I’m JoAnne Sandoval, an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist and EMDR-trained clinician. I believe therapy should be a place where you can show up as you are, talk about the hard things to say out loud, and feel both supported and appropriately challenged. Life can be complicated, relationships can be messy, and healing rarely happens in a perfectly straight line. Therapy should have room for all of that.
I have experience working with adolescents, adults, couples, and families navigating trauma and PTSD, anxiety, depression, grief and loss, ADHD, emotional dysregulation, substance use and co-occurring concerns, personality disorders, relationship difficulties, family conflict, attachment wounds, self-esteem concerns, major life transitions, and other complex emotional and behavioral challenges. I particularly enjoy helping clients understand the patterns underneath what they are experiencing, because sometimes the question is not simply “How do I stop doing this?” but “Where did this come from, what purpose has it served, and what do I want to do differently now?”
My approach is trauma-informed, relational, collaborative, and grounded in family systems and attachment. Depending on the needs of the client, I incorporate EMDR, attachment-based therapy, Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Collaborative, Motivational Interviewing, Solution-Focused Therapy, and other evidence-based approaches. I don’t believe people should have to fit neatly into one therapeutic model, so I tailor treatment to the individual, couple, or family sitting in front of me.
One of my strengths as a therapist is creating a space where people can feel comfortable being honest, including about the parts of themselves or their lives they may not be especially proud of. I value authenticity, curiosity, compassion, appropriate humor, and practical tools that can actually be used outside of the therapy room. I also believe good therapy can hold two things at once: you can have compassion for why you developed certain patterns while still taking responsibility for changing the ones that are no longer serving you.
I have a particular passion for trauma recovery, attachment and relationship repair, adolescent and family mental health, emotional regulation, grief, and helping people make sense of experiences that have changed how they see themselves, other people, or the world around them. My work with substance use, personality disorders, acute mental health concerns, and complex family systems has also strengthened my belief that behavior makes much more sense when we understand the story and function behind it.
Ultimately, my goal is to help clients feel genuinely seen and understood while also helping them move toward meaningful change. Therapy with me is not about pretending everything is fine or handing you a worksheet and sending you on your way. It is about understanding yourself more deeply, developing healthier ways of responding to life, strengthening the relationships that matter to you, and building a life that feels more aligned with who you want to be.