For a long time, someone else had the answers. Now the questions are yours, and that's not a crisis. That's the beginning.
There's a strange moment, somewhere in the late teens or twenties, when the map you were handed stops matching the road. The grades, the plan, the version of your life other people seemed sure about, and suddenly none of it tells you who you actually are.
Maybe you did everything right and feel oddly lost. Maybe you're questioning things you were raised to take for granted, your faith, your path, your role, who you're drawn to, what you even want. Maybe you can perform confidence beautifully and privately have no idea.
Figuring out who you are when the answers stop being handed to you is not a breakdown. It's one of the most important kinds of work a person ever does, and it goes better with someone in your corner who won't rush you toward an answer.
What forming a self actually looks like
It can look like doing well on paper and feeling hollow underneath, chasing a goal you're no longer sure you chose. It can look like trying on identities, changing your mind, worrying you're behind, comparing your inside to everyone else's highlight reel.
Often it's the quiet tension between the values you were given and the ones you're starting to feel are yours. What your family expects and what your own life is asking of you. Questions about purpose, direction, sexuality, or role that can feel too big to say out loud, or too tender to hand to the wrong person.
For a lot of young people, it also comes with pressure, to have it figured out, to reassure the adults around them, to succeed on a timeline that leaves no room for actually asking who am I. The uncertainty isn't the problem. Having nowhere safe to sit with it is.
How I work with identity
I work with adolescents and young adults, and I treat this stage with the seriousness it deserves rather than as a phase to wait out. Your questions about values, purpose, sexuality, and direction are met with genuine respect, never steered toward the answer that would be most convenient for anyone else.
Drawing on psychodynamic, attachment, and client-centered work, we look at where your sense of self took shape, what you absorbed from family and culture, and what's genuinely yours underneath the expectations. We give things room, without me deciding for you who you're supposed to be.
This is patient, respectful work, and it happens inside a relationship where you can think out loud, contradict yourself, and change your mind without being judged for it. That kind of steady presence is often exactly what makes a self feel safe enough to form.
What the work looks like together
We start with your actual questions
The first sessions are about what's really on your mind, the doubts, the pressures, the things you haven't been able to say elsewhere, at your pace and in your words.
We sort inherited from chosen
Together we look at the values and expectations you were handed and begin to tell apart what truly fits you from what you've simply been carrying.
You try things on safely
We make space to explore identity, direction, and desire without pressure to land on a final answer, so you can find what feels true rather than what looks right.
You move with more clarity
The measure of the work isn't a tidy label. It's a growing sense of who you are and the confidence to build a life around it.
This may be for you if…
- ✓You're a young adult or teen trying to figure out who you actually are
- ✓You did what was expected and still feel unsure or unseen
- ✓You have questions about values, purpose, or sexuality you want handled with respect
- ✓You want a therapist who won't rush you toward someone else's answer
A different kind of support may fit better if…
- ·You're in immediate crisis or danger, please see our crisis resources for right-now support
- ·You're looking strictly for medication management (a psychiatrist prescribes; as a psychologist I don't, though I'm glad to coordinate care)
Good things to know
Do you work with teenagers, or only adults?
Both. I work with adolescents and young adults, and our practice also includes a clinician who specializes in teens and families. We'll make sure the fit is right for where you or your young person is.
My child is questioning things I don't understand. Will you respect our values?
Yes. I hold both truths at once: real respect for your family and its values, and real respect for your young person's need to explore who they are. My role isn't to take sides, it's to help them develop a self they can stand on.
Is it normal to feel this lost in my twenties?
Very. Identity forms well into adulthood, and feeling uncertain is often a sign you're doing the work honestly, not a sign something is wrong with you. Therapy gives that process a steadier place to happen.
Can we work together if I'm outside Los Angeles?
Yes, I see clients via secure telehealth across California. You don't need to be in LA, only in the state.
You’ve read this far for a reason.
When you’re ready, a brief consultation is a gentle first step, no pressure, no obligation.
or call (626) 539-7290