Leesa Varela

LMFT (she/her)16 years of experienceNext available
4.7 (166)
Authentic
Warm
Empowering

Compassionate, open-minded, strength-based care is Leesa’s goal for every client, as she helps you to navigate difficult life stressors and address trauma wounds that can cause symptoms of anxiety, depression, acute or post-traumatic stress, addiction, relational conflict, employment/academic impairment, etc.

She uses EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing), Brainspotting, Cognitive Behavioral (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral (DBT) and Family Systems interventions to create an individualized treatment plan that's ideal for you!

She uses EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing), Brainspotting, Cognitive Behavioral (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral (DBT) and Family Systems interventions to create an individualized treatment plan that's ideal for you!

First session

Leesa believes that successful therapy is a partnership that relies on your personal wisdom and her ability to truly understand you to create an effective treatment plan for positive change and increased emotional fulfillment. She looks forward to meeting you!

Strengths

Leesa is passionate about helping clients feels safe, not judged and listened to with empathy and concern to address emotional pain and/or trauma. It’s her privilege to be able to support you as quickly as possible, with evening and weekend availability.

Ideal clients

With 16 years of clinical experience, Leesa has great passion working with clients experiencing acute or chronic trauma. She also enjoys working with young adults struggling to establish independence, families in crisis, couples considering separation/divorce, law enforcement officers/first responders, and those seeking effective parenting strategies.

Treatment methods

EMDR

I am a Levels 1 & 2 Trained EMDR practitioner who relies on this intervention to provide comprehensive trauma-informed care.

Brainspotting

I am a Level 1 Trained Brainspotting practitioner who uses this intervention to provide comprehensive trauma-informed care.

Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)

I have extensive training in and reliance on CBT interventions for addressing cognitive distortions and building coping skills.

Structural Family Therapy

Structural Family Therapy interventions are used to develop a better understanding of one's family system, which can be invaluable when treating trauma wounds.

Dialectical Behavior (DBT)

DBT interventions are used to help clients increase emotional regulation levels.

Location

Virtual sessions

Identifies as

Top specialties

Other specialties

Serves

Doesn't specialize in

Licensed in

Reviews and ratings

4.7 rating (166)32 reviews
April 24, 2026

I felt pressured by Leesa to take SSRI meds and she was not willing to share research for her claim that "the research is definitive". I felt this was out of her scope of practice and disempowering to push for it after I repeated I was not open to it. Unfortunately, she was not willing to listen to all of my concerns relating to this topic when we met again. Additionally, she asked lots of assessment questions without providing much reflection, insights or suggestions for other coping tools.

Verified client, age 25-34Review shared after session 2 with Leesa
April 18, 2026

Leesa is very easy to talk to and gets right to the point.

Verified client, age 65+Review shared after session 1 with Leesa
March 23, 2026

Leesa has been my therapist for over a year. She is open and empathic which helps me to explain my feelings and thoughts. I always feel I can share with her.

Verified client, age 65+Review shared after session 16 with Leesa

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Schedule 60 min