Dr. Joey Achacoso

I’m Dr. Joey Achacoso, PhD, LPC-S, CIT—a developmental psychologist, Licensed Professional Counselor-Supervisor, Certified IMAGO Therapist, child-centered play therapist, and parent coach. For more than two decades, I have helped children, teens, adults, couples, parents, and families navigate difficult moments and find their way back to greater understanding, confidence, and connection. Long before becoming a therapist, I was drawn to roles centered on listening, teaching, and helping others—including serving as a youth minister and volunteer Big Buddy. Those experiences still shape the warmth, curiosity, and respect I bring to therapy today. I do not reduce people to symptoms or treat their strengths as problems. Instead, we explore the needs and patterns beneath the struggle and develop practical new ways of responding. My treatment areas include anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, life transitions, relationship conflict, parenting challenges, intense childhood behavior, emotional regulation, and family disconnection. My work draws from relational, developmental, family-systems, IMAGO, cognitive-behavioral, solution-focused, and play-therapy approaches.

My approach is warm, active, relational, and non-pathologizing. I want you to feel seen, heard, and valued—not judged, labeled, or reduced to a diagnosis. Together, we become curious about the emotions, needs, and patterns beneath your struggles, including how those patterns may once have protected you but are no longer helping you thrive. Therapy with me includes both insight and practical change. We will identify what you want to be different, develop meaningful goals, and practice new ways of understanding, communicating, and responding.

I tailor our work to your age, relationships, strengths, and needs, drawing from relational and developmental therapy, family systems, IMAGO Relationship Therapy, cognitive-behavioral and solution-focused approaches, and child-centered play therapy.

Our first session is a gentle beginning. You do not need to arrive knowing exactly what to say or feeling ready to share everything. We will talk about what brought you to therapy, what has been weighing on you, and what you hope will change. I will listen carefully, answer your questions, and begin learning about you within the context of your relationships, experiences, and strengths. Together, we will identify initial goals and discuss how we might work toward them. Most importantly, we will begin creating a space where you can feel safe, understood, and fully yourself.