Olivia Keiner
With lived experience and a deep compassion for those navigating trauma, addiction, anxiety, crisis, and life transitions, I I work with first responders, trauma survivors, people transitioning home after hospitalization, and those experiencing complex PTSD, postpartum depression, and other acute mental health challenges. My approach is rooted in seeing and hearing you as a whole person, and honoring the many experiences that have shaped who you are. Together, we explore the biological, psychological, social, and spiritual aspects of your journey to develop self-awareness, and find a path toward healing and recovery. I believe every person deserves the opportunity to heal, reconnect with themselves, and build a life that feels meaningful. No matter where you are in your journey, I believe recovery is possible, and, you're not alone.
I help you understand how past experiences—especially early relationships—continue to shape your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors today.
First session
In our first session, the goal is to discuss what brings you to therapy, complete a preliminary clinical assessment, and review confidentiality, privacy and some basic practice policies. If you've received therapy before, we explore what was helpful and what you're looking for. Questions are encouraged! Practice Philosophy To support a strong therapeutic foundation, I ask that clients schedule an intake with me if they are genuinely interested in exploring an ongoing therapeutic relationship together. If you are currently attending (and/or have scheduled) multiple intake appointments solely to compare therapists before choosing one, I ask that you wait to schedule until you've narrowed your decision. This is because our first session begins the therapeutic process—not simply an evaluation. If, after meeting a few times, either of us determines we're not the right clinical fit, I'm more than happy to provide appropriate referrals. If, at the end of our first appointment, it's determined you're outside of my scope of practice, I will work with you to provide referrals for those who can support you.
Strengths
I strive to balance honesty, directness, and compassion in my communication. Effective therapy is not always about processing your week—it requires a willingness to look at yourself honestly, challenge patterns that no longer serve you, learn new skills, and practice them outside of session. Insight without action rarely creates lasting change. My therapy sessions are moderately structured and often require activities you complete outside of sessions. One of my strengths is helping people recognize patterns and themes in symptoms, problems and behaviors. As those become clear, you're guided in how to change those that contribute to anxiety, overwhelm, relationship problems, or negative, deep rooted beliefs of self. I don't believe in giving advice from a distance or simply nodding along. My role is to ask the questions that matter, offer honest observations, and help you build the awareness and tools needed to create the life you want.
Ideal clients
I support individuals seeking deeper self-understanding, emotional clarity, and meaningful change. I help unstick stuck patterns or problems that feel like an endless loop. I help develop goals to reduce anxiety, trauma-responses, enhance and build coping skills and replace negative thoughts with healthier ones. I work best with individual clients who are open to a more direct therapeutic approach, reflection and are curious about their inner world. These are the folks willing to spend time outside of session to complete exercises. Clients may feel uncomfortable sometimes during the therapeutic process, perhaps because of painful memories, or improved insight which can take you out of the "I didn't know what I didn't know" place. That can feel hard. That's okay, I encourage you to stay the course. I am a short-term (and solution-focused) therapist, meaning our goal should be to complete treatment goals anywhere from three to six months. You will often hear solutions in therapy. If you are looking for a long-term (1+ year) therapist, there are many, many on Grow to choose from.
Treatment methods
Cognitive Processing (CPT)
Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) is a proven approach for healing from trauma and PTSD. I work with clients to gently explore how difficult experiences have shaped their thoughts and feelings about themselves, others, and the world. We explore negative “stuck points,” and build new ways of thinking, feelings and behaviors with compassion, and confidence. My approach is relatively structured but warm and supportive, helping you move through trauma at a pace that feels safe while making real, lasting progress.
Existential
In Existential therapy, I help explore life’s deeper questions, especially those that come up with grief and loss—identity, meaning, freedom, purpose, connection and mortality. We develop a space to reflect on what it means to live authentically, especially during times of anxiety, loss, transition, or uncertainty. Rather than focusing only on symptom reduction, I support in understanding lived experiences, clarifying values, and making intentional choices that align with a life desired.
Gestalt
In Gestalt therapy, we focus on helping build greater awareness of thoughts, emotions, and experiences in the present moment. We explore what is happening in the “here and now” to better understand patterns, needs, and relational dynamics. We work collaboratively and experientially, supporting in reconnecting, strengthening authenticity, and creating meaningful change.
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy helps heal wounded “inner child” parts of ourselves that carry pain, shame, fear, or trauma from the past. In IFS, these vulnerable parts are called Exiles. My particular approach with IFS is working with stuck, blocked memories of our "inner child" with the use of guided relaxation sessions, where we re-parent, and hear that inner child at particular ages. Inner child work is a clinically grounded therapeutic approach that addresses the emotional needs of the younger developmental parts of the self that formed adaptive responses to inadequate or harmful early caregiving, and it isn’t the pop-psychology version that skeptics rightly question. The clinical version is supported by neurobiological evidence for the persistence of implicit emotional memory, the developmental research on early attachment, and the outcomes literature from schema therapy, Internal Family Systems, and ego-state therapy. It works precisely because those younger parts are not metaphors; they’re encoded in the body’s nervous system as real affective and behavioral patterns.
Psychodynamic
I take a psychodynamic and relational approach to therapy, meaning I pay close attention and sometimes draw attention to the past and present relationships which shape our inner worlds. We explore recurring patterns, emotional struggles, and the deeper needs underneath them. I believe that through a trusting therapeutic relationship, folks gain clarity, work through unresolved pain, and move toward lasting growth and wholeness.
Location
Virtual sessions
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Licensed in
- CaliforniaLicense 161304