may go missed when providers overlook social, cultural, and environmental factors.

Specialized Experience

I specialize in supporting teen girls and young adult women recovering from the effects of trauma, violence, or abuse. I am especially passionate about supporting women survivors of college campus assault. Many of my clients come from immigrant backgrounds, though I welcome all identities and orientations. Some of my other specialty areas include therapy for siblings and therapy for those navigating a DNA family surprise (I identify as a late-discovery NPE).

While much of my work is focused on addressing anxiety, trauma, and grief, I don’t see mental health problems as disorders that can be neatly put into boxes or categories. I keep an open mind when getting to know you and what’s bringing you to therapy. I encourage a space where we can get curious about how culture and society shape your views on mental health and well-being.