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As a psychotherapist, my interests go well beyond queer and gender issues. I am keenly invested in grief, loss, and death, as well as Elders, aging, Size-acceptance, HAES (Health At Every Size), Disability, Ethnicity and race, especially across generations, Leather, kink, and SM communities, Non-monogamy.

I have personal and professional experience with the gender component of the LGBTIQQ, yes, but I want to emphasize that I also have deep professional and personal knowledge of all the letters of the aforementioned acronym – the lesbian, gay, bisexual/pansexual, intersex, Queer, and questioning components of the queer umbrella. Furthermore, as many queer/LGBTIQQ folk I serve in my practice, I would say I serve even more gender- and hetero-normative folks.

I have been developing and thriving my business as an organizational community psychological consultant. I have worked with universities, private companies, NPOs, medical clinics, health providers – including therapists, clergy, and physicians – doing assessments and evaluations, organizational development, and diversity, efficiency, and front/back office medical training from a client/patient/patron-centered model.

I have presented over 100 papers on health, gender, LGBTIQQ, HIV, sexuality, philosophy, spirituality, race, and disability at symposiums worldwide.

I founded GenderQueer Revolution, an organization celebrating genderqueer, gender-gifted, gender non-conforming individuals and communities, worldwide, and I am the current Co-President of the Lesbian & Gay Psychotherapy Association and its newsletter editor.

I also enjoy ongoing and constantly evolving professional experience as a university instructor, speaker (with thousands of hours of experience), published author, long-time community advocate and activist, musician of stage and studio, performance artist, and queer performance event producer/director.

I am available for consultation. Please feel free to call me at anytime at (310) 773-3484.

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Co-President

Was born and raised in central Los Angeles. He was reared a Roman Catholic, with 16 years of Catholic education - eight of which were by Jesuit priests at Loyola High and Loyola University, Los Angeles.

He received his B.A. degree in his major, psychology, with three full minors in theology, philosophy, and foreign languages. He was a Public Health Service Fellow at the University of Oregon, where he received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology in June, 1972. He was a National Institute of Mental Health Fellow both at his predoctoral internship at the Neuropsychiatric Institute at UCLA and at his postdoctoral internship at Thalians, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles.

He has been: an Assistant Professor at UCLA, Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences; a clinical instructor at the California School of Professional Psychology, LA and Ryokan College, LA; and a clinical supervisor at the Center for Legal Psychiatry, Santa Monica.

He established his private practice in Westwood in 1972, where he sees mostly high functioning adults with relationship problems. Psychotherapists apprentice to him and his three partners to learn his unique method of psychotherapy, which he calls, Person-Centered Psychoanalysis.

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Travis Stobbe is a native of the San Fernando Valley and graduate of California Institute of the Arts (1999). His current career is real estate management. His real love is motion picture art. He has been involved with PFLAG, Toast Masters International, and various classic car clubs. Travis is a big supporter of LAGPA because of the important work the members perform for the LGBT community.

Athena Brewer has a MA in Clinical Psychology, is a Marriage and Family Therapist Intern, and is currently completing a certification in Psychoanalytic Psychology at The Psychoanalytic Center of California. She has taught Human Sexuality at the graduate level, and has published articles on lesbian and gay health issues in The Advocate.com, Curves Magazine, and Girlfriends Magazine. She has also worked extensively with self-harming and suicidal clients, and is currently a shift supervisor for Didi Hirsch's Suicide Prevention Center.

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Elizabeth Hill, MFT, holds a Masters degree in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University Los Angeles. Her private practice is in West Los Angeles, where she works with adult individuals, couples and groups. She has trained intensively with Pia Mellody to treat issues of codependency, love addiction, and trauma. In addition, she has completed advanced Inner Bonding training with Dr. Margaret Paul. In her clinical traineeship at Airport Marina Counseling Service, Elizabeth helped launch and co-facilitated Airport Marina’s first Lesbian & Bisexual Women’s Psychotherapy Group.

Elizabeth’s specialties include love & relationship addiction; co-dependency; helping artists/creative folks hone their crafts; relational and couples therapy; LGBT issues; trauma and grief & loss.

Elizabeth has a foundation in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy and Family Systems Theory. However, she does not limit her theoretical orientation to only these modalities. She works within an eclectic integrative perspective, depending on the needs of each client. She may utilize Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, 12-Step tools, Transpersonal Psychology, and even canine assisted therapy.

In addition to her private practice, Elizabeth facilitates Healthy Relationships Groups at both Promises Treatment Center’s Residential program in West Los Angeles and at The Canyon Santa Monica. She also facilitates the Healthy Sex and Love Group at Promises Treatment Center’s Intensive Outpatient program in West Los Angeles.

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I have extensive experience dealing with chronic mental illness in the schizophrenia, psychotic and bipolar spectrums as well as LGBT and addiction issues. One of the most valuable parts of my training has been spending 17 years in my own therapy, an invaluable tool that very few others have. Winners get help!

Currently I am in private practice in Beverly Hills. I very much look forward to being part of the LAGPA board and helping in any way that I can to make our organization an even more enjoyable and valuable experience for our members.

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I offer short term and long term therapy dealing with depression, anxiety, relationship difficulties, body image issues, LGBT and Gender Identity issues, adoption and parenting issues, PTSD, complex stress a substance abuse.

My therapeutic style is based on a combination of Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Narrative Therapy approaches. I also interweave Mindfulness and Meditation techniques and rely heavily on a strengths-based model. I find that gentle humor and a calm disposition create a safe, welcoming therapeutic space.

As a clinician I approach my work from a holistic perspective. An individual's mental health and overall happiness are based on a number of different factors that are unique to that client. Therapy is a collaborative effort that takes compassion, reflection, personal strength and creativity.

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Lauren Costine, PhD is a clinical psychologist, educator, writer, instructor, and activist with an office in Beverly Hills. She received her MA in Psychology at Antioch University Los Angeles in 2001 and her PhD in Clinical Psychology with an Emphasis in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in 2007. Her dissertation focused on the role of the repression of the sacred feminine in the heteronormative society and how it affects female sexuality at it relates to the creation of consciousness. Her focus is on addiction and codependence issues, co-occurring disorders, depth psychology, LGBT-affirmative psychotherapy, lesbian-centered psychotherapy, psychodynamic and family systems modalities She works with both individuals and couples.

She was the Family Counselor at Exodus Recovery Center (substance abuse recovery center) for over five years where she was actively involved in helping the patients and their families find direction and solutions, educating each individual on the realities of substance abuse and how to develop new coping skills, plus treatment planning and implementation for co-occurring disorders and chronic substance abuse problems.

She has also played a pivotal role in the development and management of The LGBT Specialization in Clinical Psychology, one of the first such programs of its kind in the country, as an Associate Faculty member and instructor in the Masters in Psychology program. Besides guiding the development and implementation of the ground-breaking affirmative curriculum she has helped produce a variety of grassroots psychological cultural events aimed to promulgate LGBT-Affirmative psychological ideas for the community in an accessible way through various mediums, such as multiple events at Highways Performance Space and Gallery, the “Clothesline Project”, several books readings on campus and at A Different Light Bookstore, The Trans Teach In, The LGBT-Umoja 5-part series, The Sapphic Salon, and The LGBT-Affirmative Psychotherapy Conference co-sponsored with LAGPA.

She teaches such courses as LGBT History & Myth; LGBT-Affirmative Psychotherapy; Human Sexuality; Lesbian Liberation: Finding it through Identity, Love, and Sexuality, LGBT Community Action and Independent Studies; Process I: Beginning Therapeutic Techniques; Society and the Individual; and Women's Spirituality: Lesbian and Women-Centered Reading of the Sumerian Myth-- Descent of Inanna. She has also presented workshops at such Conferences as American Psychological Association (2007, 2010), Los Angeles County Psychology Association (2010), Lesbian and Gay Psychology Association (2007, 2010), the Gay and Lesbian Center’s Lesbian Health Conference (2008, 2009, 2010, 2011), and Lesbian Plus 50 Organization (2011); The Writer’s Guild Association (2011).

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My training includes helping people from very diverse backgrounds, and I specialize in same sex relationship dynamics, couples therapy and affirming one's sexual orientation. I am a Lecturer at UCLA and my extensive experience with the LGBT community gives me a broad and well-rounded perspective when working with LGBT individuals; I also have wide experience working with those affected by HIV. I specialize in using cognitive behavioral therapy to treat anxiety disorders (panic attacks, OCD, social anxiety), depression and artist's issues. I have a background in the film industry and have a special interest in those working in the field. Check out my website for more information.

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Let's face it…life happens! We try our best to make the environment around us as comfortable as possible for ourselves, and many times we succeed. Then, there are those times when we just feel stuck and frustrated, perhaps even discouraged. Often, if we stay in those “stuck” places for too long, we end up feeling depressed, anxious, stressed, angry, insecure, vulnerable, unmotivated, or just plain moody. It almost feels like there's some hidden knowledge that could unlock that “stuck” feeling and let us get back to, or begin, feeling motivated and confident about the direction of our lives.

When done with sensitivity and genuineness in the contained and safe environment I provide, therapy or life coaching can be a highly useful tool to pry yourself loose from those “stuck” places so you can begin making safe, healthy, and effective choices for yourself, your family, and your future.

I've served on the Board of Directors for San Fernando Valley California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT), certified as a Disaster Mental Health First responder for American Red Cross, certified in Critical Incident Stress Management, (CISM), listed on CAMFT's Trauma Response Network, and am a SCV Chamber member.

With over 10 years of clinical expertise, my experience encompasses extensive therapeutic work with adolescents, families, adults, teen groups, couples, trauma and abuse survivors, foster children, adoption, LGBTQ specific issues, women's issues, grief and loss, depression, and anxiety.

My current goal is to build up the client base in my private practice to a self-sustaining level, allowing me to focus all of my clinical energy on serving the community's mental health needs.

My specialties include helping Adolescents and their Families form closer bonds by developing a better understanding of one another; LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and individuals questioning their sexual orientation) individuals, couples, and families; Trauma and Abuse Survivors; Women's Issues; Grief and Loss; and running Teen Groups for both LGBTQ Teens and Teens having difficulties adjusting to the expectations of the world around them.

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Ph.D. in Education (1995)
University of Southern California
Specializing in Intercultural Education with an Administration Supplemental and an outside field with graduate certificate in The Program for the Study of Women and Men in Society.
Hal Call Mattachine Scholar Award 1995
USC Robert Irving Fatt Memorial Scholarship 1992-93

Masters in Education Administration (1991)
University of Southern California

Single-Subject Secondary Cleared Credential (1989)
California State University Chico

California Adult School Teaching Credential (1978)
University of California Los Angeles

B.S. Physics and Physical Science (1973)
California State University Northridge
(dual major - math minor). Graduate work in Secondary Education and toward a Master's Degree in Thermodynamics - Combustion Engineering

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