Laura Held, AMFT, APCC
ASSOCIATE MFT 137819, ASSOCIATE PCC 12624
SUPERVISED BY MELINDA OLSEN LMFT 111165
Feeling stuck and looking to connect with your authentic self
Hoping to deepen your connection with your partner
Noticing and changing patterns in relationships that may have been passed down from previous generations
A parent hoping to do things differently than your parents
Experiencing grief (death of loved one, end of a relationship, career changes, embracing new identity, loss of home)
Going through a life transition
Who I Work With: Those Who Are:
My Specialties
Relationship challenges
Life transitions
Parenting
Grief
Anxiety
Identity exploration
Codependency
Multigenerational trauma
About
I’m a pre-licensed therapist who helps couples who feel disconnected or at odds find their way back to each other, and supports individuals helping to understand themselves better and turn self criticism into self compassion.
I approach my work in a collaborative and adaptive way, leaning into each client’s intuition and energy to guide our work together. In my life and in my work as a therapist, I have found that we all have a story. Chapters of that story may have been written by our family, our community, society, and our younger selves. I help my clients feel empowered to re-imagine and re-write parts of their story to feel more aligned with their authentic selves.
I work with my clients to explore and uncover the patterns and beliefs that may be causing distress in their relationships with themselves and others. I believe in the power of having a space to be completely heard, validated, and honored for whatever is showing up in the room that day (mistakes, flaws, and all). And in doing that, space opens up for honest exploration and meaningful growth.
My practice blends Narrative Therapy, Internal Family Systems, Mindfulness, Emotion Focused Therapy, and a Strengths-based, Trauma-informed perspective. I am also trained in Brainspotting, a powerful therapeutic approach that helps access and resolve emotional pain, trauma, and other challenges by working directly with the brain-body connection.
Picking fruit and veggies from my garden
My hammock
A great book
Traveling
Hiking & strength training
Nerding out over brain science
What Makes Me Come Alive
Certifications/ Advanced Training/ Memberships
Education
MA in Counseling with Marriage and Family Therapy emphasis, Palo Alto University
BA in Psychology and Mass Communications from UC Berkeley
Brainspotting Level 2
Grief training from Bill Wilson’s Centre for Living with Dying
CAMFT member
Los Gatos & Virtual ┃ Laura@havenlycounselingcollective.com