https://www.resiliencefamilytherapy.com/home daily 1.0 2024-09-20 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c921ea03b5ae37fbc39b2e/1637435078616-XJ6ZQ7N18F2YSFY4TX2J/child-therapy.jpg Resilience Family Therapy Ventura https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c921ea03b5ae37fbc39b2e/1637435132872-4SA8Q3CUY3GHQFERG5PV/teen-counseling.jpg Resilience Family Therapy Ventura https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c921ea03b5ae37fbc39b2e/1637435202747-O61RHWLKOE430ALTCOVW/family-therapy.jpg Resilience Family Therapy Ventura https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c921ea03b5ae37fbc39b2e/1637435750843-TF80RWNEYVO2ZPPH3MOE/addiction-and-recovery-counseling.jpg Resilience Family Therapy Ventura https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c921ea03b5ae37fbc39b2e/dc297e29-97e5-4f6e-a24e-0acdf9e4d54b/family-therapist-ventura.jpg Resilience Family Therapy Ventura - Specializing in: Child Therapy Teen Therapy Boarding School Support RTC/PHP/IOP Step-down Support Parenting & Family Conflict Addiction & Recovery Kids and Teens Parenting / Family Conflict Life Transitions Pregnancy / Postpartum Addiction https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c921ea03b5ae37fbc39b2e/1635304231935-3EZW617VDGYNKA6VIYRO/Headshot+2019.JPG Resilience Family Therapy Ventura - Leah French, LMFT Hi, I’m Leah! I’m a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist in Ventura, CA specializing in working with children and teens. I’m passionate about helping families - kids, parents, and everyone in between - learn how to overcome challenges and adjust to life’s transitions. The majority of my practice focuses on the kinds of things families face every day: emotional or behavioral issues, communication, depression, anxiety, perfectionism and overachievement stress, school struggles, past trauma, addiction, parenting challenges, and family conflict. I work to help families adjust to life’s natural transitions such as starting school or college, birth of a new child/sibling, blending families, young adulthood & more. I have extensive experience with higher acuity issues like self-harm, suicidal ideation, substance or alcohol abuse, juvenile court involvement or placement in higher levels of care. I also specialize in supporting local boarding school students where I am able to travel to campus to provide mobile therapy on site. As a boarding school therapist, I work collaboratively with many local schools and have experience and insight into the very unique culture and potential challenges that boarding school life presents. I use a very down-to-earth and client-centered approach to work with you to identify YOUR goals and pain points you want to overcome and walk alongside you providing tools and guidance to help you get there. I combine evidence-based techniques such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), and Solution-focused Therapy with play, interactive exercises, and conversation seeking to get to know you and make therapy a personal, meaningful, enjoyable, and effective experience. And while some of that may sound like a lot of psychobabble, I can assure you that the space I provide will always feel conversational, comfortable, encouraging, validating and unlike typical “therapy.” Most of my child, teen and parent clients have shared that I’m “not your typical therapist,” and even the ones most resistant to starting share that they actually look forward to coming! My goal is for you to feel seen and heard and discover or remember your best self! https://www.resiliencefamilytherapy.com/what-people-say daily 0.75 2023-07-13 https://www.resiliencefamilytherapy.com/rates-insurance daily 0.75 2025-10-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c921ea03b5ae37fbc39b2e/b65c73be-6b33-4193-a22a-5622ba0a8eb4/therapy-rates-ventura.jpg Rates & Insurance - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://www.resiliencefamilytherapy.com/contact daily 0.75 2023-07-13 https://www.resiliencefamilytherapy.com/resilience-family-therapy-welcome daily 0.75 2024-09-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c921ea03b5ae37fbc39b2e/1636051685965-F2TEU9HO9JHF97UY8RH3/resilience-family-therapy-ventura.jpg Welcome to Resilience Family Therapy - Counseling for kids, teens, & parents What is resilience? And why did I choose that word for the name of my practice? The definition of resilience is “the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness.” When I think about what I want to accomplish as you or your child’s therapist, that really sums it up. I want to help you recover quickly from whatever is holding you back or causing you pain and I want to help you discover your strengths and mental toughness to improve your ability to adapt and cope in the future. Life is hard! And it can be even harder when there is a traumatic event in your past or present. Maybe it’s an unhealthy relationship, some kind of abuse, addiction, maybe you’re struggling in school or not where you thought you’d be in life or maybe you are your worst enemy! Pain and circumstances can paralyze us and keep us from seeing our potential or make it feel impossible to go on. Becoming more resilient not only helps you get through difficult circumstances but empowers you to grow and even improve your life along the way. How incredible is that?! Circumstances that threatened to defeat us can now become catalysts of change to make us better. That is what therapy is all about. Schedule a free 20 min consultation today to see how I can help or learn more about me below. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c921ea03b5ae37fbc39b2e/8ef1d09b-29c6-4d55-a799-ecba0d53a83b/Leah-French-LMFT.jpg Welcome to Resilience Family Therapy - Hi, I’m Leah. I’m so glad you’re here! Is depression, anxiety, trauma, addiction or something else challenging keeping your child, teen, or your family from living the life you want? Are you wondering if it’s even possible to recover? I’m here to tell you it is! I have over 20 years of experience helping countless children, teens & families overcome, find their strength and live transformed lives. I’d love to help you, too! Click below to learn more about me, my training, experience, treatment style and passions for this work. Or schedule a free 20 minute consultation today to find out how I can help! https://www.resiliencefamilytherapy.com/about-leah-french-lmft daily 0.75 2026-01-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c921ea03b5ae37fbc39b2e/8fccc1ae-105f-43a1-b2ad-14dcd865b4ee/Leah-French-LMFT.jpg About Leah French, LMFT - Hi! I’m Leah French. I’m a psychotherapist licensed to practice in California & I’m the owner & founder of Resilience Family Therapy serving kids and teens in Ventura. I’m also a wife, a boy Mom - which on most days involves some aspect of BMX, football, baseball or soccer. I’m also Mom to a sweet & spunky neurodivergent toddler navigating the many hoops of Regional Center services and IEPs and speech and OT and early intervention. I’m a motorcycle/outdoor/adventure lover, seeker of good books, Mastiff lover, psychology and math geek, sourdough/cake/and all things sweet baker, and a woman with a giant heart who loves big and feels even deeper. One might argue it’s the 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 to be a more empathetic, connected, effective and compassionate therapist. I am proud and honored to be a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and private practice owner serving children, teens, parents and entire families online and in person in Ventura, CA. My passion is trying to use my gifts, education, and life experiences to help others overcome their current circumstances, discover their inner 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). I’ve spent over 20 years in the field working for non-profits & community mental health clinics. I have worked primarily with children, teens and their families in the most acute settings including residential treatment centers, outpatient/IOP clinics, in partnership with juvenile probation, and as part of intensive in-home/in-school crisis and behavioral support teams. I have also served as the Clinical Director of a small 6 bed adult residential treatment facility in Ventura where I oversaw the clinical programming and supervised Associate Marriage & Family Therapists (AMFTs). Who I love to help I have had the honor of working with countless youth and families and have held their stories of pain, trauma, abuse, hopelessness, despair, and confusion. I have wiped tears and shared in victories. I have seen the insidious ways that drug and alcohol abuse ravages through families and the ways that domestic violence thrives in silence. My passion is being a place to break that silence, challenge the stigma, help people find a new voice and teach skills that allow the impossible to seem possible. I love being a safe space for the most challenging teen, hopeless adult, or desperate family for whom therapy hasn’t been successful in the past and getting to see a brick in the wall come down and a sparkle reappear in their eyes. There is no greater honor! My dream & mission I have always dreamed of starting a private practice, but the pace of community mental health work kept me busy and that dream just a dream. In 2020, I, like many of us, had circumstances that caused me to reflect and re-evaluate on how much time I wanted to be at home with my family and just how I wanted to use my gifts and experience in my career. I knew from my work in residential treatment that a common complaint was the challenge in finding a good child therapist or a good adolescent therapist after discharge and returning home to continue the work and maintain the progress. Most struggled to find someone skilled in the specialized treatments provided in residential treatment or someone experienced in working with challenging youth, families, addiction, trauma, etc. Families I had worked with continued to call me begging me to start a private practice so that they could continue to see me. In my own personal life, family, friends and even medical providers kept sharing stories of the difficulties people are having finding a good therapist or even finding a therapist with openings! The voice of my dream kept getting louder and louder and I knew it was time. And that is where Resilience Family Therapy was born. There’s a huge need for highly skilled and experienced child and teen therapists right now that are trained and equipped to meet the challenges facing our youth and families today. My mission is to provide a safe place where children, teens, adults, and families can feel seen and heard and discover their inner strength to overcome trauma and adversity and build resilience to grow and emerge stronger than before. Through skillful, compassionate, and individually-tailored interventions and therapy, I believe that anyone can find relief from suffering and learn to focus on hope and purpose. Give me a call today for a free 20 minute consultation or click here to schedule that consult directly online to see if I might be a good fit for you or your family member! https://www.resiliencefamilytherapy.com/child-therapy daily 0.75 2023-07-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c921ea03b5ae37fbc39b2e/f0d359d8-f89a-4e1a-8b16-b401a14d4b2a/child-therapist-ventura.jpg Child Therapy Ventura - Even if your child can’t verbally tell you what’s wrong, they are telling you. Their behaviors and ways they interact with you, their teachers and their friends send you clues that they need some extra support and that a child therapist might be a great fit. Not every therapist has the training and experience to work with young children (despite what your insurance company may be trying to suggest to you!). Child therapy should not look like adult therapy and a child therapist’s office should not look like an adult therapist’s office! Child therapists are trained to use games, play, art, and other non-verbal ways to help children address challenges and concerns in a non-threatening and often fun way that allows them to process, learn and explore on their terms. I take pride in creating a space that children love to come and feel safe, nurtured and supported while exploring hard and uncomfortable things. Give me a call today to see how I can help! I have over 20 years of experience working as a child therapist and have worked directly with children who have experienced everything listed above and more. I would love to see how I can help your child build resilience and thrive! https://www.resiliencefamilytherapy.com/teen-therapy daily 0.75 2024-09-19 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c921ea03b5ae37fbc39b2e/4da01834-181f-4e9b-839e-cdcc380474e5/teen-counseling-ventura.jpg Teen Therapy Ventura - Are you worried about your teen and wondering if teen counseling could help? Is your teen easily agitated or upset? Do they seem overwhelmed and sad most of the time? Are they having trouble concentrating? Are they shy and withdrawn and avoiding social interactions? Do they seem unmotivated and disinterested in things they used to love? Are they sleeping or eating more or less than usual? Are they angry, belligerent, or violent? Are they overcome by a past trauma? Are you worried about substance or alcohol abuse? Have you noticed unexplained scabs or scars and wonder about cutting or self-harm? Do you have an overachieving perfectionist being affected by school pressure and academic expectations? Is the pressure of college admissions or sports teams becoming too much? Is your teen engaging in risky behaviors? Has the pandemic caused changes in your teen’s mood, behavior, communication or interests and you’re worried they might need some extra support? I CAN HELP! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c921ea03b5ae37fbc39b2e/d1f38e4b-9130-489a-a431-e07099675385/teen-therapist-ventura.jpg Teen Therapy Ventura - I have over 20 years experience working as a teen therapist specifically with teenagers struggling with all these issues and more. My passion is connecting with teens and helping them to believe in themselves, to rediscover hope and purpose and watching them transform. Finding a therapist that is a good fit is important for anyone, but even more so for teenagers. They are often more resistant to therapy and distrustful. They take extra time, empathy, creativity, and authenticity to build trust with for effective, meaningful work to be done. There cannot be a one size fits all approach to teen counseling. I work hard to meet your teen where they are at and provide genuine heart-centered work from a foundation of evidence-based science. Call me today to see if I might be a good fit for your teen! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c921ea03b5ae37fbc39b2e/624150b8-894f-4de7-a5d4-41f0f168d5ea/adolescent-therapy-ventura.jpg Teen Therapy Ventura - Adolescence is HARD. It is a time of transition between childhood and adulthood which can leave many teens feeling like they just don’t quite fit in anywhere. There are new bodies, new emotions, new desires, new identities, new relationships, and changing brains; all a recipe for something incredibly fantastic and wildly complicated. It can be an exciting and adventurous time and an extremely challenging and tumultuous one! Teen therapy can be an essential support to help your teen thrive during their adolescence or to help them build resilience and learn to cope in the face of trauma, loss, or their ever-changing world. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c921ea03b5ae37fbc39b2e/df8a3a6f-fcee-49eb-acfa-b4fabc69c258/adolescent-counseling.jpg Teen Therapy Ventura - Our teenagers today need even more support than ever. The pandemic has affected them in a unique and significant way. They may not always be speaking up, but they are struggling. Depression and anxiety can look different in teens and their natural push outward toward independence and social relationships and away from home may mean that they are not opening up to you or sharing the way they used to. Having a space where they can explore these internal struggles is imperative to their well-being and the key to helping them transition to healthy adults. Give me a call today to see if I can be that safe space for your teen. https://www.resiliencefamilytherapy.com/family-therapy daily 0.75 2023-07-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c921ea03b5ae37fbc39b2e/6589dd91-1173-42a0-a6d4-fcd16aa40706/family-counseling-ventura.jpg Family Therapy Ventura - I offer family counseling treatment in a number of forms: Family therapy with parents and children together as the only form of treatment Family therapy in conjunction with your child or teen receiving individual therapy Parents alone in a family-based parent counseling (alone or in conjunction with your child or teen receiving individual therapy) *At times, I may require the latter parent-only therapy as a component of your child or teen’s treatment. In the latter parent-only therapy, the parent counseling focuses on: Ways the parent(s) can practice modeling Helping to identify and implement rewards and consequences Increasing mindfulness around the ways your child or teen’s behaviors may be being reinforced Learning effective mindfulness and self-soothing strategies for yourselves to help remain calm and untriggered (again modeling healthy coping to your child) Psychoeducation regarding your child’s diagnosis Psychoeducation regarding interventions/skills being taught to your child to help you better support their work and progress A safe and non-judgmental place to vent and share your struggles. Even simply having a space to share your experience, struggles and own feelings about parenting can lift some of the heaviness and turn hopelessness into hope. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c921ea03b5ae37fbc39b2e/c5a8cb0b-bd5a-4777-aff3-db0848b3995f/parent-counseling-ventura.jpg Family Therapy Ventura - I am a parent, too! I know firsthand just how hard and how joyful parenting can be. I believe it is the single most rewarding and challenging job in the world! I also know, because of my experience as a mother, just how difficult some of the things I may ask you to do are! But I do so because I know they work! And I am here to support you and walk by your side to help you until you can help yourself! Give me a call today to schedule a free 20 minute consultation to see what kind of family-based therapy might be a good fit for your family! Or click the link below to schedule that consult directly through my convenient online scheduler, https://www.resiliencefamilytherapy.com/addiction-and-recovery-therapy daily 0.75 2023-07-13 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c921ea03b5ae37fbc39b2e/b5dffce3-d417-4561-948d-eeaa8e5ac75f/addiction-and-recovery-counseling-ventura.jpg Addiction & Recovery Therapy Ventura - Addiction impacts EVERYONE, not only the person struggling with the addiction, but also their parents, children, spouses, and friends. Addiction and recovery therapy can be an important component in helping someone to maintain sobriety and experience lasting recovery or to support the loved ones impacted by the addiction. There are many paths to recovery and if you are here on this page I want to commend you for your bravery in taking a first step or the next step for yourself or someone you love. “Getting clean” or stopping the use of a substance, alcohol, gambling, sexual addiction, food addiction etc. is really only the first step. Recovery cannot and will not be long lasting if further steps are not taken to address the mental health symptoms, past trauma, current or past unhealthy relationships, environment, friendships, legal consequences, or other circumstances that trigger, reinforce or maintain the addictive behavior(s). Addiction and recovery therapy can do just that! Schedule a free 20 minute consultation today to see if I can help! https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c921ea03b5ae37fbc39b2e/f72ce264-ed76-434c-a82b-b8300dd7feda/addiction-counseling.jpg Addiction & Recovery Therapy Ventura - Therapy for the addict There are many forms of addiction treatment including detoxification, inpatient treatment programs, outpatient treatment programs, multiple therapeutic approaches and support groups including 12 step, SMART recovery, Celebrate Recovery etc. Resilience Family Therapy supports all of these approaches and offers individual and/or family therapy to help deepen recovery by addressing the underlying causes of continued addiction. About 20% of Americans who have depression or an anxiety disorder also have a substance use disorder. I believe that treating both the substance use disorder AND the mental health disorder is key to lasting recovery and freedom. Using individualized behavioral approaches including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Leah Miner, LMFT, helps people struggling with addiction to explore triggers, thoughts, and feelings that lead to addictive behaviors and learn coping strategies to maintain recovery and supplement their treatment in outpatient or 12 step programs. She is also trained in Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) which can be a beneficial treatment in helping to teach the regulation of emotions to prevent reactivity and self-destructive behaviors that can lead to relapse and the ongoing cycle of addictive behaviors. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/60c921ea03b5ae37fbc39b2e/db36f6f2-036d-487f-8ffb-29c32e2082bb/recovery-counseling.jpg Addiction & Recovery Therapy Ventura - Therapy for those who love an addict Not everyone is open to recovery. You can’t save someone who doesn’t want to be saved. I say all of the time to my clients that “I can’t want your recovery more than you do” and “I can’t work harder at your recovery than you do.” It simply won’t work! The same goes for friends, family members, spouses and children of those struggling with addiction and THAT can be a devastating and heart-breaking truth to face. Finding therapy for yourself can be a very freeing and healthy decision to help you to manage the impact of a loved one’s addiction while also finding support for making the difficult decisions to set healthy boundaries to not enable your addict or inadvertently contribute to their addictive behavior(s). The addict you love may also BE in recovery and you find yourself confused that you are conflicted with feelings of joy and gratitude that they are finally sober, but also struggling with lingering hurt, resentments, and wounds from how they treated you in their active addiction. Having a safe and non-judgmental place to process ALL of those feelings - the good, bad and ugly - is something you owe yourself so that you can move forward in a healthy manner and enjoy your loved one finally walking in the recovery you have hoped or prayed for for so long! Give me a call today to see how I can help! I have helped countless families through the trenches of addiction, have developed and overseen recovery programs, and have experienced firsthand the impacts of addiction in my own life and am here to help! https://www.resiliencefamilytherapy.com/schedule-now daily 0.75 2024-09-19