ABOUT ME

Cara Brown

“We meet ourselves time and again in a thousand disguises on the path of life.”

— Carl Jung

I hold an undergraduate degree in fashion design, and the first fifteen years of my career were spent as a professional fashion and interior designer. I have always been drawn to psychology, and after a career in design, I pursued a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute, a program with a longstanding focus on Jungian and psychoanalytic psychology. Like design, where form follows a deeper function, my focus as a clinician centers on exploring the underlying unconscious aspects of the psyche that drive us to engage with or retreat from the world. Through my personal journey and academic exploration, I aim to guide others in encountering their inner and outer worlds with expanding awareness, clarity, and compassion.

MY APPROACH

My personal style as a clinician is humorous, warm, honest, and empathetic. I practice from a psychodynamic perspective, grounded in analytic and psychoanalytic theory. In practice, I am compassionate and collaborative, balancing supportive and expressive techniques as needed to help people recognize patterns of relating, explore their emotional depths, and uncover meaning in their experiences. 

Every person is unique, and the therapeutic encounter is a deeply connected experience. As a result, psychotherapy is highly individualized to the client. While honoring each person’s individuality, I also recognize that as human beings, we are not so different from one another, and many of our sufferings run in similar veins. I work well with people who are navigating their identity and how it can be expressed in the world, processing early childhood wounds, struggling with religious trauma, understanding neurodivergence, and working through grief and loss. As a former designer, I have a unique insight into the creative experience, which allows me to provide empathy and understanding to creatives struggling to express themselves fully. Mostly, I enjoy sitting with people who are curious and seek to better understand themselves and others.

TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE

PSYCHOANALYTIC PSYCHOTHERAPY

LAISPS One-year Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Program (current)

Trained in suicide and crisis intervention techniques to assist teens at Teen Line, a crisis hotline for peer to peer support

TEEN LINE

EFCT

Foundation, Externship, and Sex Therapy Trainings in Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy

BRAINSPOTTING

Brainspotting Phase 1, Phase 2, and Expansion Trainings

Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy and Integration Trainings through Fluence

KAP

JUNGIAN PSYCHOTHERAPY

Attended conferences on Jungian concepts through the C.G. Jung Institute of Los Angeles

EDUCATION

PACIFICA GRADUATE INSTITUTE

MA Counseling Psychology with and emphasis in Depth Psychology

UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI

BS in Fashion Design from the school of Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning

UCLA

Interior Design Foundations Certificate

AFFILIATIONS

EMOTIONALLY FOCUSED THERAPY CENTER OF LOS ANGELES

EFTCLA — Member

NEW CENTER FOR PSYCHOANALYSIS

NCP — Student Member

LOS ANGELES INSTITUTE AND SOCIETY FOR PSYCHOANALYTIC PSYCHOTHERAPY

LAISPS — Student Member

CALIFORNIA ASSOCIATION FOR MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPISTS

CAMFT — Member

QUESTIONS? LET’S CHAT.

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