LMFT, 17 years of experience
I am a therapist with over 18 years of experience working with children, teens, and young adults from diverse backgrounds. Throughout my career, I have worked in adolescent residential treatment centers, community mental health agencies, and in private practice. I specialize in working with clients struggling with mood disorders, anxiety disorders, trauma, and attachment issues, as well as clients with ASD and ADHD. I am a skilled family therapist and have extensive experience working with the LBGTQAI+ community.
During our first session, we will get to know each other. We will talk about what brings you to therapy and address any questions you might have about how I can help. I want to make sure that you feel confident that we will make a good team. From there, we can create goals for getting you where you want to be.
My strength as a provider come from my ability to build a strong therapeutic relationship by creating a space in which my clients feel seen, understood, and supported. As a attachment focused therapist, I approach each session with playfulness, acceptance, curiosity, and empathy. I hold hope for every client until they are ready to hold it for themselves. I strongly believe that there is no "one size fits all" approach to therapy. Having experience in multiple modalities allows me tailor my approach to better meet the needs of each client or family.
I enjoy working with clients from ages 5 to 35 and families with teens. My clients are curious, wanting change, and have a sense of humor. Often, my clients feel hopeless about themselves and/or the situation they are in but are willing to take a risk and trust the process. At this time, I am no longer accepting telehealth clients.
The most important part of therapy is the feeling of safety and connection. Without this, there is a limit to how deep the work can go. I offer a space free of judgement where you can be seen, understood, and supported. I approach each session with playfulness, acceptance, curiosity, and empathy.
As a therapist with over 17 years of experience, I am skilled in several treatment methods including CPT and DBT. When meeting a new client, I think it is important to explore who they are as an individual and what brings them to therapy. From there, I can determine what therapeutic approaches will best support the client in achieving their goals and improving their quality of life.
My years working as a therapist in adolescent residential treatment provided me with experience with, and gave me a passion for working with families facing serious challenges. I use a strength based, compassionate, family systems approach to support families I work with in changing family dynamics that cause hurt and miscommunication.
3 ratings with written reviews
May 20, 2025
Marla is incredibly receptive, understanding, authentic, and calming. She's helped me tremendously reduce my general anxiety and to cope with my stressful situations. I'm so grateful for her compassion, guidance, and insightfulness in helping me manage my anxiety :)
February 26, 2025
Marla is an absolute professional who on my first session really helped me feel better! Highly recommend her!
February 13, 2025
It felt like we would be a good fit and it was comfortable talking and opening up. I appreciated my time.