About Leah
Leah Southwick is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who focuses on helping people manage stress, anxiety, relationship struggles, and life transitions. She has 15 years of clinical experience and speaks English.
Background and approach
Leah aims to create a calm, practical space where parents and individuals can talk through challenges and find clearer ways forward. Leah draws on her graduate training in counseling psychology and a background that emphasized mindfulness and experiential learning.
She blends client-centered listening with tools from cognitive behavioral therapy to help people spot patterns that keep them stuck. She also uses attachment-based ideas to look at how early bonds shape current relationships.
Sessions typically include straightforward skill-building, mindfulness practices, and guided conversation about patterns in relationships and mood. Leah helps people with parenting strain, postpartum symptoms, codependency, and intimacy concerns by breaking problems into manageable steps.
She pays attention to how grief, career shifts, and compassion fatigue show up in daily life. Leah trained at California Institute of Integral Studies for her master’s degree after completing undergraduate work at UCLA.
Her California license is LMFT, which indicates her focus on relationship systems and family dynamics. She continues to learn and adapt her approach based on each person’s needs.
Leah aims to work collaboratively, honoring where someone is while offering practical tools. Many people find the combination of mindfulness, structured skills, and relational focus helpful when coping with change or rebuilding connection.
How Leah’s approaches translate to online work
Leah often blends client-centered work with cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness practice. Client-centered work means she listens closely and follows what matters most to the person, helping them name goals. Cognitive behavioral therapy offers clear steps to change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors, which is useful for anxiety, stress, and sleep problems. Mindfulness practices teach simple attention and breathing exercises that can reduce overwhelm and support emotional regulation.Finding the right approach is part of the work together. Leah will talk with each person about their needs, goals, and preferences and then recommend which approaches to use. This is a collaborative process and adjustments are made as progress is reviewed.
Online formats include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video is good for deeper conversation and practicing new skills. Phone sessions can be easier when bandwidth is limited or a shorter check-in is needed. Live chat and text messaging are useful for brief updates, ongoing check-ins, and quick coping tools between sessions. These options make scheduling more flexible and help therapy fit into busy lives.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Depression
Also works with
- Career difficulties
- Codependency
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Family conflicts
- Family problems
- Grief
- Intimacy-related issues
- Parenting issues
- Postpartum depression
- Self esteem
- Sleeping disorders
- Women's issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 15 years
- Licensed
- California
- Languages
- English