Meet Our Team

Marriage & Family Therapist, LMFT

My name is Rima Hodaly and I am a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. For nearly 15 years, I’ve been working closely with clients of all ages to help them achieve their professional potential, improve their relationships with family, friends and colleagues, and reduce their anxiety and depression. I have extensive experience in the mental health field, both as a clinician and as a supervisor, training and overseeing other therapists.

I employ several modalities in treatment, including trauma focused, psychodynamic, and cognitive behavior. Using the appropriate modality allows patients to strengthen relationships with their partners, improve child-parent relationships, and heal their individual trauma.

As result of my own personal history, I am uniquely equipped to help others as they navigate life-changing events, including illness and grief. What I have learned from my own experience is that we have two choices in life: We can cling to our issues and claim we have little control, or we can work to find Alternative Solutions.

Fluent in English and Arabic.

My name is Roy Dror and I have been a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in the state of CA since 2014. For over a decade, I have been working closely with vast array of clients from different age groups, ethnic background, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, and diagnosis.  My focus in my clinical work with my client has always been to assist in reducing emotional distress, identify, challenge, and remove any psychological obstacles towards process and self-fulfillments such as: cognitive distortions, impact of traumatic experience, toxic shame, etc. 

I have work experiences and expertise in treating various diagnoses such as: Anxiety, Major depressive disorder, Bipolar disorder, OCD, adjustment disorder, gender dysphoria, martial/relational discords, and crisis management. In my practice, I have been utilizing collection of interventions and modalities to better attend to my client’s needs while being sensitive and considerate to their own therapeutic experience and responses.

In my clinical work I employ various modalities and interventions such as: Cognitive behavioral therapy, psycho dynamic, psycho education regarding various diagnosis, trauma focus, narrative psychology, couple counseling, harm reduction, crisis management, and more. I am confident that those great tools can attend to the client needs for immediate relief, personal growth, and self-fulfillment.

My own personal life narrative allowed me to experience grief, immigration, discrimination, prejudice, various adjustment to life challenge, military service as well as achievements and fulfillments. Therefore, I believe that my ability to relate to client’s experience is a crucial component of therapeutic relationship and effective treatment.

In addition, I am serving as clinical supervisor for the future generations of the mental health providers and with a great pride in this mission of guidance, I am supporting their journey into this field as caring and effective providers.

Qualification:

BA psychology from CSULA

MA in clinical psychology FROM Antioch University Los Angeles, CA

LMFT License CA:  LMFT 78349

Languages: English, Hebrew

Prior to my work as a clinical therapist, I was working with individuals across diverse communities in NYC and South East Asia, specializing in helping them reduce their experience of stress and anxiety through holistic methods such as Zen Buddhism, yoga, breathing techniques, and mindfulness. I now utilize these same holistic approaches in combination with more modern research-based techniques such as Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and Psychodynamic Therapy to further support individuals on their journey to empowerment and fulfillment. 

I work mostly with individuals suffering from the weight of life, be it depression, trauma, burnout, anxiety, or all of the above. Having worked with survivors of sex trafficking, sexual abuse, and terminal diagnosis, I believe all individuals can find peace and purpose through the challenges life hands us.

I aim for therapy to be a resilience-building experience that empowers the individual. My hope is for your journey to bring you closer to yourself. Together we will learn the hacks and lessons of your own brain and universe so you can navigate it more easily.

"I support people to recognize their purpose and value so that they can make their mark on the planet before they leave"

I spent the first 13 years of my life in a poor working class neighborhood in New Orleans, La. called the Lower 9th Ward.  Our family had a house in this working class neighborhood. It was working class but it was ours. 
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My parents split when I was 13, and my mom took me and my 4 siblings to live in a housing project.  Instead of "moving on up" we moved down. I went through high school and college living in the Fischer Housing Projects in New Orleans, which have since been torn down (thank God).

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I attained a bachelor of science degree in computer science and started a career in IT and acting and now I am a Coach.

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I've lived a lot of life between that working class neighborhood to where I am now.  Along the way I learned some lessons, gained some tools. and developed some of my own to live with clarity, focus, ease and grace.  Incorporating the wonderful learnings I have from the Academy of Coaching Excellence I have developed my own 'BACE level living' offering.

My name is Drew Merrill and I am an Associate Clinical Counselor. I received my Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from California State University Channel Islands and a Masters of Arts in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy from Azusa Pacific University. Some modalities I incorporate into therapy are: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Solution-Focused Therapy, Person-Centered Therapy, and Family Systems Theory.

Raised in the San Fernando Valley, I have grown close to families of several different cultures and demographics. I have worked with adults and adolescents within the community experiencing depression, anxiety, stress, trauma, and/or grief. I aim to provide clients with a warm, non-judgmental space where they can feel comfortable in exploring their goals and improving their quality of life.

Each person has walked a unique path throughout their life. I believe it is important to include these life differences in therapy, tailoring the therapeutic process to each individual’s needs. I also believe that you have the strength within you to be successful in reaching your goals. Together, we can further develop your own strengths as well as learn new skills in order to better manage problems you are currently facing.

With over a decade of dedicated service in the fields of mental health and substance use disorder treatment, I am passionate about facilitating transformative journeys towards recovery and wellness. As an associate therapist and certified counselor, my career has been defined by a commitment to providing compassionate, evidence-based care to individuals seeking serenity and growth. My personal and professional experience has equipped me with a practical understanding of the nuanced challenges that individuals face on their path to wellness, enabling me to offer tailored, empathetic support. I am deeply dedicated to fostering resilience, empowerment, and holistic well-being in those I serve, and I look forward to partnering with you on your journey towards a brighter tomorrow.

Throughout my career, I have had the privilege of working with diverse populations both local and abroad, honing my skills in mental health treatment, addiction recovery, and therapeutic interventions. My approach is rooted in a client-centered philosophy, recognizing that each person's experience is unique. I believe in the power of a collaborative therapeutic relationship and work tirelessly to create a safe, non-judgmental space where healing can flourish. "They don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." Whether you're navigating emotion regulation challenges or seeking support for everyday life, I am here to guide and support you.

Alexis Shahin is a certified yoga teacher, certified meditation and mindfulness teacher, author and entrepreneur. She specializes in supporting professionals using holistic methods for reducing life's everyday stress and anxiety. Her approach to teaching and coaching regular self-care is a caring, intuitive, wise and playful one that encourages many from all walks of life.

She provides quality instruction and insight for a nourishing and healing learning experience. Her teaching style is a gentle and fun approach to yoga for an informed and well-rounded practice. Alexis is passionate about the connection of the body and mind and strives to help others to find that connection within themselves.

Alexis joined the field of yoga in 2014 by becoming a Registered Yoga Teacher with the Yoga Alliance. She studied yoga in Los Angeles, California, earning a 500-hour RYT certification. Alexis combines the rich traditions of yoga philosophy with practices of mindfulness for inspiring the human spirit. She recently completed the Mindfulness and Meditation Teacher Certification and is pursuing a Positive Psychology Practitioner Certification.

Having an educational background in psychology and art, Alexis is aspiring to further her education in Mindfulness and Applied Psychology.

Currently, the lens she uses to see her work and the world has widened to include emotional and mental health and physical well-being. Alexis intends to use yoga, mindfulness and the power of the voice to live whole-heartedly in support of equity, inclusion, freedom and harmony for all living beings. Alexis supports social and environmental justice causes like the Black Lives Matter Movement, LGBTQIA allyship and Global Environmental Movements.

Oren Gafni’s journey as a mental health professional began with enrolling in a therapy and counseling program at Pepperdine University after finishing a psychology undergraduate degree at CSUN. Happy to work with difficult and varied cases; He first started working in a therapy role at BAART Beverly, a methadone clinic for treating opioid addiction near downtown Los Angeles. After working there for 6 years and gaining several thousand hours of face-to-face client experience, he transitioned to his next job working as a residential therapist at “Project Six”, in the San Fernando Valley—A group home for teens with emotional, cognitive, and relational challenges—Where he worked for just under a year. He is now licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist, and as a Professional Clinical Counselor.

Some of the things Oren enjoys most about therapy, specifically, is providing an experience of feeling heard, understood, respected, and accepted, to people who have previously felt isolated, forgotten, or outcasted (adjectives galore!). He also finds the variety of human minds and life experiences encountered as a therapist, to be a constant adventure!