Online + In-person Somatic Therapy
Reconnect to your life force with EMDR, NARM, Brainspotting, and Group Therapy
in Los Angeles or virtually
In-person Therapy in Santa Monica, CA
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Online Therapy in CA NY and TX
Psychotherapy for individuals, young adults & groups
Is your past getting in the way of your present?
Do you…
experience anxiety/depression at times when everything on the outside seems fine?
struggle with intimate relationships?
feel that there’s something wrong or bad about you?
find yourself repeating the same self-destructive behaviors?
come from a family where there was substance abuse and/or mental illness?
feel triggered by noise?
have trouble enjoying life?
find yourself disconnecting or dissociating from what is happening in the moment?
I can help. Somatic psychotherapy helps clients access and process unpleasant (and pleasant) sensations that are stored in our bodies. These trapped sensations impact your nervous system and affect the way you move through the world. Slowing down, tracking and allowing these sensations to move through your body in the presence of an empathic, attuned therapist can help you feel more like yourself.
I’m Maria Gray,
a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in Santa Monica (LMFT #85366)
I provide psychotherapy to individuals and groups in Santa Monica, CA in-person and online via ZOOM. I’m also licensed in New York and Texas.
My approach combines a bottom-up approach (somatic therapy) with top-down (talk) therapy. We’ll work together to help you restore your sense of connection to your brain and body, so you can feel more like yourself.
I specialize in addictions and trauma and I enjoy working with individuals who are recovering from addiction and those who grew up around addictive and/or mentally ill family members.
My areas of specialty include:
Addictions
Trauma
Anxiety/Depression
Divorce
Relationship issues
Financial Well-Being
I can help.
A little bit more about mY work as a therapist:
My longstanding meditation and yoga practice informs my work.
I applied my counseling skills in the business world during a long, successful career in Human Resources Information Systems. During a break from a busy corporate job, I became inspired while attending a yoga retreat in Costa Rica. After returning from the trip revitalized and invigorated, I left the corporate world, returned to graduate school and eventually started my private practice. I can understand and relate to the challenges my clients experience in corporate “work families”.
I’m certified in both Brainspotting and EMDR. I’m an approved Brainspotting Consultant, and Assistant Brainspotting Trainer. Early in my career I completed a 2-year training and certification in the NeroAffective Relational Model (NARM), a somatic, clinical approach that combines a focus on the nervous system with an exploration and curiosity regarding clients’ thoughts and emotions; the knowledge I gained during this training created the foundation for my work as a therapist. I’m in my second year of Somatic Experiencing training, a three-year program developed by Dr. Peter Levine.
These four therapeutic models are resource and wellness-oriented, as well as non-pathologizing. The emphasis is on helping clients re-establish connection to their bodies and to the parts of self that are organized, coherent and functional.
Early trauma often occurs in one’s family of origin (a client’s first small group) and another way to heal that pain is by participating in a newer, healthier group. Many of my clients transition from individual therapy to group therapy, and this experience can be so powerful that members start behaving differently outside of the group. I’ve been studying group psychotherapy principles and running process groups for over twelve years now and I continue to be inspired by the way my group members help each other change.
Education:
B.A. Psychology,
The University of Vermont
M.A. Clinical Psychology,
Antioch University
M.Ed. Counseling Psychology,
Boston University
