Laura Miles

Hello, my name is Laura Miles and I have a license to practice Marriage and Family Therapy in the state of California. I take a client-centered approach to therapy based on the work of Aaron T. Beck, M.D., and his daughter, Judith Beck, Ph.D., founders of the Beck Institute in Pennsylvania. I use mindfulness techniques from Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn from Massachusetts. I aspire to adopt the helpful methods of Dr. Marsha Linehan, and John Gottman, Ph.D. I also aspire to learn the techniques of Salvador Minuchin, M.D. These great thinkers in psychology are the pillars of our profession, marriage and family therapy. I have experience working with couples, and mostly with single parents and their children as well as couples and their adoptees, when neurodiversity challenges the communication among them. I specialized briefly in initial therapy assessments. I have worked broadly with the homeless, and people with mental health disorders struggling to keep their homes. Often, such people have the same disorders as people better adapted socially present to therapists. Most people have experienced trauma at some point in their lives. I am good at helping people find their strengths and not fixating on weaknesses. Trauma passes when we change our thoughts and interpretations from the past.

My approach

I use techniques that I am in the process of learning from the Beck Institute in Pennsylvania. These techniques help my clients realize how much control they have over their thoughts. When they realize how thoughts affect their emotions then they are eager to change their thoughts to improve their responses to situations that bother them. Emotions, physiological responses, and behavior change when people examine the origin of such thoughts. Automatic thoughts are not always based on past experience. They may be opinions or interpretations about them. I also follow Dr. Aaron T. Beck's daughter's work, Judith Beck, Ph.D., the leader of the Beck Institute to educate, train, and help people when what they are thinking is no longer helpful to themselves and others. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy has demonstrated in this century, the most helpful approach for people who experience overwhelming anxiety, depression, personality disorders, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and mood disorders.

My focus

I understand sadness, and the irrecoverable journey to shed one's own skin. However, we are not snakes, we are humans and we all come from Earth, and creating safety is the most important stabilizing factor when one is in therapy.

My communication style

I have been told that my tone is formal although I like to be a good active and reflective listener and adapt the expressions of my client's or clients' culture.

My journey to mental healthcare

I wanted to become a doctor so I thought. The arts were compelling me to try my hand at drawing, painting, sculpting, writing, and acting. I spent at least seven years of my life studying ballet. I was always attracted to creative people, and people who struggled to overcome their difficulties. Then as I developed into an adult, life compelled me to face my own fears and overcome obstacles that childhood and schooling never presented to me. I felt a devotion to helping women who were battered before I even graduated college and to understanding human sexuality's cultural and social impact on life.

My goals for you

In the initial therapy visit, the pressing problems that bring people to therapy are the basis of the first set of goals. However, as we talk that goal may change, and I do my best to attend to the goals of the client. So, as we discover what works for the client in therapy, then we have a method to address the goals. We may change the goals and the method afterward.

My first session with you

The first session, the initial therapy visit is a structured interview that has factual questions about one's experience and self-knowledge. There is not much time to discuss the details of these experiences and I remind new clients of this time crunch. However, I always like to ask clients what brings them to therapy. What brings you to therapy? Often people say my husband my boyfriend or my family asked me to get some help, other people say how I am living is not helpful, and something has to change.