Brian Stachowiak, M.A.

LMFT

License # LMFT126154

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Bio/Background:

SoCal Affirmative Psychotherapy is a psychoanalytically-informed LGBTQIA+ affirmative practice that is owned and operated by Brian Stachowiak (he/him), Licensed and Marriage Family Therapist #126154. My approach to working with you in therapy would encompass all registers of your experience, including non-verbal communication, the body, and the mind. In my way of working, developing an understanding of where and how feelings are actually felt is as important as understanding cognitive distortions and negative thought patterns. Psychotherapy can be used in myriad ways, short or long-term. Often when distressing symptoms have abated, psychotherapy shifts from symptom-oriented work to deep self-reflection and a search for existential meaning. As we live in a culture that demands that we leave our bodies and our interior world behind in order to function in day-to-day living, it takes a concerted and conscious effort to turn an inward lens on our lives to examine our motivations, unresolved family of origin issues and who we hope to become. Our work together begins by establishing rapport, trust and safety so as to help you find your own authenticity, self-agency and healing. I am a member of and very active supporter of the LGBTQ+ community and believe that queerness is of great value beyond just 'affirming' it as an identity but that queer people are leaders and model the individuation process which will one day revolutionize how people relate to themselves, the collective and one another. I am also an academic and teach multiple courses on clinical practice and human sexuality to nascent psychotherapists. I serve on the Board of Directors and Chair the Committee on Diversities and Socio-cultural Inequities at the New Center for Psychoanalysis in West L.A., I also serve as the Director for the Adult Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy program.