Dr. Serena Gupta
I'm a therapist with over 15 years of experience helping individuals navigate trauma, grief, loss, and existential distress. With a Ph.D. in depth psychotherapy, I explore how unconscious experiences shape emotional challenges. I am certified in EMDR, tailoring treatment to each client’s unique identity and needs.
I also integrate mind-body approaches like ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP), Hakomi and Sandplay to support deep healing.
I also integrate mind-body approaches like ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP), Hakomi and Sandplay to support deep healing. Inspired by Ram Dass’s teachings, I approach my work with humility and compassion. My daily spiritual practice of meditation, chanting, and gratitude journaling informs my holistic, heart-centered approach to therapy.
First session
In the first session, we’ll go over intake paperwork, discuss your history, and explore what brings you to therapy. I’ll explain my approach. You’ll have space to ask questions, and together, we’ll begin shaping your healing journey.
Strengths
My greatest strength as a provider is my ability to create a warm, safe space where you feel truly seen and heard. I blend deep clinical expertise with compassion, using a holistic approach that integrates cognitive awareness, somatic healing, and spiritual insight to guide you through your healing journey.
Ideal clients
My ideal client is someone who is highly self-aware yet still feels trapped inside patterns they can’t think their way out of. They’ve tried to push through their pain — maybe for years — but now feel ready to slow down, go deeper, and work at the level of the body and the unconscious. They may be carrying unresolved trauma, profound grief, lingering loss, emotional triggers from childhood, chronic overwhelm, or a fear of losing control. Many are high-functioning on the outside but exhausted on the inside. I’m best positioned to serve clients who are introspective, spiritually curious, and open to evidence-based trauma work like EMDR as well as experiential modalities like Hakomi, Sandplay, and ketamine integration. My ideal client values emotional safety, cultural humility, and nuance. They may be professionals, caregivers, creatives, or individuals in major life transitions who are drawn to depth work — not quick fixes. They are ready for a therapeutic space where their identities are honored, their grief is witnessed, their nervous system is understood, and their healing can unfold in a grounded, embodied, and transformative way.
Treatment methods
EMDR
I am EMDR-certified and specialize in using this powerful, evidence-based approach to help individuals process grief, loss and trauma. EMDR is tailored to each person, integrating their gender, cultural, sexual, and racial identities to ensure a deeply personalized healing experience. Once rapport is established and a client is deemed a good fit, I may incorporate a psycholytic low dose of ketamine with EMDR to enhance emotional processing and deepen therapeutic insights. This combination allows clients to access and resolve painful memories with greater ease, fostering resilience and transformation in their healing journey.
Mind-body approach
Hakomi is a gentle yet powerful mind-body approach that helps individuals process grief, loss, and trauma by accessing unconscious beliefs and emotions stored in the body. Through mindful, somatic awareness, clients can observe their internal experiences with curiosity and compassion, uncovering deep-seated patterns that shape their responses to pain and loss. By working with these patterns in a safe, attuned space, Hakomi allows for the release of emotional burdens and the integration of new, more adaptive ways of being. This method fosters self-compassion, resilience, and a profound sense of healing by engaging the body's innate wisdom and capacity for transformation.
Person-centered (Rogerian)
My therapeutic journey began with Rogerian person-centered therapy, grounded in the belief that each individual has an inherent capacity for growth and healing. This approach fosters a nonjudgmental, empathetic space where clients feel truly seen and heard. By offering unconditional positive regard, genuineness, and deep listening, I help individuals remove internal barriers and reconnect with their own potential. Rather than directing change, my role is to facilitate self-discovery, empowering clients to trust their inner wisdom and navigate their healing journey with clarity and confidence.
Location
Virtual sessions
In-person sessions1400 Quail St, Newport Beach, CA 92660, 145
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Licensed in
- CaliforniaLicense 48342