About Me
Ironically, I didn’t grow up thinking I’d be a therapist.
I was abandoned and hurt in many ways and multiple times at an early age. I lived through a failed adoption and bounced between messy relationships and even messier expectations of what family was supposed to look like. I was a runaway. I used drugs. I hurt people. I made mistakes, some small, some massive. And for a long time, I learned to survive by being tough and pretending I didn’t need anything or anyone.
I’ve lived the work I do. I show up real.
It started here. Abandonment became the story I was handed but NOT the one I chose to keep.
That abandonment, that ache to be wanted, never really let go of me. It showed up in the choices I made, in the people I chased, and in the ways I performed to be liked, accepted, or respected.
I became a mother early, and I became a single parent even quicker. I questioned everything: my worth, my instincts, and my decisions. I carried the weight of raising kids on my own while wrestling with unresolved pain I did not even have the language for yet. There were days I held it all together and nights I cried on the bathroom floor after they went to bed.
In my early twenties, I went through the police and corrections academy as a young mother. I chased a version of strength I could wear like armor. It gave me a purpose, but it also deepened my questions. What drives people to self-destruct? What do you do with the trauma you did not ask for? What about the damage you caused yourself? Why do parents hurt their children?
I raised my kids, first one and then three, mostly on my own. The hustle was constant, and the weight was heavy. But so was the desire to understand what trauma recovery actually looked like. It wasn't until my youngest started school that I finally returned to the classroom for myself. I earned my bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice and then two master’s degrees in Psychological Research and Professional Counseling. I did every single one of those things as a single working mom, doing homework at the kitchen table between laundry, dinner, baseball, and karate.
This is what ambition with survival underneath looks like.
Ambition with Survival Underneath
My need to be enough, smart enough, good enough, and strong enough pushed me toward multiple degrees, certifications, and credentials. My perfectionism looked like ambition, but under the surface, it was pure desperation for love and acceptance coupled with severe burnout. I know exactly what it is like to look highly capable on the outside while breaking down in silence.
After earning my Master’s in Professional Counseling, I began working in community health and corrections, right in the thick of complex trauma, survival, and systems that often re-traumatize the very people they serve. I saw firsthand how many people were hanging on by a thread. I saw how significantly PTSD, impossible expectations, and negative self-talk impact us. That is when I knew it was time to build something of my own.
Strong Self Psychotherapy: Trauma Therapy for High-Functioning Professionals
Since opening Strong Self Psychotherapy in 2021, I have specialized in providing trauma-informed therapy for individuals who are under constant pressure to perform and who often feel like they are losing themselves in the process. I do not do surface-level therapy. I help people regulate, reconnect, and rebuild from the inside out.
First responder counseling and therapy for military personnel hold a special place in my heart, not just professionally, but personally. I am a military daughter, a former military spouse, and the proud mother of two military service members and one police officer. I do not just understand the culture. I live it, and I carry a deep respect for the immense weight these roles hold.
If you serve or have served in the military or as a first responder, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your service.
We go deeper, because the surface isn’t the problem.
We Go Deeper Because the Surface is Not the Problem
My Perspective on Trauma Therapy
Therapy is not just about managing anxiety or depression symptoms. It is about facing the core of what is really going on. Healing requires unraveling the belief systems that got built when you were just trying to survive and deciding whether those beliefs still serve you now.
I help my clients go deep. We explore the root of the pain, the origin of the patterns, and the stories carried consciously or unconsciously. I work from an integrative, trauma-informed lens that blends psychodynamic insight, somatic therapy practices, and evidence-based approaches, including:
EMDR Therapy (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)
Walk & Talk Therapy (Ventura, Oxnard, & Malibu, California only)
We will look at how your past shaped your nervous system, your core beliefs, and your relationships. Together, we find a way to reclaim what has been lost, suppressed, or buried.
I am not a blank-slate therapist. I show up. I challenge, in a warm and compassionate way. I hold space for the messy realities most people run from.
My clients are high-functioning, high-pressure professionals who are used to performing and executing at the highest levels. But in this space, you do not have to perform. You get to be real, feel fully, and rebuild. At Strong Self Psychotherapy, I work with individuals who carry a massive load of responsibility, pressure, loss, and trauma, yet still keep showing up. My clients are often the strong ones, the helpers, and the professionals who hold it together for everyone else until it starts to crack from the inside.
My approach is grounded, compassionate, direct, and deeply trauma-informed. I use EMDR therapy and somatic-based tools to help your nervous system release what it has been holding for far too long. We do not just talk about pain. We work through it. Together, we rebuild your ability to trust yourself, to regulate your emotions, and to actually feel safe in your own body again.
This work goes far beyond basic coping skills. It is about rewiring the way your system responds to life so you can feel steady, focused, and in control again. The investment reflects the depth of training, precision, and presence that I bring into each session. My commitment is to offer mental health care that is not only effective but truly transformative.
Meet Adrienne: The Heart Behind the Healing
In this candid interview, Adrienne shares her insights on the realities of trauma recovery, how unresolved pain impacts individuals across all walks of life, and why compassionate, trauma-informed care is essential in today’s world. This conversation is for anyone who has experienced trauma, knows someone who has, or simply wants to understand how to support deep healing in our current society.
Let Me Be Real
I have lived the work I do. I have sat in the dark. I have questioned whether I would ever rise again. And I have done the hard work to heal.
Credentials like my MA, LPC, LPCC, and CCTP matter, but they do not mean much if you cannot show up human first. I bring every part of who I am into the therapy room. I bring the single mom, the trauma survivor, the ex-runaway, the perfectionist, the professional, and the person who knows what profound burnout feels like in her bones.
I share this part of my story not to center myself, but to show you that I truly get it. I know how hard and vulnerable it is to find a therapist, especially a trauma therapist, to wonder if you will be seen, heard, or even understood. I want you to know exactly who you are across the screen from, because authentic connection matters. This work is entirely too personal for guesswork. You deserve to know the heart behind the clinical credentials.
If you are carrying pain, pressure, or shame, whether it is public or private, I see you. If you are exhausted from holding it all together, I offer a place to fall apart safely and rebuild with clarity and strength.
This is not surface work. This is transformation.
If you are ready to heal, I am here for it.
I don’t ask you to go anywhere I haven’t been.