I am Laura, a Marriage and Family Therapist and a Certified Grief Educator. I am a Bilingual/Bicultural therapist, with more than 9 years of experience in Mexico and LA. I am here to help you navigate loss and be with you during this complicated process.

– Individual Grief Therapy for Children, Teens, and Adults

-Family Grief Therapy

In Person in Newport Beach or Via Telehealth Anywhere in California

Grief changes us—but even in loss, there’s room for hope and meaning.

My approach blends attachment theory, psychodynamic insight, and a strengths-based perspective, using modalities like ACT to support growth and healing. When working with grief, I draw from the dual-process model which recognizes that life and loss are deeply intertwined—and that it’s possible to move between moments of mourning and moments of living. Your experiences shape you, but they don’t define you. Together, we’ll make room for both your grief and your growth.

This work is personal to me. My own experiences with grief and therapy are what led me here, and they give me a lived understanding of what it’s like to rebuild after loss–not from a textbook, but from my own life. I’m not here to lead from a distance. I’m here to be with you through the work, honoring your process while drawing from what I’ve learned in my own journey.

If you’re feeling lost, isolated, or unsure where to start in navigating grief, I want you to know you don’t have to figure it all out alone. I’d be honored to walk alongside you. Text, call, or email me, and we will take that first step together.

(949)919-0529

danielle@coastalminds.org

Grief Groups

Individual and Couples Therapy

Career Counseling

LGBTQ+ Affirmative

Mindfulness and Guided Meditation

Short and Long Term Therapy or Coaching

Speaking Engagements

Consulting

Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist providing the following:

• Grief counseling
  • Certified Grief Educator through completing a certificate program designed by world-renowned grief expert David Kessler
  • Committed to providing the highest level of grief support through education, experience, and insights into the often unacknowledged rocky terrain of grief
• General psychotherapy
  • Compassionate, strength-based approach
  • Mindfulness
  • Cognitive behavioral therapies
  • Acceptance and commitment therapy
  • Positively focused brain-based therapies

Background:

• Became a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in 2015 after retiring from a 28-year career as an educator, K through university, in the California public schools and CSU system, inspired by the needs of former students with mental health issues.
• Became a certified grief educator after being part of David Kessler’s Tender Hearts group following the loss by suicide of my younger daughter in 2021.
• Experienced serving clients and families with a wide range of issues, including anxiety, depression, PTSD and addiction.
• In addition to having a private practice I work two days a week providing psychiatric evaluations and therapeutic support for patients in crisis in a Hospital Emergency Room.

Education

Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology, Marriage and Family Therapy

University of San Francisco, December, 2009

Master of Arts in Education, Reading and Literacy

Sonoma State University, June, 2001

California Teaching Credential, Multiple Subject

Dominican University, January, 1988

Bachelor of Arts, Art History, Cum Laude

New York University, June, 1974

Individual Therapy

Couples Therapy

Addiction Counseling

Anger Management

Trauma Counseling