Therapy
Depth-Oriented. Relational. Real.
Maybe you have been holding it together for a long time and the seams are starting to show. Maybe you are navigating recovery, a changing relationship, aging, or a life that no longer feels quite like your own. Maybe the question is less about what is wrong than about what comes next.
Adults, couples, & families · Telehealth throughout California · Now accepting clients
What is Depth?
Depth psychology doesn’t stop at asking how we fix what hurts. It is also interested in what our struggles may be asking of us — particularly during times of change, loss, transition, and the search for meaning.
This is not passive work. We dig. We get our hands dirty. We follow what’s uncomfortable because that is usually where the real material is.
My work is depth-oriented and Jungian-informed. Alongside the circumstances of your life, I listen for dreams, symbols, imagination, and recurring themes — the material beneath the obvious story. My training at Pacifica Graduate Institute shapes this way of working.
We start with whatever is here and follow where it leads.
It can be messy. And it can be transformative.
Who I Work With
I work with people at thresholds.
The person who just got out of the hospital and doesn’t know what comes next. The person three months sober wondering if this is all there is. The person whose marriage just ended, or whose career just collapsed, or who looked up one day and didn’t recognize their own life.
People carrying depression that won’t lift, anxiety that won’t quiet, grief that doesn’t follow the timeline everyone else seems to expect. People coming out of a bipolar episode trying to make sense of what happened. Veterans who made it home and can’t figure out what that means.
People in the second half of life navigating what comes next — retirement, loss, a body that is changing, the question of what it all meant and what still might be possible.
People who are exhausted from hiding. People who are guarded and showing up anyway.
I especially welcome queer, creative, complicated, and nonconforming people. My work is LGBTQ+-affirming, sex-positive, and kink- and nonmonogamy-allied.
“…there is something that happens between two human beings that no tool can replicate.”
Working With Me
People often surprise themselves in this work. They come in thinking they know what they need to talk about and end up somewhere they didn’t expect. That is usually where the real work is.
I am warm, direct, and curious. We can stay with difficult things without losing our capacity for humor.
Based in the greater Long Beach/Lakewood area, I currently offer telehealth throughout California. When appropriate, limited in-person sessions may also be available locally for walk-and-talks or in other mutually agreed-upon settings.
My work is supervised by Elysha Martinez, LMFT 93493, so I bring another experienced clinical mind into the work when it is useful.
I offer a free 30-minute phone consultation to hear what brings you here, answer practical questions, and see if we are a good fit.
Why a Real Person Matters
AI tools can help you find words for things. They are available at 3am and they do not judge you. There is real value there.
But there is something that happens between two human beings that no tool can replicate. Being received. Having your experience land somewhere. That is what therapy offers. Not information. Contact. Witness. Repair. Healing is possible in many forms. Transformation requires friction.
If AI has become part of how you think, cope, or make sense of your life, that can be part of our work too.
Therapy through Axis Mundi
I am proud to be part of Axis Mundi Center for Mental Health — a community of colleagues whose work values depth, curiosity, and connection. All therapy services are provided through Axis Mundi.
Kimberly Esslinger, Marriage and Family Therapist Trainee
Supervised by Elysha Martinez, LMFT 93493