Catey Carey
As your therapist, my goal is to help you understand how the events of your life have shaped the way you move through the world and to use that understanding as a foundation for real, personal change. As a Marriage and Family Therapist and Art Therapist, I've worked alongside adolescents, adults, and families navigating the effects of violence and trauma, and I know that this work takes courage. Together, we'll identify your strengths and build coping tools that support genuine growth and healing. My approach is trauma-informed and person-centered, meaning you set the pace and I meet you where you are.
First session
Our first session is about starting to build trust and getting to know each other, this is the foundation everything else builds on. We'll talk through your strengths, along with the challenges that brought you to therapy, and from there, we'll begin shaping a treatment plan centered on what matters most to you. There's no pressure to have everything figured out; we'll work through it together.
Strengths
Therapy asks us to talk about the parts of life that feel hardest to name, and that kind of vulnerability deserves a space that feels warm, welcoming, and genuinely safe. That's what I aim to create in our work together. I draw on both talk therapy and art therapy, giving us more than one way to explore the symbols and patterns showing up in your life, sometimes words are enough, and sometimes an image gets somewhere words can't yet reach. At the center of it all is self-compassion: I believe that when we can meet ourselves with more kindness, we naturally open up to more flexible, generous perspectives on who we are and the people around us.
Ideal clients
Life can bring periods of distress and sadness that leave you feeling far from your best self, and at times, completely overwhelmed. This often surfaces during transitions — a career change, a breakup, becoming a parent, a move, or any shift that leaves you feeling unmoored from who you used to be. In those moments, it's common to pull away, to avoid burdening others, or because it feels like no one could really understand what you're going through. But you are not alone in this. Whether you're navigating anxiety, trauma, violence, relationship difficulties, or a life transition that has you questioning your footing, I work best with clients who are ready to engage in the process of change, people who want to build the confidence and tools to meet life's challenges head-on.
Treatment methods
Trauma Informed Care
Many people who have experienced trauma or violence had their sense of choice taken from them, the feeling of being in charge of their own experience. In our work together, I won't ask you to explain why something happened to you. Instead, we'll explore how the events of your life have shaped the way you see and respond to the world around you. From there, we'll build an awareness of what works best for you, both in our sessions together and in your everyday life.
Strength-Based
You already carry strength within you, even if it doesn't always feel that way. We'll identify what has worked for you in the past, the coping skills, relationships, and instincts that have carried you this far and build on that foundation. We'll also look at the things you may see as weaknesses and explore them from a different angle, often finding that what felt like a flaw was actually a way of protecting or adapting. That reframing is where self-compassion starts to grow.
Location
Virtual sessions
Identifies as
White
Woman
Top specialties
Anxiety
Life Transitions
Trauma and PTSD
Other specialties
Coping Skills
Domestic Violence
Peer Relationships
Self Esteem
Women's Issues
Serves
Adults (18 to 64)
Couples Counseling
Family Therapy
Individual Therapy
Man
Non-binary
Teenagers (13 to 17)
Transgender
Woman
Licensed in
CaliforniaLicense 156764