Gabriel Senn

I work with people who have built good lives but recognize that their private coping habits are getting in the way of the lives they want. I'm a Licensed Clinical Social Worker offering telehealth across California.

Maybe it’s drinking, pornography, gambling, gaming, overeating, anger, an affair, or emotional withdrawal. You may find yourself doing things that don’t fit with the person you believe yourself to be—or making promises to yourself that don’t last.

You might look like you have everything together. But privately, you know something needs to change. Maybe your relationship is suffering. Maybe the strategies that once helped you cope are no longer working.

I don’t believe these struggles make you a bad person. I also won’t pretend their consequences don’t matter. Therapy can help you face yourself honestly, take responsibility for what isn’t working, and create more freedom to choose what happens next. The goal is to build a life that feels more like your own.

I understand therapy from both sides of the chair. My own experience in psychotherapy has shaped the therapist I try to be: direct, deeply curious, and willing to stay with what is difficult.

Together, we slow down the moments that repeat: the browser tab, the drink, the bet, the angry text, or the retreat. What are you reaching for? What are you avoiding? What happens just before the habit takes over? I ask deceptively simple questions, including, “What do you mean when you say that?” I want to understand your experience before assuming I know what explains it.

I know something about this personally. Before my own psychotherapy, I could lose my temper with people I loved. Therapy didn’t teach me never to feel angry. It helped me understand what my anger was telling me and create enough space to choose what I did next.

That distinction matters. Your anger may be telling you something real, and the way you expressed it may have hurt someone. The same can be true of other parts of yourself you struggle with. Understanding them doesn’t excuse your choices. But condemning yourself rarely makes change easier.

The goal isn’t to eliminate every imperfect part of yourself. It’s to understand yourself well enough that those parts no longer have to run your life.

I have completed Level 1 Training in Gottman Method Couples Therapy, and spent four years working with patients and families as a medical social worker. That work taught me to take difficult circumstances seriously without losing sight of the person experiencing them.

Our first session is a real conversation about what brought you here, what isn’t working, and what you want to change. You don’t need the perfect explanation or a cleaned-up version of your story.

We’ll get curious about what is happening, when it happens, what you have tried, and what you want your life to look like instead. You don’t need to tell me everything in one session.

My hope is that you leave feeling understood, clearer about what needs attention, and more hopeful about your ability to change.