Adena Sarkian

Hello, I'm Adena, and I am here to help you carry all the things that brought you here today. I've had the honor of sitting with people through grief, anxiety, major life transitions, and the quiet weight of not feeling like yourself. Throughout my academic journey at UC Irvine and Pepperdine University, I researched how culture shapes the way we move through the world, the guilt we absorb, the responsibility we carry, the expectations we internalize without ever choosing them. I believe healing begins when we acknowledge all the parts of who we are: the dutiful part, the exhausted part, the part that carries shame, and the part that was never given permission to grieve. I offer sessions in person and online, and I would be honored to sit with you.

My clients are the experts of their own lives; I am here to hold space, acknowledge, and offer guidance as we work through detangling the grief, anxiety, and societal expectations. I draw on narrative therapy and parts work, where we look at the stories you've been living inside, and we make room for all the different parts of you that have been trying to cope, survive, or belong.

My focus is entirely on you, getting to know you, hearing what brought you here, and beginning to understand the story you've been carrying. Together we will start to gently untangle what's been weighing on you and knowledge the different part of you. I aim to create a space that is honest, unhurried, and free of judgment where you don't have to explain or justify yourself before we begin.