STAFF VIDEOS

Hi, everyone. My name is Peter. I am a student at Pepperdine University where I'm pursuing my Master's in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in marriage and family therapy. I'm a trainee at Child and Team Counseling, where I'm working to become a marriage and family therapist. I used to work at the Boys and Girls Club where I worked primarily with teenagers, and I just loved my time there. I developed a passion of working with kids and teens during my time, from activities to sports to helping with homework. I just loved spending time with that age. More about Me I love sports. I love video games and movies and just spending time with my family and spending time outside. I look forward to working with you. Thank you.

Hi, everyone. My name is Leia Estien. I'm currently an MST trainee at challenging counseling. I'm getting my master's right now in clinical psychology from Pepperdine University. I went to Trinity College for Undergraduate and got my bachelor's in Psychology. I'm originally from Puerto Rico, and I've been working with children and families my entire life. Being from a collective background that really focuses on community, something that's become really important to me, and something that I want to provide for other individuals as well. And in my spare time, I really love to play music, play the piano, sing and also swim and play tennis.

Hello, my name is Hannah Bacos. I'm a trainee at Child and Teen Counseling. I'm currently pursuing my master's at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology in Marriage, Family, and Couples Therapy. Before that, I got my undergrad at Seattle University in Psychology and Women and Gender Studies. For the past four years, I've been working with people on the autism spectrum, mostly children. And before that, I had a couple really cool jobs, one of which was at the Hollywood Bowl. And when I'm not doing all my reading for school, I'm spending a lot of time cooking and eating and going to the movies and reading sci -fi and fantasy and nonfiction. Depends on my mood, depends on the day. And I was really interested in being a therapist because I needed therapy at a young age and I don't know who I would have been if not for the intervention of therapy and the many therapists that helped me through my things. So hopefully I get a chance to work with you, but if not, I'm sure I'll see you around.

Hi, everyone. I'm Haley. I am a therapist trainee here at Child and Teen Counseling. I recently got my bachelor's degree in psychology from UC. Berkeley, and I'm currently getting my master's degree at Pepperdine. Some things about me are that I love to sing, and I love writing novels and short stories, especially fantasy. I'm trying to teach myself guitar and indoor gardening. As you can see, I really like plants. The coolest job I've ever had is that I was a birth doula. But I want to be a therapist because I had a really rough time as a teenager, and I got therapy for it, and it completely changed my life. I really want to be a person that kids can talk to and feel like I really care about what they're going through. I want them to feel seen and heard and understood, and I want them to know that I won't judge. I'm really just here to listen and try to help the best I can. I hope to meet some of you soon and do some therapy. Bye.

Hey, I'm Sonja, and I'm a therapist in training at Child and Teen Counseling, and I'm also pursuing a master's right now at CSUN. I'm so excited to be working with kids and teens because I think that these are incredibly formative years where there tend to be a ton of changes happening and transitions that are occurring. And I think it's super important to be able to find a space where you can process all of that and explore different parts of yourself and your relationships to other people. And I really believe that the therapy process can help make that happen, especially if I, as a therapist, show up without judgment and help you feel really heard and like we're collaborating together and connected to each other. A little bit about me, I love taking my dog Dizzy for walks or for hikes, especially out in nature. She really loves to spin around and chase her tail, especially when she gets excited, hence the name Dizzy. And I also love cooking for friends and family, specially if it's something like a wintry stew or like some sort of fruit cobbler. Thanks so much for listening to my video, and I really hope that we get to work together soon.

Hi, everyone. My name is Safe Jarra. I'm currently at CTC as a trainee. I am also in school at Pepperdine University, pursuing my Master's in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in marriage and family therapy. What got me interested in working at CTC and with children specifically is my experience working in ABA therapy, where I had a lot of time spent working with kids with autism and I was able to connect with them and create a special bond that I feel really guided me moving into this career. Some things about me I love to watch movies, television, as well as spend time outside running and surfing. Thank you very much and I look forward to meeting you.

Hi, my name is Hari Khalsa, and I am a trainee here at Child and Teen Counseling. A little bit about me and my background. I've been working in the healthcare field for over 10 years, mostly in alternative medicine. And I've had the privilege of working with many individuals from all kinds of backgrounds through all different age ranges. It's led me to pursue a master's degree in marriage and family therapy at CSUN. Personally, therapy has been a profound and very supportive thing in my life. It's helped me move through some really important transitions and changes thus far. And I'm really looking forward to providing that same support to individuals, especially to children and teenagers and their families. Other things that I enjoy, I love music. I really like playing the guitar and singing and writing. I love being outside. I'm an avid hiker, and I also really love baking. Baking has been something that I've done since I was a teenager, and it has kind of been passed down through my family. I've gotten to learn from my grandmother and my father, and it's also been a really great way for me to express my creativity and to also bring people together. Thank you so much for listening to my video and getting to know me a little bit. I'm really looking forward to meeting you and your family.

My name is john. I'm one of the new marriage and family therapist trainees here at child and teen counseling in woodland hills. I am very interested and love working with families, but especially kids and teens, because they have so much more insight than they realize that they do. I love listening to all kinds of music. I think music is really big, especially for teens, and helping them figure out what they like in the world. Seeing as though you're caught kind of between adulthood and childhood, music can kind of help you expand that growing mind of yours. Speaking of expanding minds, I'm also a big fan of space science fiction aliens. I'd love to be able to help bring families and their kids and teens together through better and clearer connections and boundaries. I think that a lot of people can really understand and gain a lot from explicitly defining their boundary s and what they need to feel kind of safe in their own spaces. Connections lie everywhere in families,and I think it's great being able to find those connections and help bring people together.

Hi, my name is Ben Lewis, and I'm one of the trainees here at Child and Teen Counseling Center. And I'm currently pursuing my master's degree in the Marriage and Family Therapy Program at CSUN. And I'm really excited to be added to the team here because we get to work with children and teens. And a big reason why I'm excited about working with this population is because I first entered therapy as a teenage year. And looking back on that experience, I think one of the most notable and magical things about that process was that I went in skeptical and I ended up really enjoying therapy. What happened in the room was me talking to another person who showed unconditional, unequivocal care, attention and interest in my life and feeling that I was able to work out and talk about a lot of things that were not consciously available to me otherwise. I took those gains that I made in therapy, and I ended up going to college and ended up finally making my way back into this profession and really looking forward to being able to pass it on here at the center. A little bit about me, I have a couple of hobbies that I picked up along the way. One of them, against all odds for me, is that I actually like running, so I like to go jogging a couple of times per week. I like working out. I like playing sports. I primarily like basketball and soccer. I also like making beats. I use Logic Pro, which is a digital audio, workspace on my laptop. And finally, I'm a big Magic the Gathering fan, which I picked up during the pandemic and am now proud to say that I not only play online, but I own a couple of cards as well. But in any case, I am honored that you made it this far into my video, and I'm also honored that I'm in consideration to be a therapist here for you. And in the meantime, take care and I look forward to meeting you in person. Thanks.