ABOUT DR. BRIAR
From Overwhelmed
to Empowered
THE JOURNEY OF A THOUSAND MILES BEGINS WITH A SINGLE COMPASSIONATE STEP TOWARD YOURSELF
For more than three decades, I have worked with individuals, couples, and families navigating grief, longing, identity, creative impasse, and the quiet ache of emotional repetition.
I am a licensed psychotherapist and psychoanalyst whose work is grounded in British Object Relations — a depth-oriented framework that explores how early relationships and unconscious patterns shape the way we love, struggle, and make meaning of our lives.
This is thoughtful, in-depth therapy for those seeking more than symptom relief. My approach is for those ready to understand the deeper architecture of their emotional world.
In our work together, I listen for what arrives softly or remains just out of view — the tangled, painful, or half-formed aspects of experience that often hold the greatest meaning. We reflect on your history, sit carefully with your present, and make space for a future shaped by insight rather than repetition.
Through free association, dream work, and learning to hear yourself and be heard in new and inspiring ways, you direct each session. You come to connect with yourself and use your mind so that transformation is organic and lasting.
Credentials
Licensed Psychotherapist
Psychoanalyst
Doctorate, Psychoanalytic Center of California
MSW, New York University
Senior Faculty, PCC
British Object Relations
30+ Years in Practice
Supervising Instructor, Valley Counseling Community Center
BACKGROUND
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New York University
Master's degree in Clinical Social Work — the foundation of a practice rooted in the full complexity of the human condition.
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Psychoanalytic Center of California
Doctorate in Psychoanalysis. Senior Faculty, teaching post-graduate and doctoral candidates.
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New York Hospitals & Residential Treatment
Clinical training with adolescents, young adults, and families in acute psychiatric settings — forming a grounded, crisis-attuned presence.
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Private Practice, Los Angeles
More than three decades of individual and couples therapy, alongside teaching group dynamics at the graduate level.
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Specialized Clinical Experience
Trauma support at the Rape Treatment Center in Santa Monica · Perinatal and postpartum guidance · Natural childbirth education as a Certified Bradley Method Instructor · Leadership and coaching training
People ask when I knew
this was the work I wanted.
The truth is I never had to decide — it decided long before I even knew
I wanted the degrees.
AREAS OF FOCUS
Where I can support you.
— Anxiety & Stress Management
We'll quiet the inner critic and reduce anxiety's grip on your life — not through willpower, but through understanding. Through evidence-based, depth-oriented work, we cultivate calm that holds even in chaos.
— Identity & Purpose
We shift from the doing and judging of our fast-paced world toward a space of being, dreaming, and listening deeply — until your sturdiness and self, with joy and authenticity, emerge fully.
— Relationship & Communication
Whether navigating conflict or longing for closeness, we go beyond technique to discover lost hopes and dreams — or reinvent them altogether. The foundation of lasting love: becoming best friends and lovers.
— Family Guidance
You want love to be the foundational superpower — the north star for your family. Together we'll understand you and your child's development to create what you all need to thrive.
I offer a space to listen beyond the noise, to engage what is unspoken,
and to reimagine oneself in dialogue with the unconscious.
— DR. BRIAR
If you are feeling stuck, sad, anxious, or uncertain how to move forward —
you do not need to know where to begin. Only that you are ready to begin.
