Answering all of your burning questions

Billing + Business

  • Yes! I offer a free 15-minute consultation where you can ask me questions and see if I am a good fit for you.

  • Rachel’s fees are $200/session for an individual and $275/session for a relationship session

    Dr. Katie’s therapy and coaching fee is $275. Assessment rates vary.

  • Rachel can see clients throughout CA for therapy.

    Dr. Katie can see therapy and coaching clients throughout CA. Assessments are in person in Pasadena, CA.

  • Our first session together is mostly about getting to know each other. Your therapist will ask about what's bringing you to therapy right now, a bit about your history, and what you're hoping might feel different in your life. You're welcome to share as much or as little as feels comfortable; there's no script you need to follow, and nothing you have to have figured out ahead of time.

    By the end of the first session, you and your therapist usually have a pretty good idea about the direction you want to head in for future sessions.

  • Honestly, the best way to know is to talk to us. That's exactly what the free 15-minute consultation is for, a low-stakes chance to ask questions, share a little about what you're looking for, and see how it feels to talk with us before you commit to anything.

    Fit matters more in therapy than almost anything else, and we’d rather you find the right person than force a connection that isn't there. If you're looking for someone who gets it when it comes to queer identity or untangling harmful religious messaging without needing the basics explained, and who works from a collaborative, curious, non-pathologizing lens, there's a good chance we'll be a good fit. But the consultation is really where you'll know for sure.

LGBTQ+ Therapy

  • LGBTQ affirming therapy is an approach that treats your sexual orientation and gender identity as a normal, healthy part of who you are, not something to explain, question, or "work through." It means I'm not starting from a place of neutrality about your identity; I'm starting from the assumption that you deserve to be fully yourself, and that any struggles you're carrying are more likely to come from how the world has responded to your identity than from the identity itself.

    In practice, that looks like not having to educate me on the basics, not having your identity treated as the presenting problem unless you bring it in that way, and having space to explore things like coming out, relationships, religious harm, or shame without judgment.

  • "LGBTQ friendly" usually means a therapist won't discriminate against you and is generally accepting. That's a decent baseline, but it doesn't necessarily mean they have training, lived understanding, or comfort going deep on queer-specific issues.

    "LGBTQ affirming" goes further. It means your identity isn't just tolerated, it's actively supported and understood as healthy. An affirming therapist has the training and awareness to recognize things like minority stress, internalized shame, or the impact of religious or family rejection, and won't need you to explain the basics of queerness before you can get to the actual work.

  • Yes. Both Rachel and Dr. Katie are cisgender queer women, and this work is personal for us, not just professional. We know firsthand what it's like to navigate identity in spaces that weren't built to hold it, and that shapes how we show up with clients.

  • Not necessarily, but for some people it makes a real difference. Working with a therapist who shares that identity can mean less time spent explaining or justifying your experience, and more room to just be in it. Some clients feel safer knowing their therapist has walked a similar road.

    That said, plenty of excellent, deeply affirming therapists aren't LGBTQ themselves. What matters most is whether your therapist has the training, humility, and genuine understanding to support you well, not simply whether they share your identity. If having a queer therapist matters to you, that's a completely valid thing to prioritize in your search.

  • Yes, currently. California was the first state to ban licensed providers from practicing conversion therapy on minors, back in 2012. That said, this is an area of law that's actively shifting: a Supreme Court ruling earlier this year cast real legal doubt on bans like California's, and state lawmakers just passed a new bill (SB 934) to strengthen and shore up protections for survivors, which is currently awaiting the Governor's signature.

    Regardless of where the legal landscape lands, the clinical consensus hasn't changed: conversion therapy is not effective and is widely recognized to cause serious psychological harm. It's not something Psyched Therapy Collective condones or practice or would ever refer a client toward.

Religious Trauma Therapy

  • Religious trauma is the emotional and psychological harm that can come from religious teachings, environments, or experiences, especially ones that used fear, shame, control, or conditional belonging to shape behavior. It can come from being taught that you're inherently sinful or broken, from being punished or ostracized for questioning, or from having your identity condemned by a community that was supposed to be a source of safety.

    It doesn't require a single dramatic event to count. For a lot of people, religious trauma builds slowly, through years of internalized messages about worth, obedience, sexuality, or belonging, and it can keep showing up long after someone has left the environment that caused it.

  • There's no single checklist, but some common signs include persistent shame or guilt tied to your identity, body, or choices; anxiety or fear connected to punishment, hell, or spiritual consequences; difficulty trusting your own thoughts or decisions without checking them against religious authority; feeling lost or ungrounded after stepping away from a faith community; and grief over the loss of certainty, community, or belonging you once had.

    If any of that sounds familiar, especially if you grew up in a high-control or fundamentalist environment, it's worth exploring further. You don't need to have a clear diagnosis in mind to start that conversation in therapy.

  • No. That's not my role, and it's not something I'd ever push in either direction. My job isn't to move you toward or away from any particular belief system; it's to help you understand your own experience, process what happened to you, and figure out what feels true and authentic for you now.

    Some clients end up staying connected to faith in a different form. Some walk away from it entirely. Some land somewhere in between and stay there for a long time. All of those are valid outcomes, and the work is yours to direct.

  • Yes. This work is personal for Rachel as well as professional. She’s gone through her own process of untangling harmful religious messaging from her sense of self, so she understands both the intellectual and the emotional sides of it, not just from training but from having lived it.

  • Faith deconstruction is the process of examining and questioning beliefs you were raised with or once held, often after noticing that parts of them no longer fit, or caused harm. It can mean re-evaluating specific teachings, stepping back from a faith community entirely, or simply making space to ask questions that weren't allowed before.

    Therapy can help by giving you a place to do that questioning without pressure to land anywhere specific. We can work through the grief that often comes with leaving a community or certainty behind, untangle fear-based beliefs about punishment or worth, rebuild trust in your own thinking, and reconnect with a sense of identity that isn't shaped by conditional acceptance. It's less about resolving what you believe and more about helping you get there in a way that feels genuinely yours.

Relationship Therapy (Couples & ENM)

  • EFT is an evidence-based approach that focuses on the emotional bond between partners rather than just the surface-level argument. It's built on the idea that most relationship conflict isn't really about the dishes or the schedule, it's about attachment needs: feeling safe, valued, and emotionally connected to the people we love. When those needs feel threatened, couples fall into predictable patterns, like one partner pursuing while the other withdraws. I use EFT because it helps us slow those patterns down, understand what's happening underneath them, and build new ways of responding to each other with more clarity and connection.

  • Yes. I work with couples and partners across a range of relationship structures, including consensually non-monogamous, polyamorous, and open relationships. You won't need to explain or defend your relationship structure here; the focus stays on what matters most, which is communication, trust, and emotional connection between everyone involved.

  • Relationship therapy isn't just for relationships in crisis. Many couples start therapy because they keep having the same argument, conversations quickly turn into defensiveness or shutdown, one or both partners feel unheard, or trust has been damaged and they're not sure how to rebuild it. Others come in simply wanting to understand each other better and build something stronger, without waiting for things to fall apart first. If you're wondering whether it's "bad enough" to need support, that question alone is usually reason enough to start the conversation.

  • That's something we can talk through together. Sometimes it makes sense to start individually and explore what's coming up for you in the relationship, even if your partner isn't ready yet. Other times, an initial consultation can help figure out the best way to bring everyone into the room. You don't need full agreement from every partner before reaching out; we can figure out the right starting point together.

  • That's incredibly common, and it doesn't mean therapy won't work for you. Partners often walk in with different views of the same conflict, different pain points, and even different goals for what they want out of the work. Part of what happens in the room is helping each partner feel truly heard, even when your perspectives don't match, and finding what's underneath the disagreement rather than trying to determine who's "right." You don't need to agree on the problem to start working on it together.

Teen
Therapy

  • There's no single sign that means "yes, definitely," but some common ones include your teen seeming more withdrawn, anxious, or overwhelmed than usual; struggling with school pressure or motivation; going through friendship or social stress; showing signs of low self-esteem or harsh self-criticism; navigating identity questions or a big life transition; or carrying emotions they don't seem comfortable talking about with you. If something feels off, and especially if it's been going on for a while, that's usually enough reason to explore therapy, even before things feel like a crisis.

  • That's common, and it doesn't mean therapy is off the table. Sometimes it helps for a parent to reach out first so we can talk through what's going on and figure out the best way to approach it. Occasionally an initial conversation with just the parent, or a low-pressure first meeting with the teen, can make the idea feel less intimidating. Teens are often more willing to engage once they know they won't be walking into a lecture, and that this is a space that's actually for them.

  • No, not everything. Teens need to feel like therapy is a space where they can be honest without every detail going straight back to their parents, and that confidentiality is part of what makes the work effective. That said, I'll typically give parents general updates on progress and themes, and I'll always break confidentiality if there's a safety concern. We can talk through exactly how that balance will work before we start, so everyone knows what to expect.

  • Yes. I create space for LGBTQ+ teens to explore their sexual orientation or gender identity, navigate coming out to friends or family, build confidence and self-acceptance, cope with bullying or social pressure, and untangle harmful messages about identity that may have come from religious or cultural environments. Teens deserve a space where they don't have to hide or explain themselves, and that's exactly what I aim to provide.

  • In California, a minor who is 12 or older can consent to their own outpatient mental health treatment without parental consent, as long as the treating clinician believes they're mature enough to meaningfully participate in it. That doesn't mean parents are automatically excluded from the process; it just means teens 12 and up have some independent say in accessing care. If you have questions about how that applies to your specific situation, I'm happy to talk it through with you directly.

 ADHD & Neuropsychological Assessment

  • Executive dysfunction refers to difficulty with the brain's "management system": things like planning, organizing, initiating tasks, managing time, regulating emotions, and following through on things you actually want to do. It's not the same as ADHD, but it's a core feature of it. Executive dysfunction also shows up in autism, learning differences, anxiety, depression, and some medical conditions, which is part of why understanding the why behind it matters so much. Two people can look identical on the outside (missed deadlines, cluttered space, forgotten appointments) and have completely different underlying causes, which means they need different kinds of support.

  • Adults absolutely can, and do, get evaluated and diagnosed with ADHD. In fact, a huge number of adults seeking assessment were missed entirely as kids, especially those who didn't fit the stereotypical hyperactive presentation, masked well, or grew up in environments where struggling quietly wasn't noticed.

    A comprehensive evaluation can give you real clarity, whether that means a first-time diagnosis or updated, adult-focused understanding if you were assessed years ago

  • Assessment is about understanding: a structured evaluation process that identifies what's actually going on cognitively, whether that's ADHD, autism, a learning difference, or something else, so you have real answers instead of guesses. Therapy is about processing: working through the emotional, relational, and identity-based impact of your experiences, including how it feels to live with a brain that works differently than you were told it should. Executive functioning coaching is about building: practical, hands-on strategies for planning, organization, time management, and follow-through, tailored to how your brain actually works rather than a generic system. Many people benefit from more than one of these at different points, and you don't have to figure out which one you need before reaching out.

  • A lot of it comes down to how ADHD was originally studied and described, largely based on hyperactive young boys. Women and girls more often present with inattentive symptoms, internalized anxiety, or high-functioning masking, which means they were historically overlooked, misdiagnosed with anxiety or depression alone, or simply told they needed to try harder. Many women don't get evaluated until adulthood, often after a lifetime of feeling like something didn't add up, sometimes prompted by a child's diagnosis that suddenly makes their own patterns click into place.

  • An informal assessment is a structured, conversation-based exploration, typically a focused clinical interview and feedback session, designed to help you understand your patterns and point you toward next steps, without formal standardized testing. It's a faster, lower-cost way to get clarity when you're not sure a full evaluation is necessary yet. A comprehensive evaluation is the gold-standard option: several hours of standardized cognitive, academic, and psychological testing, tailored to your specific questions, resulting in a full written report with diagnostic clarity and personalized recommendations. If you're unsure which fits your situation, that's exactly what the initial consultation is for.ption