Lirio Ohlson LMFT, LPCC

Mental and emotional well-being are the foundations of a satisfying and meaningful life. Without them even the greatest triumphs can feel meaningless. This is why I am deeply committed to helping my clients engage their ability to heal and foster a more fulfilling daily life. I have a passion for working with couples, individuals with anxiety, those who experience intrusive thoughts with or without obsessions, as well as those who struggle with self esteem/self worth or feel that they end up in self-defeating patterns in thoughts or relationships. I received my graduate education from Santa Clara University in California, where I learned the foundations of counseling psychology with a special focus on relationships and marriage and family therapy. I maintain active licenses to provide individual, couples, family and adolescent psychotherapy in California, Massachusetts and Texas. I am licensed both as a Marriage Family Therapist and a Professional Clinical Counselor in the State of California. I have worked in a variety of settings including schools, community clinics, hospitals and in private practice. I feel fortunate to have been able to provide counseling support to a diversity of clients comprised of different cultural/ethnic groups, identities and orientation, and phases of life on both coasts as well as in the Midwest and the Southern states. I integrate effective and established modalities in my work with clients and I continue to learn and inform my approach through continued formal study and directly from work with clients during therapy. I feel honored to do this work and cherish each opportunity I have to help people navigate difficult internal or external challenges. Clients describe me as enthusiastic, engaged, motivated, directive, proactive, caring and funny (don’t know if this is true, but I’ll take it). I feel honored to do the work I do and after many years I still feel the same excitement and eagerness to help people as when I first started. This work makes a meaningful life for me and I am thankful for the opportunity to help you make a life of meaning too! Personal things I enjoy: sunlight, nature, a warm cup of tea on a cold day and comedy! I utilize evidenced based treatments grounded in cognitive behavioral techniques including mindfulness as well as emotionally focused treatments that honor the wisdom and information that emotions carry within them. I address common challenges such as anxiety, depression and trauma using evidenced based tools that help individuals process and release the past, shift their present experience and thereby make a better future. I address couple challenges with evidenced based approaches as well (e.g. Collaborative Couple Therapy, Gottman Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Couple Sex Therapy and Couples and Addiction in Recovery).