I am a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC) based in California. I received my Masters in Clinical Psychology from Fuller Graduate School of Psychology and have been practicing for almost 12 years. I am passionate about supporting adults through various mental health symptoms and challenging life circumstances to discover hope, experience growth, and find healing. I believe in working together with my clients to identify treatment priorities and create a plan that is personalized to their needs to support them in feeling better and making progress towards their goals.
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
The first session is a time for us to get to know each other and become comfortable to start building a collaborative rapport. It is a time for me to ask questions and learn what current struggles bring you to therapy, as well as any history of relevant experiences or mental health symptoms, in order to discuss your goals for our time together. I want to answer any questions you may have about the therapeutic process and together we can decide if we are a good fit for your healing journey.
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
My greatest strength as a therapist is my ability to create a safe space for my clients to be themselves without fear of judgment through empathy, understanding, and authenticity. This is the foundation of the therapeutic relationship in which growth and healing become possible. My education, training, and experience provide me the knowledge, skills, and practical tools to support clients in becoming more self-aware, developing self-acceptance, and making positive changes in their lives to realize their full potential. I’ve also struggled with depression at times myself and found healing in learning how to dismiss self-critical thoughts to embrace self-compassion, communicate intentionally, and be vulnerable with myself and others. While no two circumstances are the same, I believe my personal experiences allow me to have a greater depth of empathy and understanding to support my clients on their own journeys. I’ve always been drawn to helping others and I find great purpose in supporting people through life’s most difficult situations. I am honored to hear peoples’ stories and consider it a privilege to walk alongside them as they regain a sense of safety, find hope, experience peace, and become their truest selves.
Describe the client(s) you are best positioned to serve.
I love working with adults across the lifespan from young adults who are developing their self-identity and exploring education/career directions, established adults who may be building or changing their career or starting a family, to senior adults who are experiencing life transitions such as empty-nesting, becoming grandparents, and entering retirement. I specialize in treating depression, anxiety, panic attacks, relationships (friendships, marriage/romantic, family), challenging life transitions, personal growth/self-esteem, social pressures, work/life stress, grief/loss, and explorations of meaning/purpose/faith/spirituality.
About Kim Herburger
Serves ages
Licensed in
Accepts
Appointments
VirtualMy treatment methods
Person-centered (Rogerian)
Person-Centered therapy, also known as client-centered or Rogerian therapy after it's founder Carl Rogers, is based on empathy (understanding and validating your emotions, acknowledging your experiences), congruence (being my authentic self with you), and unconditional positive regard (listening without judgement). I was taught in graduate school that person-centered therapy was central to all other treatment methods and have used it ever since to build strong relational foundations with my clients for the therapeutic process. This approach creates a safe space for you to be yourself, become more self-aware, make positive changes in your life, realize your full potential, and find self-acceptance.
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is an evidence-based therapy that I've used since the beginning of my practice 11 years ago. CBT is a structured and problem-focused treatment that’s based on the idea that our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors influence each other. We'll use this knowledge to identify and challenge unhelpful thoughts, adopt positive thought patterns and behaviors, and apply these skills to future situations, decreasing your symptoms and helping you lead a less stressful life.
Acceptance and commitment (ACT)
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is an evidence-based therapy that I've used with clients over the past 6 years after attending an intensive, 4-day, experiential and skill building ACT training conference. ACT helps people accept their thoughts and feelings rather than trying to control or avoid them, as well as identify and refocus on their values and adjust their behaviors to match them. We'll use this knowledge to understand feelings, stay in the present moment to move forward through difficult emotions, and develop coping skills to handle challenging experiences.
Attachment-based
Attachment-based therapy is an evidence-based therapy I've used from the start of my practice that helps people develop healthy relationships with others. Based on the work of John Bowlby, attachment theory explains how the quality of early bonds with primary caretakers (the amount of responsiveness and care received) shape a person's emotional and social development, and influence a person's ability to form meaningful connections in adulthood. It suggests that the type of attachment (secure, anxious, avoidant or disorganized/anxious-avoidant) we experience as infants establish a sense of (or lack of) physical and emotional security and shape our capacity for trust, intimacy, and emotional regulation throughout our lives. We'll use this knowledge to explore childhood experiences, recognize and heal attachment wounds, understand why we can repeat unhealthy patterns in relationships, learn to regulate emotions, and make positive changes to develop more secure relationships with ourselves and others.
Integrative
Integrative therapy is an individualized, holistic approach where a variety of ideas and techniques from multiple evidence-based therapeutic modalities are selected depending on the unique needs of each client. This therapeutic style is flexible, while remaining internally consistent, to meet the client where they are. In addition to the others listed above, I frequently utilize aspects of Narrative, Mindfulness, Internal Family Systems (IFS), Psychodynamic, Existential, and Grief therapies, and have a compassion-focused, strengths-based, and trauma-informed focus. We'll use these techniques as applicable to reclaim your narrative and rewrite an empowered life story to enhance self-worth and confidence, increase self-awareness and insight into your thoughts, emotions, and body sensations and respond to them in a non-judgmental way, find your core self and develop a compassionate relationship with all parts of yourself, identify and resolve underlying conflicts, explore life's big questions of meaning and purpose to find your own answers, find compassion and support through grief and loss, and foster personal growth and development.