`` Yorba Linda Marriage Counseling Specialist, Christian Counseling, Individual and Family Counselors

Counseling in Yorba Linda




17451 Bastanchury Road
Suite 204-27
Yorba Linda, CA 92886

(714) 349-5541

Ed Segawa M.A.,LMFT Award Winning Counselor


  • Received Special Congressional recognition for "Outstanding and invaluable service to the community"

  • Recognized by the County of LA for "Dedicated Service ... demonstrated by numerous contributions for the benefit of the citizens of Los Angeles"

  • Awarded "Distinguished Intern Award" by the California State Senate







Hope for Difficult Problems

If you feel worn down by your emotional problems you are not alone. My approach to counseling has had amazing results for people a lot like you. One client referred to his change as "moving from living in a world of black and white to a life living in full color". The most common feedback I here from my clients are, "I'm now the happiest I've been in a long time" and "I have this sense of confidence that I've never had before" and "I've learned new ways to cope with my problems and they don't drag me down anymore".


Free 15 Minute Call

If you don't know where to start or if you just want to ask me some questions, feel free to give me a call at (714) 349-5541. I can help you sort out your problem and provide guidance on your next steps.


A Safe and Comfortable Environment

Some people may feel a little nervous about meeting their counselor for the first time. One of my clients came to his first session. His hands started shaking while filling out his initial paperwork. However, by the end of our session, he said he felt a sense of calm and relief. I observed him sitting back relaxed in his chair. He now looked like the picture of peace. I asked him what made the difference during the session. He looked at me, smiled and said you're easy to talk to and I never felt judged.


Proudly serving the Yorba Linda, Placentia, Brea, La Habra, and Anaheim and other Orange County cities.

 



Marriage Counselors


Finding the Right Couples Counselor

With all the counselors out there, many people ask the question, "How can I find a quality counselor near me, who I can entrust with my marriage or relationship?" This a very important question. Not everyone who is licensed has a specialty in Couples Therapy. Even licensed Marriage and Family Therapists and licensed Psychologists are not required to have that many hours of marriage counseling experience. A good question to ask your prospective therapist is "How many of your existing clients are couples?" Another good question to ask is "What would you consider your success rate?" and "What does it mean to be successful in couples counseling?"


Asking the Right Questions

If you ask these questions and are satisfied with their answer, then you are off to a good start. However, if they say they only have 2 or 3 couples in their current practice right now, then you might want to keep looking. If they give you vague answers in terms of their success criteria, then this should make you skeptical. When you are having difficulty getting through your marital problems, sometimes it is not just the marriage that can be the problem, but it can also be the quality of your therapist.


Not all marriage counselors are created equal. We have varying amounts of experience and the therapist you choose can have a big impact in the future of your relationship. One success factor of quality relationship counseling is that couples will desire and experience more affection towards one another. I often witness couples go from angry arguments to reaching out in affection to one another: An arm around their spouse, a hand reaching out to their partner's hand, a look of concern. The top counselors will experience this in their sessions quite often. It is a very moving experience to witness these loving interactions. Especially after hearing how much pain they have caused each other through the years.


This does not mean that arguments permanently stop right away, however,even in the midst of arguing, a good counselor can help redirect the conversation away from the fighting and transform them into moments of connection. Many counselors just simply lack this skill.


Read More About Marriage Counseling


Anxiety Treatment


Has your emotional world spun out-of-control leaving you suffering through day-to-day life?

  • Do you worry that your anxiety and depression may cause you to lose your relationship?

  • Or do you sometimes feel like you can not leave the house because you do not know when the next panic attack will hit?

  • Perhaps, when you try hanging around with people it causes you severe distress and triggers social phobia.

  • Do you struggle with mood swings?

  • Have you lost control of your anger and destructively yelled and behaved in a manner that you regret later?

  • Maybe you have been feeling extremely depressed and it's hard to get out of bed.



Mood disorders are terribly painful and confusing. Death of a loved one may have spun you off into a cycle of grief. Painful divorces or breakups may have broken your heart leaving you empty and depressed. Sometimes a traumatic event can set off these extreme emotions, but often times these feelings are really hard to pinpoint.


Everyone Goes Through Some Form of Anxiety and Depression

Did you know that about 1 in 4 people are struggling with some type of serious emotional problem right now? The sad thing is that many of them continue to suffer and never seek help. If you are experiencing any of the problems I mentioned above, I am so sorry. I hate to see people struggling day-to-day with these agonizing problems. I believe you don't deserve this and that you have a right to a quality life. I know it can be hard to admit that you have problems. But the reality is that we all have problems. Social media lies to us and gives us the impression that everyone is happy all the time. This simply is not true. If you are going through tough times, it is quite common and it does not mean you are a flawed person.


In fact, in means just the opposite. The feelings we have can be viewed as a tool to help alert us when something is wrong in our lives. This is our body's way of telling us that something is not quite right inside and that we need to stop and take a deeper look inside to figure out what is wrong. It is like that little red light that goes off in your car letting you know there is a problem. If you do not address it, you can create more long term and costly problems for yourself. Fortunately, with quality therapy, you can be guided along a process that will help you feel normal again and regain the peace and joy you once had. If you are going through a really tough time, most mood disorders have a tremendously high success rate of recovery.




A Few Words on How Therapy Works



How Therapy Can Help You

There are many approaches counselors take to help you through your problems. Some psychotherapists believe that what you believe and think will have the biggest impact on the way you feel and act. These are called Cognitive Behavioral Therapists or more simply put, CBT therapists. Other counselors believe that the source of your unhappiness comes from your upbringing They assess the quality of the bond you had growing up with your parents, caretakers and peers. The key to quality therapy is knowing when to use which style.


How CBT Therapy Works

Let's say that you were raised by a father who was working all the time. But when he was around he made sure he told you that he believed you are worthless. The quality of the bond with your father was compromised. A CBT counselor would tell you that it is not so important to discuss all your emotional wounds that your father put you through, but would focus on your limiting beliefs and thoughts of today. For example, if you have trouble making your marriage work and you hear your father's voice say in your mind "see, I told you that you are a failure". When you start to believe that this is true, it leads to depression, sadness, hopelessness and inaction. A good CBT therapist will help you work on and overcoming these beliefs and help you work on constructive behaviors to the problems of the marriage like improved communication, listening skills, and empathy.


How Psychodynamic Therapy Works

Sometimes, for some people, it is simply just too difficult to change faulty beliefs and restructure thinking. I've heard people say, "I am trying to change the way I think, but it is just too hard and it does not work. Sometimes the pain in people's past is so huge that a deeper sense of healing is needed. This is where the Psychodynamic approach works powerfully. In order to heal deeper wounds, time is needed to process through the pain of the past in order for the changes to be made in the present. A good psychodynamic counselor balances going back to the past with working on the issues of today.

For example, one client I saw had a mom who was married seven times. Yes seven. She was mistreated by her mom and abandoned by her dad. Telling her to just focus on changing the way she thinks about marriage and whether it is a stable institution required more than working on the way she believed. I went back and forth between how she gets terrified when thinking about her marriage ending vs how her doubts about marriage and abandonment stem from her upbringing.

Read More About How I Take The Healing Process Even Further

I will help you experience the best of both worlds. I first conduct an intake to learn about your situation. Then I will ask you about your upbringing, what family life was like, how you were disciplined as a child,how your parents treated you, etc.


Overcoming Specific Fears

Let's say you are afraid to go outside, or have social phobia, or are afraid of spiders. In most cases, it would not make any sense to focus on the way your father abandoned you and your family, but to focus more on the specific fear. This specific CBT approach in this case is called exposure therapy. The best way to overcome your fear is to face your fear. However, please do not get this confused with "Flooding". Flooding is where if you fear social settings is to immediately immerse yourself with a bunch of people to get exposed to your fears. Again, this may cause you more harm than good. Instead, I create a step-by-step approach that gradually exposes you to your fears. I monitor your stress levels and never let it get to a point where you feel out-of-control. I will make you feel mildly uncomfortable, but while doing so, I teach relaxation and coping skills.


Mood Disorder Specialist

My other specialty other than marriage counseling and couples therapy are mood disorders. Mood disorders include social phobia, PTSD, fears, trauma, abuse, panic attacks, agoraphobia and depression and bipolar disorder. After thousands and thousands of hours working with mood disorders, I have developed an expertise at figuring out exactly what my clients need to begin the healing process. Sometimes it may require you to go into your childhood, while others, will benefit far more from a CBT approach. A therapist who does not know when to apply CBT thinking changes over processing childhood wounds, can cause more harm than good. You need a therapist that can help you determine and consider who you are as an individual to help lead you in the right direction.


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