Danielle Aguirre, LMFT

After graduating from UC Santa Cruz with a Bachelor’s degree in psychology, I felt aimless, confused, and far away from myself. I knew I wanted to help people, but I didn’t know where to start. I felt clouded in self-doubt, convinced that I did not have anything to offer. It was through the trials of this experience that I was guided to a Master’s degree and Marriage and Family Therapy, and it was wading through this moment of challenge that ignited my passion for working with transitional aged youth and young adults struggling with identity, transition, and individuation.

Since starting along this path, I have worked in a number of therapeutic settings. I spent a year working in a low-cost clinic serving a diverse population of individuals, families, couples, and children. Over the past several years, I worked as lead clinician at a residential mental health facility, where I implemented a DBT oriented, brief-model approach to treating folks with a range of mental health struggles, including suicidality and psychosis.

I am a firm believer that all humans possess growth potential, and that we all, at any given moment, are doing the best we can with what we have. I utilize an emotion-focused, person-centered approach to help create a safe space for my clients to become curious, be vulnerable, and access the strengths that exist within them.