Children, teens & parents
Analytic work with children and adolescents, and a place for parents to think about the emotional life of parenting.
Explore this work ↗Psychodynamic & psychoanalytic psychotherapy
For adults, children, teens, and couples in Encino.
There is more
to you than
getting through.
You may know how to function, solve problems, and keep going. You may also want something more from therapy: room to speak freely, encounter what surprises you, and understand the life you are living.
Arrange an initial conversationIn-person in Encino · Weekly and more frequent treatment
Licensed clinical social worker · CA LCS #28969Psychoanalytic candidate · Psychoanalytic Center of California
What brings you here?
You can understand a lot about yourself.
And still feel stuck.
You can explain your childhood, recognize your patterns, and give excellent advice. Yet in the moments that matter, you find yourself in a familiar place: pulling away, giving too much, choosing someone unavailable, or feeling ashamed of wanting anything at all.
You might seek therapy for anxiety, depression, panic, divorce, or the feeling that adult life has not quite begun. You may be managing a great deal while wondering why familiar difficulties keep returning.
I also work with the emotional and relational experiences of substance use disorders, sobriety, and long-term recovery—including questions of identity, desire, loss, and how to live as familiar ways of coping change.
Perhaps you have been in therapy before. Perhaps something helped, and something remains difficult to reach. Or you are curious about parts of yourself that have never had much room to exist.
- Do you keep finding yourself in the same painful situations?
- What is difficult to want—or to receive?
- What happens when someone gets close?
These are places we can begin.
The experience of treatment
A place to say more.
And discover what follows.
In psychoanalytic psychotherapy, what you bring matters—including what seems irrelevant, embarrassing, contradictory, or difficult to put into words.
01 / SPEAK
Follow what comes to mind.
A conversation, a dream, a silence, a resentment you think you should be over. There is no requirement to arrive with a well-organized account of yourself. We pay attention to the connections that emerge.
02 / NOTICE
See what happens between us.
You may feel understood, disappointed, curious, irritated, or uncertain about me. Those experiences can become part of our work. Together, we consider how familiar ways of relating appear in the present.
03 / RETURN
Give the work continuity.
Regular meetings allow us to return to experiences that are easily passed over. Over time, we can explore what constrains you and what new possibilities you might be able to live.
Development & what happens along the way
We keep becoming.
Life keeps happening.
How do we become ourselves? What happens when growing brings us into conflict with the people we need, the world around us, or parts of ourselves?
Development is central to how I think about treatment, at every age. We consider what has supported your growth, what has made it difficult, and the ways you have found to manage. Illness, loss, relationships, and new responsibilities can bring old difficulties into view and create unfamiliar demands.
I am interested in how each person experiences and meets these demands, including differences in sensory experience, attention, communication, and ways of relating. Neurodiversity belongs in that understanding. There is no single timetable or template for becoming a person.
I am also interested in experiences that can be difficult to find words for: altered states, psychedelic journeying and its aftermath, hearing voices, or rapid changes in body, appetite, and sense of self during GLP-1 treatment. Psychotherapy offers a place to consider what these experiences mean to you and how they fit into your life.
Therapy offers room to discover what may be ready to develop, as well as what needs to be understood and mourned.
Other ways to work together
Couples
A place to understand what keeps happening between you, including the pressures and changes of raising children together.
Explore couples therapy ↗Consultation, Teaching & Media
Psychoanalytic thinking
beyond the
consulting room.
I also welcome opportunities to think with clinicians, caregivers, organizations, and creative teams about the emotional and relational dimensions of their work.
Consultation, teaching & media inquiries ↗Why meet more often?
Some things need
more room.
Meeting several times a week can make it possible to stay with a thread that otherwise gets lost between appointments.
The work has more continuity. There is room for the urgent events of your week and for experiences that take time to find words: dreams, uncertainty, feelings about our work, or a thought you nearly kept to yourself.
Frequency is something we consider together, taking account of your interest, clinical needs, schedule, and finances. I offer weekly and more frequent treatment. An initial conversation gives us a place to explore what might fit.
Ask about more frequent treatment ↗About Garie
I take inner life
seriously.
Including its
contradictions.
Love and resentment. Independence and longing. The wish to change and the need to hold on. There is room to think about these things together.
I’m Garie Connell, a licensed clinical social worker with approximately twenty years of clinical experience and ongoing psychoanalytic training at the Psychoanalytic Center of California.
My work in healthcare and private practice has brought me close to illness, grief, caregiving, and the complicated experience of needing other people. Development is a central interest in my work: how our capacities to play, think, feel, depend on others, and live more independently take shape—and what happens to them across a life. I consider these questions within the actual conditions of our lives: relationships, work, money, bodies, and institutions.
I listen for what you are trying to tell me and what we may not yet understand. I bring curiosity, candor, and a willingness to think with you about difficult experiences—including difficulties in therapy itself.
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
California LCS #28969
Psychoanalytic candidate
Psychoanalytic Center of California
Additional training in psychodynamic psychotherapy, attachment, and play therapy.
Read more of my thinking on Medium ↗
Writing & public life
A mind in the world.
Care has an emotional life, an economic life, and a political life. My essays explore the tensions of remaining human within families, workplaces, and institutions.
Care · Labor · Presence
Remaining Human
A reflection on labor, loss, and the work of showing up when systems make it difficult to remain in contact with one another.
Read the essay ↗From my notebook
Thinking about care.
Writing about healthcare, clinical work, institutions, and the conflicts we encounter when we try to care for one another.
Explore my essays on Medium ↗The practical details
Time, money,
and making room.
Ongoing psychotherapy is a commitment of attention, time, and money. These are things we can discuss directly as we consider working together.
Therapy is an investment in yourself and an experience whose value can extend beyond the time we meet. Research on psychodynamic and psychoanalytic psychotherapy suggests that benefits can endure after treatment ends, with some studies finding further improvement over time. Read a review of the research ↗
$225
Standard fee per session.
For treatment several times a week, we discuss the total weekly cost as part of considering whether the work is a good fit. Scheduling and fees are agreed upon before ongoing treatment begins.
16260 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 415
Encino, California 91436
Do I need to know what to talk about?
No. You can begin with what led you to reach out, or with the difficulty of beginning. We can think together about what you hope for and what feels uncertain.
Can I come if I have already had therapy?
Yes. You may have benefited from previous treatment and still want to explore something further. Your experience of earlier therapy can help us understand what you are looking for now.
How often would we meet?
I offer weekly and more frequent treatment. We consider frequency together rather than assuming one schedule suits everyone. More frequent work requires a workable schedule and financial arrangement.
How long does treatment last?
There is no single timetable, and therapy is not meant to last forever. Psychoanalytic work can take considerable time, but it also has an ending. We revisit how the work is developing, what is helping, and what you want from it, and think together about when and how to end. The aim is for what you gain here to remain available to you beyond our meetings.
What if I am unsure about this kind of therapy?
Uncertainty is welcome. An initial conversation is an opportunity to ask questions and consider fit. You do not need to decide on a long-term commitment before we have spoken.
How do I start?
Call 818-305-5431 or send me a message to inquire about an initial conversation. You can share what brings you to therapy and ask about scheduling, fees, and the way I work.
Begin a conversation
What would you like
room to think about?
You may have a particular concern, a question about more frequent treatment, or a sense that you want something to change. We can start there.
Call to inquirePlease leave your name, a callback number, and a good time to reach you. A brief message is enough; you can save the details for our conversation.
818-305-5431Garie Connell, LCSW
16260 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 415
Encino, California 91436
16260 Ventura Boulevard, Suite 415
Encino, California 91436
Psychodynamic and psychoanalytic psychotherapy for adults, children, teens, and couples in Encino. Weekly and more frequent treatment.