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About Leah French, LMFT
Hi! I’m Leah French.
I’m a psychotherapist licensed to practice in California and the Founder and Clinical Director of Resilience Family Therapy, serving kids, teens and families in Ventura.
I’m also a wife and boy mom - which these days involves a whole lot of football, baseball, BMX racing, and time spent on sidelines, fields, and racetracks all over the country. I’m also mom to a sweet and spunky neurodivergent little guy, which has given me a very personal seat on the other side of the table navigating autism, IEPs, AAC, speech and occupational therapy, developmental services, the regional center, and all the systems families are somehow expected to figure out while simultaneously just trying to be a parent.
Outside of therapy and parenting, I’m a motorcycle/outdoor/adventure lover, seeker of good books, Mastiff lover, psychology and math geek, sourdough/cake/all-things-sweet baker, and a woman with a giant heart who loves big and feels even deeper. One might argue it’s that last part that has most colored my life and led me down the path to becoming a therapist - and I can’t say that’s wrong!
Every therapist is also a person with their own life journey, and mine has helped me become a more empathetic, connected, effective and compassionate therapist. I am proud and honored to be a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and incredibly proud of what Resilience Family Therapy has grown into. My passion is using my gifts, education and life experiences to help others move through difficult circumstances, discover their own resilience, and find joy and purpose in their lives.
My Experience
I have a BA in Psychology from UC Berkeley and an MA in Counseling Psychology from National University. I’m a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and have spent more than 20 years in the mental health field, primarily working with children, teens and their families.
My experience includes nonprofit and community mental health, residential treatment, outpatient and intensive outpatient programs, work in partnership with juvenile probation, and intensive in-home and school-based crisis and behavioral support. Much of my career has been spent working with youth and families experiencing complex and high-acuity challenges where therapy needs to go far beyond simply talking about feelings.
I have also served as the Clinical Director of a small adult residential treatment facility in Ventura, where I oversaw clinical programming and supervised Associate Marriage & Family Therapists. Today, that experience informs my role as Clinical Director of Resilience Family Therapy, where I supervise and support our clinicians and help shape the clinical approach, standards and values of the practice.
Who I Love to Help
I have had the honor of working with countless youth and families and holding their stories of pain, trauma, abuse, hopelessness, despair and confusion. I have wiped tears and shared in victories. I have seen the insidious ways drug and alcohol abuse can ravage families and the ways domestic violence thrives in silence. My passion is being a place to break that silence, challenge stigma, help people find a new voice, and teach skills that allow the impossible to begin to feel possible.
I have a particular heart for the most challenging teen, hopeless young adult, or desperate family for whom therapy hasn’t been successful in the past. I love the kids who aren't necessarily thrilled that someone decided they should go to therapy, the complicated situations that don't fit neatly into a diagnostic box, and the families who need someone willing to really understand what is happening beneath the behavior. There is no greater honor than getting to watch a brick in the wall come down and a sparkle reappear in someone’s eyes.
My Dream & Mission
For years, I dreamed of starting a private practice, but the pace of community mental health kept me busy and that dream stayed a dream.
From my work in residential treatment, I knew how often families struggled after discharge to find a skilled child or adolescent therapist who felt comfortable with complexity - someone experienced in working with challenging youth, family systems, trauma, addiction, emotional and behavioral dysregulation, and the messy realities families sometimes bring into a therapy room. Families I had worked with continued asking me to start a private practice so they could continue working with me. At the same time, friends, family members and even medical providers kept sharing stories about how difficult it was to find a good therapist - or even find one with openings.
Eventually, the voice of that dream got loud enough that I listened.
And that is where Resilience Family Therapy was born.
What began as my solo private practice has grown into something I’m incredibly proud of: a small, intentionally built group practice rooted in the belief that kids, teens and families deserve therapists who are skilled, genuine, compassionate, relatable and unafraid of the hard stuff. My commitment to improving access to high-quality mental health care for young people has also grown beyond private practice. I am the founder of The Resilience Collective, a nonprofit mental health practice created to expand access to care for kids, teens and young adults in our community, including those covered by Gold Coast Health Plan/Medi-Cal.
Whether through my own clinical work, supporting and supervising the therapists at Resilience Family Therapy, or creating new ways for young people and families to access care, the heart of my work remains the same: helping people feel seen and heard, understand what is happening beneath the surface, discover their inner strength, and build the resilience to move through adversity and emerge stronger. At Resilience Family Therapy, we believe therapy should be skillful and evidence-informed, but also deeply human. Our therapists bring their own personalities, strengths and clinical styles to their work while sharing a common foundation of warmth, authenticity, compassion and individualized care.
Ready to get started? Schedule a complimentary 20-minute consultation to tell us a little about what’s going on, learn more about our practice, and explore which Resilience therapist may be the best fit for you or your family.