Allie Gaona, LMFT

Therapist

Hello and welcome! My name is Allie and I’m a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist working with individuals ages 14+, couples, and families in the states of California and Hawaii. I believe that therapy is a collaborative process, meaning the quality of the relationship you have with your therapist matters. My hope is that our relationship can be an honest, understanding, and helpful one that leads you to the change what is needed in your life. When we go back and explore what led you to your current experiences, we can find what you may have missed out on, or what you may need more of today. From there, change is possible. We can team up together to find out how to make those changes a real part of your life. I’m looking forward to getting to know all the different and unique things that make you, you!

Insight AND Embodied Processing

You might be asking yourself, “Why am I always feeling, thinking, or acting this way?” This question often comes from a place of exhaustion, and a sense of “stuckness”. With my help, you will gain insight by exploring this question in a non-judgmental curious way, looking into the context that led you here. Insight can provide a valuable ability to know yourself more intimately and compassionately. Another vital part of the process is being able to experience needed corrective emotional experiences so that your body, and not just your mind, can move forward from what has happened in the past. I will be there with you through this process, supporting all the different parts of you that come up so that you can move forward with healing and begin to live a more fulfilling life. 

Military, Veteran, and Adolescent/Parenting Experience

I have worked with adults, adolescents, parents, and couples each with their own unique experiences of trauma, relational challenges, anxiety, depression, mood disorders, life transitions, and more. I began my therapy career working with teenagers and their parents at a community clinic during the early COVID-19 pandemic and have a soft spot for working with the parent-teen relationship dynamics. With my own lived experience as a military spouse combined with years of working with military service members, veterans, and their families I truly understand the unique challenges they face. From the impact of deployments, to moving away from your support system, to employment challenges for spouses, the military lifestyle is something I am familiar with. In my previous role, I worked as a provider at a practice that accepted community care referrals from the VA, helping veterans transition to civilian life and recover from numerous types of traumas. 

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

Everyone is talking about the impact of trauma on our mental health these days, and for a good reason. Many of us have experienced traumas, which can be described as an experience or series of experiences that overwhelm our mind’s capacity to cope. Talk therapy can often be incredibly challenging when you are repeatedly discussing these kinds of experiences that overwhelm your nervous system. This is why EMDR was created. Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing is a form of therapy that encourages the client to briefly focus their attention on a traumatic memory while also experiencing something called “bilateral stimulation” (such as moving your eyes side to side or tapping side to side). The use of bilateral stimulation, along with the therapist’s guidance tends to soothe our brain in such a way that allows the brain’s natural healing ability to kick in, helping to reprocess the traumatic events adaptively. I have been trained in using this modality and can use it as a helpful supplementation to your therapy treatment or as the predominant modality when appropriate. Click here to learn more about EMDR therapy.   

Diversity

Each of us has a developed sense of identity, drawing from our family history, origin, language, relationships, sexual preferences, and personality. It is important that your therapist actively learns what these identities mean to you personally and is honest about how differences may show up in the therapeutic relationship. I am committed to remaining curious about all the ways in which you identify, what these identities mean to you, and being transparent when my lived experience may impact my understanding of your experience. I work collaboratively with you to seek greater understanding of you without judgment. I have also developed strong working relationships with LGBTQ+ clients, BIPOC clients, and those with differing abilities.