Dr. Jamila Banks

Jamila Banks is a California-licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) with over 16 years of experience working in the mental health field. She graduated from the University of Southern California(USC), with a BA in Political Science and Psychology and received her master's in psychology, Marriage & Family Therapy, from the University of LaVerne, in 2011. Jamila initially began working in the mental health field in an Addiction & Treatment crisis center in 2010, working with adults battling various addictions and mental health disorders. From there, she has worked in a variety of settings, including group homes, mental health hospitals, and inpatient/outpatient centers, providing therapy in both individual and group services. Concurrently in 2010, as a case manager for a California regional center, she worked closely with both children and adults diagnosed with intellectual disabilities such as Autism and mental health disorders such as Anxiety. She has experience working with a multidisciplinary team of parents, teachers, social workers, and other practitioners in developing a collaborative plan of care. Jamila is a wife, and mother of 4, and lives her life in service through multiple vehicles of community advocacy, impact, and philanthropy. Outside of her community work, Jamila enjoys traveling, learning, making memories, exercising (gym, yoga, hiking) reading, meditating, crystal healing work, trying out new foods, and spending quality time with friends and family.

Jamila takes a collaborative approach in her work, treating the holistic needs of clients with an empathetic, client-centered, goal-oriented, solution-focused approach. The treatment modalities she works from include but are not limited to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Client-Centered Therapy, Mindfulness, Solution-Focused Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, and Emotional-Focused Therapy.

Throughout the years, Jamila has worked with children/youth from the age of 5, and with adults in their 80s, seeking support for a wide range of diagnoses including but not limited to Personality Disorders, Anxiety Disorders, Depression, ADHD, Bipolar, domestic violence, anger management issues, grief/loss, substance use, trauma and abuse, self-image and self-esteem issues, PTSD, work stress, mood disorders, and individuals with chronic mental illness. Jamila feels that creating a safe space where clients can feel open and free to share their unique story, experiences, struggles, and challenges takes a lot of courage and resilience and is critical to cultivating lifelong, lasting, change and growth. It is her belief that there is no one-size-fits-all treatment modality when working with the mind, and her goal is to create the best treatment plan (or a combination of) around the unique needs of each individual client that she works with. Clients should expect a safe, warm, welcoming environment where they can come as they are with no masks.