David Rudesill

All people are welcome in my office.
​
Pain in life is inevitable, but suffering doesn't have to be. People frequently suffer mental and physical symptoms, and or difficulties with relationships due to long-repeated patterns of thought and behavior that keep them stuck, detached, cutoff, or unhappy in their life. It's difficult to make change when we're stuck or paralyzed.

Perhaps you've been suffering for some time, perhaps even since you were very young; but it's never too late to make changes in life.

It's my experience that with effort and focus, we're all capable of making meaningful changes at any stage in life. My role is to collaboratively understand your difficulties, clearly identify what maintains your suffering, and encourage the experiencing of warded off emotional states. Much research has show that the deeper we feel, the more we heal.
​
My aim is to help you re-claim, or develop for the first time, the capacity to make choices in your life, live free from debilitating symptoms, or damaging personal/relational patterns of behavior.
​
Effective Therapy is collaborative; so together we will determine how focusing on your emotions and deepest wishes for change can help you better regulate debilitating symptoms of anxiety; lift out of depression, and live a life that's in tune with your own rythm.

I received my Masters in Clinical Social Work from USC, focusing on Clinical Mental Health, Psychotherapy practice, and strengths-based systems of recovery from mental illness. I grew up in the Bay Area and have been working in Mental Health in Los Angeles since 2010. I am a Licensed Clinical Social worker (LCSW #68166), I hold licenses to practice in CA and CO and am currently offering Teletherapy to California and Colorado Residents.
​
I've garnered clinical experience working in community-based clinics, private practice, and academic settings (counseling center, teaching). I have worked with diverse groups of people across the life span, of all sexual/gender orientations, and have a particular amount of experience working with adults 18-55 years old. In addition to my passion for psychotherapy, I'm also an adjunct professor of Social Work at California State University, Los Angeles. I am passionate about psychotherapy Training and Education and aim to de-stigmatize mental health for all.

My training as a Therapist is in a modality called Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP).

I completed 4-years of ISTDP Core training in Los Angeles; am certified by the International Experiential Dynamic Therapy Association; and am engaged in ongoing Advanced ISTDP training groups (with Dr. Patricia Coughlin, Jon Frederickson) and am engaged in ISTDP Teacher Training with Jon Frederickson, MSW. I regularly seek consultation, supervision and training opportunities to hone and improve my clinical skills. I am currently offering Supervision and Training Opportunities in ISTDP.
​
ISTDP is a trauma-informed, attachment-oriented, experiential, emotion-focused therapy that research has shown to effectively treat many common mental health and behavioral difficulties. ISTDP helps people resolve long-standing difficulties with anxiety, depression, intimacy and closeness, un-resolved grief, entrenched forms of self-criticism/sabotage, obsessive thinking, and more.
​
Therapy is collaborative and there is no silver bullet. I will work with you to understand your difficulties and give my full effort to help you resolve them. It will require your best effort as well. Helping you connect with the internal will to help yourself may be an initial focus of the therapy.
​
Due to an intensive focus on quickly identifying symptom-causing patterns, regulating anxiety, and experiencing emotions in ISTDP; many report rapid progress. I cannot guarantee how quickly you will achieve your goals, but I deeply value open feedback and ongoing evaluation of the progress made in therapy.
​