Newport Beach Therapist

CHILDREN & TEENS

WHAT I DO NOW

WHAT I'VE DONE

Karen Busch, LCSW

KAREN BUSCH THERAPY

I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) as well as a member of the Academy of Certified Social Workers (ACSW).

I would be happy to speak with you about any questions you may have about how I can help you specifically. Here is an idea of what I do to get you started. I currently work in my own private practice and with outside groups. I speak with both couples and individuals about anxiety, depression, and major life cycle changes, which can inflict copious stress on a person. I offer recovery and healing services.

Many things can make us feel damaged in life: divorce, addiction, marital conflicts, life cycles. I often work specifically with women, facilitating a way for them to find a voice and strength in what may be an otherwise oppressive marriage. Let me work with you to find a healthy, positive cycle for your life.

Successful parenting entails the parent or parent figure looking beyond problematic behaviors for the fears and pains that motivate the child's actions.

I have over 25 years of experience working with children and teens ages 5-18 as well as extensive training in a wide variety of techniques suited to their stage of development as well as their capacities and limitations. Because of my training and experience in this area, I am able to choose the therapeutic interventions that best correlate to each developmental phase and what that phase requires.

When working with young children who have less capability to verbalize abstract emotions, I use art and play therapy methods. With teens, I use more traditional talk therapy, ensuring they have a sense of autonomy that fits with the separation individuation stage. I tailor make my interventions to suit each individual, just as I do with the adults I work with.

The qualifications I have ensure that you are in capable hands. I have extensive experience in group, individual, and couples therapy. I ran young adult women's groups in which I counseled young women through depression, anxiety, and major life changes—issues that could be found in anyone's life. I also held group therapy sessions for individuals on the autism spectrum.

Furthermore, I worked with parents of autistic children in order to guide them through the joys and challenges of catering to the needs of their children. I've also worked with recovering addicts and offered a safe, healthy space in which people struggling with addiction could begin the journey to freedom and move on from the habits and patterns that kept them paralyzed for so long.

I have worked at the Child Guidance Center and taught parenting classes in Newport Beach. I have specialized training in art and play therapy with children and in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) for anxiety, depression, and a variety of other issues.

I have also written articles on parenting and child issues. I have extensive training in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) for individuals and couples as well as training with The Couples Institute and the developmental model of couples therapy. I worked at N.E.W. bariatric surgery center, performing initial and follow-up psychological evaluations in order to ensure that individuals in the program were progressing toward health as well as running a support group there for people struggling to overcome food addictions.

I hold a Bachelor's degree in Sociology from Northwestern University as well as a Master's in Social Work from Tulane University. Both of these taught me about human dynamics and I had the opportunity to explore human behavior on a wide and narrow scale, learning about both groups and individuals. I have a lifelong community college teaching credential and served for years as a UCLA field instructor in the School of Social Work.

If you have any questions, please feel free to Contact Me anytime.