Her specialty includes working with individuals with substance use problems, trauma, depression, anxiety, grief, life transitions, severe mental illness, and co-occurring disorders. She has provided both individual and group therapy in a variety of settings such as a community mental health centers (children/teenagers), outpatient treatment centers, inpatient psychiatric hospitals, and substance abuse treatment centers (adults). Laura has also conducted comprehensive psychological assessments using cognitive, objective, and projective measures.

Laura is familiar with an array of clinical issues as well as the implications and potential setbacks that mental health concerns may cause. She strongly believes that relationships and roles formed within our own families often inform how we function in our current relationships. Her work focuses on relationship patterns, and how to identify and change habits that prevent closeness, intimacy, and living a more authentic meaningful life. She values the importance of exploring an individual’s past, unconscious conflicts, and understanding what defenses have developed. She believes that helping a patient gain insight to relational patterns is beneficial for change to occur. In addition, she recognizes the value of behavioral techniques. She realizes that focusing on beliefs, attitudes and thoughts can be extremely beneficial in creating behavioral changes. More specifically, while working in an addiction setting, she has recognized the value of using a CBT framework in the initial stages of treatment to help maintain sobriety, and build internal resources with a patient. With the majority of her patients she incorporates mindfulness/meditation in her practice, as well. She believes in the research and results of utilizing mindfulness as a coping skill to reduce anxiety, depression, stress, as well as using it as a pathway to reach life goals. Furthermore, she acknowledges that each patient is unique so working from multiple models allows her to adjust treatment to the specific needs of the patient.

Laura has completed her research project on the topic of grief and loss, comparing the Caucasian Catholic population to the Middle Eastern Catholic population. Laura is a culturally sensitive clinician that is interested in understanding how culture plays a role in diagnosis and treatment. She is certified in the Matrix Model of Intensive Drug and Alcohol Treatment, First Aid/CPR certified, trained in Seeking Safety, and has extensive training in Mindfulness and Addiction Studies. She is a member of the American Psychological Association, Los Angeles County Psychological Association, Group Psychotherapy Association of Los Angeles, and was a Student Representative during graduate school from 2010-2012. She has presented on various topics such as Dealing with Difficult Patients, Bipolar Disorder, Psychosis, Grief, and Mindfulness.