(310) 359-9445 maureen@maureendonley.com

Services

I see many different clients with diverse backgrounds and configurations (whether as individuals, couples, or members of a family unit in some way) and have experience in helping people figure out what is getting in their way so they can move forward in their lives with faith in their ability to navigate whatever the future brings.

My practice also carries a focus in three additional arenas. I work with Creative Professionals, those clients touched by Adoption in any way, and clients with Trauma related issues. If you have any additional questions about the services offered in my practice, please feel free to contact me by phone or email.

“There ain’t no future in the past.”

-Country Western Song

Individuals

One on one psychotherapy offers the opportunity for a focused conversation on the important issues that daily life often forces to the sidelines: What am I doing? Why am I here? Where am I going? What is that nagging sense of disconnection? How do I navigate life’s inevitable beginnings and endings in an authentic, grounded way that supports me as an individual and fosters connection in my life?

Individual therapy can provide the space to take a breath, take stock and consciously choose what you want your life to look like.

Artists & Creative Industry Professionals

Having been an industry professional for many years, I am well acquainted with the stresses and demands of that environment.

Therapy can offer an alternative experience that consolidates the self instead of scattering it.

Whether it’s being endlessly ‘on’ or endlessly beholden, it’s important to have a time that is dedicated to re-connection and grounding. This is an essential step in maintaining access to your inherent strength and wisdom which in turn clears a path to the creativity that is yours alone.

Trauma

The experience of Trauma on some level at some point is an inescapable part of being human. Whenever trauma is unprocessed and unresolved, it will keep us tethered to the past with significant energy resources devoted to preventing a re-occurrence even though the actual threat is no longer present in our lives. Our nervous system is doing its best to protect us but keeps us in a state of chronic activation in the process.

Our bodies have their own memory and wisdom which is why somatic protocols such as TRM (Trauma Resiliency Model) and EMDR (Eye Motion Desensitization and Reprocessing) have such proven track records in helping clients both honor and heal old wounds which allows our bodies to relax. Then we are free to engage with the world as it is before us and not find ourselves relentlessly fighting the shadows of the past.

I hold certifications in both EMDR and TRM and am happy to explain both protocols at further length and how them might be able to help you.

Adoption-Related Therapy

Adoption is a fundamentally transformative event that forever changes the lives of everyone involved – birth family, adoptive family and, of course, the adoptee themselves.

Whether it is international or domestic, private or through an agency, the great, good thing that is adoption is always predicated on an equally great loss.

Therapy offers a setting where the ramifications of that loss can be explored thereby clearing the path for attachment, connection, re-connection and a claiming of the whole adoption story in all of its complexity.

Adolescents

Teenagers are continually caught in the crosshairs of transformation. Veering back and forth between wanting to be taken care of and wanting to strike out on their own can create more than a little whiplash for all involved.

It’s a very exciting, challenging time. Therapy offers the opportunity to clarify goals, define values, explore the Catch-22 that life can often be and begin to chart a course for adulthood. The ongoing discovery of purpose, meaning and connection in life is a powerful antidote to self-sabotaging behavior at any age but perhaps especially important in adolescence.

Virtual Sessions Via Zoom or Skype

I am currently seeing all clients on a virtual basis right now. I do not accept insurance, but I am happy to issue superbills. Email me at maureen@maureendonley.com or message me below to schedule an appointment.

If this is a medical emergency, please call 911.

Maureen Donley, M.A., MFT

Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
MFC #53178

Celtic tree of life