Lisa Mitchell MFT - Lisa Mitchell MFT

Feel Better | Love Better | Live Better

Individual telehealth therapy for adults in California and Washington

Focus Areas

Nagging worry and fear can be exhausting. At its worst it can wake you up at 3am and not let you get back to sleep. It leads to attempts to control, rigid thinking, and shutting down.

You can find peace and contentment even in the face of uncertainty.

With our work, you'll learn very tangible tools to use when the inevitable worry come up. You'll feel much calmer and more capable of dealing with fear and anxiety. You can feel relaxed when you choose to relax. Ultimately, stress and anxiety don't have to own your life. You can actually live your life without constant worry or overwhelm.

Blame and Judgement: Dysfunctional Relationships

Criticism of self and others is toxic. It traps you in a never-ending cycle of anger and resentment. Blame and judgement destroys relationships and leads to destructive behaviors.

With our work you will learn to avoid getting offended in relationships and how to navigate differences of opinion, different judgments, different ways of seeing the world. You can become a good friend to yourself and to others. You can communicate your needs and wants and implement healthy boundaries with yourself and others. You can feel freedom from resentment and enjoy close, loving relationships with others.

Numbing out or Shutting Down: Depression

Feeling the intense desire to escape is a natural survival response. But when it feels like your only way out of a bad situation or relationship it can become habitual. It sucks the life out of you and you just shut down.

With our work you will learn to turn towards life and living and away from depression. You will look lovingly at difficult feelings and heal. You will deepen your relationship with yourself and understand the parts of you that need attention. When you turn toward the feelings and learn what they have to teach you, life will take on vibrancy and meaning.

How Therapy Works

My approach looks at you as a whole person because your mind, body, and emotions intertwine. The weight of the past on your present will unravel as we resolve internal conflicts. We'll work together to untangle and mend. Through cutting-edge therapies like CBT and Internal Family Systems, your struggle will morph into something powerful - resilience, growth and well-being. Using all the tools and training I have gathered over the years, including the latest developments in neuroscience, we identify the triggers of your stress, explore the roots of overwhelm, and develop strategies that empower you to respond differently.

I don't believe I know the one right answer-or that there really is one right answer. We will take a collaborative approach rooted in empowerment to provide support and tools for navigating challenging times. We focus on what matters most to you: relationships, work, and self-esteem, helping you reclaim control and find balance.

I will bring my experience to our work, but I will also bring my honesty.

That means I tend to tell clients the very things they say they need to hear rather than what they want to hear. I won't just say things to make you feel better. I will say it straight and honest so that you can grapple with hard things as well as let in successes.

At the very core, I think therapy works when my clients feel seen, loved and known on a deep level.

The Therapist

It's an odd thing to write about myself as a therapist after 30 years of being in practice. Early on I would have quoted/named all of my therapeutic techniques my training, my background my credentials. I still put them here so that you can know what I've been up to.

However, I think what's most important is to say I'm doing this because my work as a therapist matters. Which means you matter. Early in my career saying that would have meant something entirely different that it does now.

Today, I only work 2 days a week and don't have to fill a practice. I don't have to pack my schedule. I get to see clients because it makes a difference in my life and theirs. And that's satisfying.

The other days of the week I raise animals for their fiber on a farm on an island. I spin yarn, knit and weave beautiful things, and eat fresh vegetables from my garden. This life change has had a huge impact on my ability to have emotional room for clients. I thought I could listen well when I was a full-time therapist, but I had no idea about my potential. The experience of slowing down has helped me to sink into my therapeutic work in a beautiful way.

My Guiding Principles

Compassion

Meeting you exactly where you are with gentleness, affirmation and kindness. Life is hard and can be excruciating. You are safe with me.

Non-Judgement

I relate to my clients and their lives with curiosity. I want to help you find what works for you rather than telling you a bunch of "shoulds". Your authentic self is welcome here. Our sessions belong to you and the time will be yours.

Genuineness

I am imperfect. I won't pretend to know something I don't. I understand that you want to interact with a real person who feels confident with vulnerability and imperfection. That said, an invitation to be real is extended and encouraged.

Training & Experience

I was raised by two therapists, so I guess you could say I've literally had a lifetime of training to be one. But my actual schooling started in 1991. I graduated from California state university with a dual master in Counseling education and art therapy. After seeing clients from a vast variety of cultural and socio-economic backgrounds I started my private practice-Inner Canvas.

There I brought my love of art and creative expression to work with teens and their families. I was the therapist to whom everyone referred the teens who didn't want to talk. I was known as "a therapist's therapist"

My understanding of the creative process expanded from how it could assist people with their mental health issues to how it applies to the therapeutic process and life. I authored a book: Creativity as Co-Therapist (Routledge 2016) and my training career took off. Many online and in person courses and retreats for therapists later, I decided to take a break from travel and teaching.

Over the last 30 years I've accumulated many, many ways of working with clients.

My creative background as an art therapist informs my flexible way of thinking and working with people to help them find answers and solutions to their problems.

My experience has taught me that there is never one right way to see or understand ourselves and what's going on with our problem. So I keep current on the latest brain research and neuroscience based therapeutic approaches. I was trained in EMDR, IFS, Gestalt, EFT, and CBT. And, you need to find your very own unique template for living a good life. I am here to help you. I'm on your team.

FAQ

Intake process

I'd like to have a brief conversation with you to make sure I can help so the first step is to set that up. You can initiate that by emailing or calling me to set up a time.

Once we've decided to start working together, I will send you intake paperwork to sign and we will schedule our first 50 minute appointment.

If you have Lyra or benefits, you can make an initial appointment through their portal or email me and I will do that for you.

At our first session, we will talk about the issues that bring you to therapy and set some tangible goals to guide our work.

Follow up sessions

Fees and Insurance

Telehealth

Office Hours

Your Next Steps

Call or email for a free 15 minute consultation.

916-276-0455 • lisamitchellmft@gmail.com