Welcome...Crista Gonzalez, MA, LEP

My Story

 

With over 20 years of experience in the areas of Psycho-educational assessment and counseling, Crista joins Transcends Family Therapy to offer her knowledge and experience to clients within our private practice.

Crista Gonzalez is a California Licensed Educational Psychologist (LEP #3469) and certified School Psychologist who has trained, mentored, and offered her expertise to a variety of professionals within the school setting and private setting.  Many of her interns have become well respected School Psychologists, Therapists, owners of their own private practice, and Professors within the universities.

Crista earned her Masters degree in Clinical Psychology while concurrently completing the requirements for the Marriage Family Therapy (MFT) licensure (1998). 

Following her graduate work, Crista completed her credentials in both School Counseling (2000) and School Psychology (2003).  Crista received specialized training in providing culturally sensitive assessment for children of all ages and from diverse backgrounds.  Her training and areas of expertise include knowledge of Play Therapy approaches, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Interpersonal Therapy (IT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).  

Crista believes in a collaborative relationship among families, schools, and mental health professionals in order to help a client grow in the areas of social, emotional, and behavioral well-being.  Crista also has training in clinical, crisis, and school-based interventions.  Her clinical interests include working with elementary school-aged children, adolescents and young adults with concerns related to anxiety, depression, behavioral challenges, and learning and executive functioning difficulties. 

Currently, Crista continues to work as a School Psychologist within the South Bay area.

 

My Approach

 

I am passionate about working with children and young adults from the ages of 5 to 22 years old who are experiencing anxiety, depression, learning difficulties, attendance issues, executive functioning/organizational deficits, and various social, emotional, and behavioral challenges.  Over the years, I have gained a level of expertise in the area of conducting psychoeducational assessments for children, adolescents, and young adults to determine cognitive strengths or growth areas as well as potential learning challenges. I have found that understanding learning styles, emotional strengths and weakness, and behavioral characteristics play a vital role in gaining knowledge of oneself and learning strategies to cope, heal, and reach your full potential.  

My approach to therapy is to make clients feel safe and understood while challenging thoughts or habits that might be unhelpful. Although I tailor my treatment to meet the goals and needs of my clients, I implement a mix of evidence-based techniques. These include cognitive-behavioral, dialectical behavior, and interpersonal process therapies. Using these perspectives focuses on learning more about yourself and identifying the connection between thoughts, feelings, and behavior. I can also teach useful skills to help improve coping and manage challenging situations. I welcome people of all races, sexual orientations, genders, religions, and ability levels. I believe that therapy is an ongoing process where we can discuss what is working and how we can keep collaborating to achieve personal goals.