Joey Cressler

My Bio

The human experience is not one that is fixed or stagnant; it is everchanging, season to season, and filled with numerous opportunities to feel the full range of emotions. Inevitably, this will cause discomfort, misalignment and tension in our internal world. My primary goal as a therapist is to create an empathic space where the client can move towards psychological alignment, authenticity and wholeness. I believe that the therapeutic process is enhanced by the therapeutic relationship and that healing is evoked through a process of corrective emotional experiences and embodiment.

As a queer-identifying therapist, I am passionate about working with issues pertaining to sexuality/gender and serving marginalized groups/ disenfranchised populations who are directly impacted by systemic trauma. In the clinical room, I strive to provide an authentic and empathic space to navigate the internalization of harmful social constructs. Currently, I hold a Masters in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis on Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute and am actively pursuing AASECT certification as a sex therapist.

My clinical approach is best described as an eclectic combination of psychodynamic, humanistic, somatic and affirmative therapeutic frameworks. I feel this blended approach supports a safe space where clients may process and engage in in-depth work on current symptoms, concerns, past conflict, symbolic material and the unconscious, while also promoting the client’s strengths and nurturing a healing process. I find that this relationally based exploration of self is effective in aiding the client in achieving psychological healing and restoring a sense of balance. Healing manifests in a numinous way and has many facets, but at its core, the feeling is the same; it is experiencing, even for a moment, the light that comes from regaining a connection to authentic wholeness.