[email protected] | 760-891-2333
Individual Counseling
What if you could create a life of your dreams?
A life where you can manage the feelings of being overwhelmed, stressed, and anxious. A life where you can experience joy and manage panic. A life where you can quiet your shaking insides and your brain’s racing thoughts.
While there are many reasons these symptoms occur, but through a client-centered, holistic, psychodynamic, sensitive and caring approach, I can help you uncover insights to feel empowered and reach a place of hope, healing, stability, and thriving!
Below are the services I provide.
EMDR
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a powerful, evidence-based therapy designed to help the brain heal from the emotional wounds of trauma and distressing experiences. By using gentle, guided eye movements or other forms of bilateral stimulation, EMDR helps individuals process painful memories, reduce emotional intensity, and build a renewed sense of peace, safety, and self-confidence.for growth, balance, and self-compassion.
Anxiety
Many people experience anxiety. It is a way for our mind and body to protect us when we feel uncertain or overwhelmed. While some anxiety is normal, intense or ongoing anxiety can make it difficult to focus, sleep, or enjoy daily activities. It can cause symptoms like restlessness, tension, a racing heart, and trouble concentrating. Anxiety comes in different forms. These include generalized anxiety, panic attacks, social anxiety, and specific fears. This video from the film Inside Out explains what causes anxiety and depression.
I can help you learn to manage your anxiety. You can feel stronger, calmer, and more in control. By focusing on healing your whole self, you can ease anxiety, rebuild your sense of calm, and feel more grounded and confident each day.
What causes Anxiety & Depression – Inside Out
Are You Feeling Overwhelmed?
Are you feeling emotions that create anxiety, causing you to feel like your insides are shaking?
Are you feeling overwhelmed or stressed that you sometimes struggle to breathe?
Does your work-life situation cause you to feel anxious?
Are you as successful at school or work as you would like to be?
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is the simple, powerful practice of being fully present with yourself — noticing your thoughts, feelings, and body without judgment. It offers a way to slow down, breathe, and reconnect with the calm and strength already within you. In therapy, mindfulness can help ease stress, anxiety, depression, and the effects of trauma, supporting emotional healing and greater resilience. With mindfulness, each moment becomes a new opportunity
for growth, balance, and self-compassion.
Stress
Stress is the body’s natural response to challenges or demands. While it can motivate us to take action, chronic or overwhelming stress can impact our health and well-being. In therapy, learning to manage stress through mindfulness, relaxation techniques, and healthy coping strategies can help restore balance and reduce its negative effects on both mind and body.
Understanding Shame
Shame is a deeply painful feeling that we are somehow unworthy, broken, or not good enough. Unlike guilt, which focuses on what we’ve done, shame focuses on who we are. It often stems from criticism, rejection, or early experiences where love or acceptance felt conditional.
Shame can lead to self-criticism, perfectionism, and disconnection from others. Left unaddressed, it may contribute to anxiety, depression, or low self-esteem.
In therapy, we create a safe, supportive space to gently explore and heal shame—helping you reconnect with your inherent worth.
See video of Dr. Teri discussing Shame
Trauma
Trauma refers to any event/experience that deeply impacts a person’s emotional or physical well-being, often leaving lasting emotional scars. Whether caused by a single event or ongoing stress, trauma can affect how we think, feel, and behave. Healing from trauma involves processing these experiences in a safe, supportive environment to regain a sense of peace, control, and strength. Traumatic stress literally rearranges the brain’s wiring - specifically areas dedicated to pleasure, engagement, control, and trust. If not addressed, it can become PTSD.
Trauma is more common than one might think.
61% of adults have experienced a traumatic experience by age 18. The CDC estimates that 1 in 8 children are victims of maltreatment. The Developmental Victimization Study finds that 71% of U.S. children had a least one form of victimization. Gun related deaths are the leading cause of deaths in children and adolescents in the US. And 50% of children in Asia, Africa and North America witness violence each year.
Post-Traumatic Stress
(PTS)
Post-Traumatic Stress occurs after someone has experienced a deeply distressing or life-threatening event. It can lead to flashbacks, nightmares, heightened anxiety, and avoidance of reminders of the event. Healing from PTS involves processing trauma and building new, healthier coping strategies, helping individuals regain control and a sense of safety. The gold standard treatment for PTS/PTSD is EMDR.
Depression
Depression is more than just feeling sad; it’s a deep, persistent sense of emptiness or hopelessness that can affect how we think, feel, and act. While it can feel overwhelming, therapy provides tools to manage and heal from depression, allowing individuals to reconnect with their joy, purpose, and inner strength.
Testimonials
I have more confidence
"I am an Air Force veteran, and I suffer from PTSD and symptoms from TBI's. I didn't sleep well, I had terrible nightmares and had a hard time functioning or feeling normal on a daily basis. Basically, I was a hot mess and heading in the wrong direction. Using the tools and techniques working with Dr. Teri on a weekly basis has changed my life. I actually feel like I have a life. With the tools I get from weekly therapy working with Dr. Teri, I now have the confidence and ability to navigate my way through it."
-Kelly
An amazing impact on my life
"Teri has truly helped change my life! When I first started seeing her, I was dealing with anxiety that felt almost crippling. But once I started working with Teri and we started doing EMDR treatment, it truly changed my life! Today my anxiety is greatly reduced, my body no longer responds with anxiety to situations it used to in the past and I feel truly empowered to live my life! Thank you for the amazingly positive impact you have had on my life Teri!"
- Charity
ADHD
Do you find it hard to focus on what is important in your life? Maybe your brain keeps you emotionally drained and exhausted. Through client-centered therapy sessions, I can teach you how to balance your life so you can stop feeling overloaded.ADHD (Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder)
ADHD is a condition that affects focus, attention, and self-regulation, often making daily tasks challenging. It can impact all areas of life, from work to relationships. Therapy for ADHD helps individuals develop strategies to improve focus, organization, and emotional regulation, empowering them to reach their full potential.
If you have been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADD/ADHD), I can help you (and your family members) gain an understanding of the physiological brain condition and help you implement strategies for managing this. See brain SPECT images.
Improving Self-Confidence and Self-Compassion
Self-confidence is the belief in one’s own abilities, qualities, and judgment. It’s about trusting yourself and feeling secure in your decisions and actions. Building self-confidence in therapy involves uncovering your strengths, addressing self-doubt, and developing the tools to approach life with courage and conviction. And improving interpersonal effectiveness and self-compassion will help manage anxiety and depression.
Improving your self-confidence involves self-love and self-care. We take good care of the things we love.
Helpful Videos
Brené Brown on Empathy
The Power of Vulnerability | Brené Brown
2-Minute: How to Practice Self-Compassion
Self-Care
Dimensions of Self-Care involve the capacity to search for good things, the ability to seek positive experiences, and to try to meet one’s own needs. When dealing with difficult life experiences, some people become extremely self-critical and are unable to search for and to accept help from others.
Some individuals consistently fail to recognize and protect themselves from danger or from damaging interpersonal relationships or may even actively hurt themselves.
A different, but related, maladaptive action is the tendency to excessively take care of other people in ways that are not balanced with self-care.
We will explore the Self-Care scale to help identify ways you tend to treat and take care of yourself.
Holistic Health
Holistic health is about caring for the whole person — mind, body, and spirit — recognizing that true wellness goes beyond just treating symptoms. It means looking at how emotional, physical, social, and spiritual parts of life connect and influence each other. In therapy, a holistic approach helps support complete, balanced healing, allowing you to grow in every area of your life. With a certification from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition I can provide insight and connections for your mind and your body.
Professional Burnout
Professional burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion caused by prolonged or excessive workplace stress. It's characterized by feelings of energy depletion, increased mental distance from one's job, and a reduced sense of accomplishment. While it's often associated with work, it's not a medical condition itself, but rather an occupational phenomenon recognized by the World Health Organization.
Brain Health
Good brain health is essential to emotional well-being. This involves nurturing the brain’s physical and emotional functioning through healthy habits like good nutrition, sleep, movement, stress management, and mental stimulation. In therapy, supporting brain health helps strengthen resilience, improve mood, sharpen focus, and create a stronger foundation for lasting healing.
Learn about the connection between food and feelings and how your nutrition affects your mental health. With training in practice neuroscience from the Amen Clinic (Costa Mesa, CA) I can help you explore and understand ways for improving your brain health.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is an evidence-based, structured approach designed to help manage overwhelming emotions, build healthy relationships, and develop effective coping strategies. DBT includes Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Emotion Regulation, and Interpersonal Effectiveness and empowers individuals to live more fully in the present moment, respond to life’s challenges with greater resilience, and build a life aligned with your values and goals.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is a practical, highly effective approach that helps individuals identify and change unhelpful thought patterns. It is based on the idea that our thoughts, feelings, and actions are interconnected, and that changing negative thinking can lead to positive emotional and behavioral changes. CBT is all about giving you the skills you need to feel better, think more clearly, make healthier choices and create lasting change in your life.
My Approach
I use a collaborative, strengths-based, and client-centered approach. My therapeutic work is grounded in evidence-based modalities such as:
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (e.g., Mindfulness and Emotional Regulation Techniques)
EMDR
Psychoeducation
Psychodynamic Approach
Solution-Focused Therapy
Above all, I provide a safe, inclusive, and affirming space where clients feel heard and supported.
And I love bringing the office therapy dog, Preston, into sessions.
Let's Connect
If you're ready to take the next step, I invite you to reach out for a free video or phone consultation.
Whether you're looking for short-term support or a longer therapeutic relationship, we’ll create a
plan tailored to your goals.
Serving clients in San Diego North Co & online across California and Texas
Phone: 760-891-2333 Email: [email protected]
Contact Dr. Teri using a secure form (via Hushmail).
If you are having an emergency, please CALL 988.
Visit suicidepreventionlifeline.org
to access the 988 Lifeline through text or chat.
If you need non-emergency assistance, in San Diego County, contact
the non-crisis WARMLINE: 619-295-1055. 7 days/wk, 3:30-11pm (except major holidays).
Teri Davis, Ed.D., LCSW #86976
Doctorate in Education, Masters in Social Work
No Surprises Act - You have the right to receive a Good Faith Estimate of what your services may cost.
Copyright 2025. Dr. Teri Psychotherapy. All Rights Reserved.