About Dr. Samara Aldahwi

I am a licensed psychotherapist in California (LMFT #111855) with a Doctorate in Marriage and Family Therapy and a Master's degree in Clinical Psychology. I am also an entrepreneur working within the technology and AI space.

Raised internationally and having traveled across all seven continents, I have developed an extensive understanding of cultural norms and the ways in which human emotion and behavior are interpreted and expressed across cultures. Love, pain, suffering, loyalty, anger, control, responsibility, and even success can carry profoundly different meanings depending on a person's cultural, religious, familial, and social context. Understanding those distinctions is essential to understanding the person sitting in front of me.

I believe therapy should equal change.

My approach is direct, highly involved, and guided by what I call a no sugarcoating policy. I will listen to you, contain you, and support you without judgment, but I will also tell you what I see. I will challenge you when I believe a challenge serves you, and I will address what is difficult rather than remain with what is comfortable. You will always have my support, but you will also have my honesty.

Psychotherapy does not exist independently from the rest of your life. Everything plays a part in creating who you are. Your culture, religion, race, physical appearance, wealth, education, environment, health, relationships, experiences, responsibilities, and the parents and family system that shaped you all influence how you see yourself, how you experience others, and how you move through the world.

I will tailor psychotherapy based on your needs, taking into account the full context of who you are, what you have experienced, and what you want to change.

For those 50 minutes, the world will revolve around you.

You do not need to filter yourself. You do not need to be polite, impressive, reasonable, strong, or even good. There is no performance required here. You can bring the parts of yourself you show the world and the parts you never do.

My responsibility is to be strong enough to receive all of it, thoughtful enough to understand it, and honest enough to help you do something with it.