Ariel Escobedo

I’m a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with nearly 18 years of experience helping adults navigate anxiety, trauma, stress, relationship challenges, life transitions, and difficult emotional patterns. I earned my Master of Social Work from the University of Southern California (USC) and am licensed to provide therapy in California, Nevada, and New York. I also provide therapy in both English and Spanish.

My approach is warm, collaborative, and nonjudgmental. I work with individuals who may feel overwhelmed, stuck, disconnected, or caught in patterns that no longer serve them. I have particular experience helping clients work through trauma and its lasting emotional impact, as well as anxiety, relationship and family concerns, self-esteem, grief and loss, men’s issues, work and life stress, and major life transitions.

I incorporate Internal Family Systems (IFS), mindfulness, and other evidence-based and integrative approaches to help clients better understand themselves, heal from difficult experiences, and create meaningful, lasting change. I believe therapy should be a space where you feel genuinely heard and respected, while also gaining practical tools and new perspectives to support you in everyday life.

My approach to therapy is warm, collaborative, compassionate, and nonjudgmental. I believe therapy works best when you feel safe enough to be yourself and know that you will be heard and respected. Rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach, I tailor our work to your individual needs, experiences, culture, strengths, and goals.

I specialize in working with anxiety, trauma, relationship and family concerns, grief and loss, self-esteem, men’s issues, life transitions, and work and life stress. I draw from Internal Family Systems (IFS), mindfulness, trauma-informed care, and other evidence-based and integrative approaches. IFS allows us to approach difficult emotions and patterns with curiosity rather than judgment and to understand better the parts of you that may be carrying fear, anxiety, anger, shame, or pain from past experiences.

Our sessions will balance deeper emotional exploration with practical strategies you can use in everyday life. Together, we can identify patterns, understand how past experiences may be affecting you today, strengthen your ability to manage difficult emotions, and develop healthier ways of relating to yourself and the people who matter to you. My goal is to meet you where you are while helping you move toward greater self-understanding, healing, and meaningful change.

Your first session is an opportunity for us to get to know one another and begin creating a comfortable, supportive space where you can talk openly about what brings you to therapy. I understand that starting with a new therapist can sometimes feel uncertain, so there is no expectation that you share everything at once. We will move at a pace that feels comfortable for you.

I’ll spend time learning about what you’re experiencing, what has been difficult, what is already working well in your life, and what you hope to gain from therapy.

Together, we will begin identifying your goals and discussing an approach that fits your individual needs.

You can expect me to be engaged, curious, compassionate, and nonjudgmental. I may ask questions to help us better understand patterns, relationships, past experiences, or emotions that are affecting you today. For clients working through trauma, we will prioritize emotional safety and stabilization rather than feeling pressured to revisit painful experiences immediately.

By the end of our first session, I hope that you have a clearer sense of what we can work on together and, most importantly, that you feel heard, respected, and comfortable with the direction of our work.