STAFF VIDEOS
Peter Merrell
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.
Lea Estien
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.
Hannah Bacos
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.
Haley Scher
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.
Sonja Bartlett
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.
Seif Jarrah
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.
Hari Simran Khalsa
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.
John Garrison
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.
Ben Lewis
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.