Lara Curry

People have always talked to me, so becoming a Marriage and Family Therapist was natural for me; I can work with people who have issues that affect themselves and their families and help lighten the burden of privately held troubles at the same time. As a Native Californian, I appreciate the openness and inclusive culture that is natural here. We can't always be relaxed at the beach, but we can find that more comfortable space inside. Most problems diminish just by talking about them. Finding actual solutions beyond venting helps with the more challenging difficulties, and solution orientation is critical for forming a strong basis for personal and family well-being. Seeing issues from a Family Systems perspective, problems with anger, addictions, depression, anxiety, disabilities, and self-esteem issues all can be "lightened" and diminished in intensity. Most problems can be resolved if viewed from the right perspective, and shifting perspectives to understand and explain is a hallmark of my work.

My approach

I assume anyone seeking psychotherapy genuinely desires to help sort out the difficulties in their lives. I try to work as a co-investigator to understand the issues and help explain how they evolved and how to resolve them in an informal, caring partnership with my clients. Most issues are affected by difficult experiences, and my skills address releasing trauma-caused issues and interpersonal communication and social competencies. Avoiding our problems affects the rest of our lives, limiting us. In my work, I do my best to help my clients push through their limits and reduce their struggling, gaining comfort with previously troubling issues.

My focus

Helping clients resolve the issues they identify as troublesome and seeing them to that moment of hope and change is a core value in my work. I enjoy helping people with self-defeating or damaging behaviors or shifting how they interact with others to eliminate anxiety and depression, alcohol and drug problems, or just learning ways to be happier, calmer, and more at peace.

My communication style

I am polite but playful, direct but tactful, friendly, concerned, and engaged. I try to get to the primary issues early on so that each therapy session has some independent merit in bringing the desired relief. I avoid judgment, but I state what I see as truth when the causative issues in a problem are not clearly understood. I always seek to respect personal belief systems and religious perspectives as well as gender, racial and cultural differences.

My journey to mental healthcare

As I said earlier, people always talked to me from the time I was an adolescent. Sometimes the things they would share were truly overwhelming for a 14-year-old's mind. I was clever enough to realize that this was an enduring part of my life, and I decided in high school to shift my career goal from becoming a teacher to becoming a therapist. At UCLA, the shift from high school beach life to isolated apartment living student life opened up some cracks in my coping skills, resulting in depression and withdrawal. Fortunately, I knew that UCLA offered therapy to its students through its Student Health Center. I had a moment at the beach one afternoon when I'd skipped eating, and I thought I'd genuinely gone "psychosomatic." I went to the Health Center on Monday, and by Friday, I'd been admitted to an outpatient therapy group for depressed and anxious students. Three years later, I learned that the actual "precipitating event" was low blood sugar, but my self-diagnosis was also reasonably accurate...I was in pain, and I needed help. To outline my therapy history would easily fill the space allowed here and likely another book. But it's worth knowing that I see my clients as people like me. People who have issues and strengths, hardships and history, and special skills. I do not see clients as "different" or "less than" myself. I happen to be a therapist who has had a lot of therapy and studied the field a good deal. I am passionate about helping people partly because I am a people person and partially because I remember and still readily sense how another is feeling. I have compassion and kind of a mission to help others feel better. Licensed Therapists are required to keep up their skills by taking continuing education credits every year. I have continued my education for 48 years, and in many of those years, I studied far more than the "required" number of hours. Trauma, stress and their consequences, depression, anxiety, PTSD, dissociation, addictions, and "cures" have been at the center of my studies. Chronic stressors, even mild ones, can make a huge dent in our personalities, and dealing with one's issues from a trauma-informed perspective can help release "stuck" reactions and behaviors. I am a person who is either readily liked or, you know, not. If you like what you read here, please consider checking with me for help with your concerns. If not, please seek someone you resonate with. It makes all the difference in forging a robust therapeutic alliance.

My goals for you

My clients (each one is unique) goals I have for them are similar. Helping people limit feeling bad and increase their self-esteem, halting negative "triggering," assisting with creating positive expectations, and helping them develop the personal skills to generate a more satisfying life are always minute-to-minute concerns I have for my clients in therapy. Many clients have more specific goals for therapy, and those intentions are woven into the therapy structure to meet those goals.

My first session with you

In an initial session, lots of information needs to be exchanged. Personal information, background, family history, history of personal issues, birth order, culture/religion/spirituality/gender issues are all invited to be shared. @ But at the same time, a person comes to therapy to solve a problem, sometimes a number of problems. And time must be given to those issues to allow a sense of whether this match is suitable between therapist and client to accomplish the client's goals. It is a time to get to know each other well enough to say, "Yes, I think we can try this," or "No, not such a good match." Initial sessions need to feel welcoming. The therapist needs to appear to be competent on the issues the client wishes to resolve. It needs to feel "right." Trust is the vehicle on which therapy runs. I sincerely hope my clients feel a sense of trust and are respected and understood by the close of the first session.