Mind-body counseling ~ Adults (Virtual and In-person sessions)

Counseling is the application of mental health, psychological, or human development principles that address wellness and growth. The primary purpose of counseling is to empower the client to deal adequately with life situations, reduce stress, experience personal growth, and make well-informed, rational decisions.

I am a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor in the state of California. I utilize an integrative approach to counseling and my treatment orientation is existential, cognitive behavioral, somatic, feminist, relational, attachment based and transpersonal. My sessions may involve a combination of psychotherapeutic techniques, mindfulness practices, aromatherapy, meditation, visualizations, affirmations and other somatic exercises. These sessions provide an opportunity for you to explore your thoughts and feelings in a safe environment and facilitate greater physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual well-being. Together, we can discuss your issues or concerns with:

• Self-development

• Food Addictions

• Anxiety and Depression

• Trauma

• Loss and grief

• Stress Management

• Spiritual Growth

• Pain management

• Self-esteem

• Sexuality

• Body Image

Sessions are confidential and tailored to meet your needs. Whether you are struggling with anxiety, grieving a recent loss or trying to replace a self-destructive habit, we will work together to support your mind, body and spirit to achieve its innate wholeness. The art of accepting and exploring (as a “felt sense” in the body) the meaning and message behind all emotions, beliefs, sensations, leads us to greater insights and meaning about our life and current circumstances. A deeper knowing is accessed which serves to guide you to greater health and well-being. As you discover this state of well-being in the body and mind, you learn to encounter all of life with an underlying sense of ease.

I can address a wide range of physical, psycho-emotional and psycho-spiritual issues including anxiety, depression, poor self-esteem, food struggles, insomnia, trauma, various dis-eases in the body, chronic pain, and addictions. I tailor my sessions to meet the needs of my clients, encouraging them to deeply connect to their true nature of peace and love.

Kids & Teens Counseling

Lara worked as a School Counselor for 12 years.  During her career in the field of education, Lara spearheaded and implemented mindfulness and social emotional programs and transformed the school climate.  In addition to her 20 year personal practice of meditation, mindfulness and yoga, Lara has training and education in yoga for kids, mindfulness in schools (https://www.mindfulschools.org/training/mindful-educator-essentials/) and has trained directly under Maggie Kline who specializes in healing trauma for kids and teens and developing “Trauma Proofing Your Schools” professional development workshops. 

Lara has extensive education and experiencing facilitating girls’ groups. She has trained with Moving Traditions  https://www.movingtraditions.org/programs/rosh-hodesh/the-challenge-for-girls/ and facilitated Rosh Hodesh groups at many locations throughout San Diego.  Lara is also trained in Girls Circle (https://onecirclefoundation.org/GC.aspx) and has assisted young girls from all cultural, religious and racial backgrounds in developing a healthy self-esteem, body image, setting healthy boundaries, healthy sexuality and substance abuse prevention.  She is trained in the “Partners in Prevention” curriculum:  a prevention program which utilizes Jewish values to empower youth with insights and tools that can lower the risk of engaging in unhealthy behaviors..

Lara addresses a wide range of physical, emotional and psychological issues including test and performance anxiety, school challenges, peer pressure, spirituality, cultural identity, self-image and more.

To learn more about Lara’s coaching and empowerment programs exclusively for girls and women, please visit www.mybodymindwellness.com

Psychotherapeutic modalities may include:

• Psychodynamic psychotherapy emphasizes the effects of early relationships in the formation of our sense of self and our relationship to others. 

• Somatic Experiencing® is a naturalistic form of resolving trauma symptoms and relieving chronic stress in your body. Very often this process helps people return to a sense of regulation and mastery of their lives. SE® will support you in learning how to attend to uncomfortable sensations in your body and gently unwind them through your conscious attention. SE® is particularly useful in managing stress because so many of the symptoms are physiological. See www.traumahealing.com for more information.

• Yoga Therapy Lara has been practicing yoga, meditation and mindfulness for 20 years. She utilizes the teachings to help clients welcome whatever is arising in the moment and learn to track the movement of attention and the coming and going of physical sensations, breath, feelings, emotions, thoughts, beliefs, mental concepts. Benefits may include: deep relaxation throughout the body and mind, heightened ability to manage stress, overcoming insomnia, resolve trauma, shift negative conditioning and/or addictive tendencies and overcome anxiety and fear. Richard Miller defines Yoga Therapy as “the application of Yogic principles to a particular person with the objective of achieving a particular spiritual, psychological, or physiological goal. Yoga therapy is non-denominational andrespects individual differences in age, culture, religion, philosophy, occupation, and mental and physical health.”

• Mindfulness Therapy Mindfulness is a technique that allows us to become more aware of ourselves, our environment and the present moment. We learn to notice our feelings, thoughts and body sensations without judgement. Mindfulness therapy can help with physical pain, anxiety, depression, addiction and other conditions.

• Attachment Theory Attachment theory is focused on the relationships and bonds between people, particularly long-term relationships, including those between a parent and child and between romantic partners. Early attachment wounds can impact our sense of safety in the world and ability to trust ourselves and others. Lara is committed to supporting her clients in developing secure attachment and repairing early wounds that may impact the ability to have healthy personal, professional and romantic relationships.

• Healing Touch The use of touch in psychotherapy for the repair of early attachment ruptures and trauma resolution has been used since the early 1930’s. Lara has trained with Kathy Kain, A Somatic Experiencing trainer and trauma recovery specialist. Her approach helps clients to return back within a healthy physiology by teaching them to stay somatically present, regulate their own physiological responses, and minimize the potential for overwhelm by strong physiological sensations. Lara is also a NeuroAffective Touch Practitioner which was developed by Aline LaPierre.  Her psychobiological approach integrates the key elements of developmental theory and somatic psychotherapy and uses touch as a means to body-mind integration. By highlighting the importance of the body and emphasizing its relations with the mind, the skillful use of touch can address developmental deficits and resolve traumas that cannot be reached by verbal means alone. Psychotherapeutic touch can support in the following areas:

  • Reduce the chronic, habitual stress response in the body

  • Calm vigilance

  • Renegotiate different types of trauma

  • Encourage new neurological connections

  Please note: Touch in Psychotherapy is ONLY used with the permission of the client.