Katherine Cuellar-Lei, LMFT — Therapist in California

Hi there, I'm Katherine!

I truly believe everyone has strengths and I like to amplify them in our work together. I believe in challenging the patterns that keep us stuck respectfully and inquisitively.

My focus

I am most comfortable working with older teens to adults. I work with depression, anxiety, acculturative stress, and autism. I have a profound appreciation for working with those on the spectrum and a profound love for working with multicultural families.

My approach

I mainly operate from a Dialectical Behavioral Therapy approach and am trained in EMDR. I am integrative and love to incorporate modalities from other theories as I see appropriate.

My communication style

I believe in being an authentic person in therapy sessions; as such, my style is interactive and engaging. I believe in challenging the thoughts and patterns that can keep us stuck, but always doing so respectfully and inquisitively.

My journey to mental healthcare

My drive to become a therapist stemmed from witnessing a family member with their mental health struggles. I see the grit, exhaustion, and fight it can take to battle mental health conditions, and I want to serve those in whatever way I can.

My goals for you

I believe goal setting is a collaborative approach to be continuously worked on. I assess goals at different points in the therapeutic process. I believe we feel most successful working with the end in mind and knowing where we are headed.

Our first session

In my first session, I am trying to get to know you. Your experiences, strengths, and interests as a person, in addition to current challenges. I approach the first session conversationally rather than as an interview.

I identify as...

Female
Hispanic or Latinx
Agnostic

Expertise

Specialties

Anxiety

Autism or Asperger's Syndrome

+ 18 more

Treatment approaches

Dialectical (DBT)

EMDR

Acceptance and Commitment (ACT)

Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)

Humanistic

Narrative

+ 6 more

Focus populations

First Gen American/Immigrant Parents

BIPOC

+ 2 more

Therapy types

Individual Therapy
Couples Therapy
Family Therapy

Ages served

Adults

Practice

Accepted insurance providers

Aetna
All Savers
Allegiance
Allied
Anthem

+ 57 more

Languages spoken

English, Spanish

Education

Master of Science (MS) in Clinical Psychology from California State University, Fullerton.

Sessions

60 minutes

Virtual sessions

Katherine Cuellar-Lei