ABOUT
mindful therapy
with Tannaz
LOS ANGELES • CALIFORNIA • ONLINE
Meet Tannaz
I believe that tending to our emotional wounds in a space we can be held and seen is what allows us to heal and gain access to our joy, freedom, and aliveness.
This is where I come in as a fellow traveler/guide to be a mirror to you and your safe space so you can begin to honor the ways that you have protected yourself to survive, to cultivate self-compassion to heal your past wounds, and to re-engage with life and in your relationships from this place of healing.
-
My style of therapy is warm, curious, gentle, and collaborative. I view the trust, connection, and safety formed between as the most important aspects of your therapeutic process and healing. My approach to therapy honors the mind-body connection, while being trauma-informed, attachment-focused, and culturally centered.
With an attachment-focused and culturally-centered lens, we’ll examine how your earlier relationships and unique lived experiences inform the way you view yourself, show up in your relationships, and begin to shift the patterns that once helped you but no longer serve you.
With integrating mindfulness of the body into talk therapy, I may ask you to notice what’s happening in your body as you tell me about your challenges, thoughts, and feelings. This pausing and noticing can allow you to become more present and grounded, to examine how you hold stress, tension, and trauma in your body, and ultimately release emotions that remain in your body from past difficult experiences.
With EMDR therapy, we’ll help you reduce your distress re: past painful events and restore a sense of safety through tapping into your brain and body’s natural ability to move towards healing.
Depending on your goals/needs, we may do EMDR, somatic-based talk therapy, or a combination of the two to help you on your healing journey.
-
B.A. in Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine (UCI), 2009
M.A. in Social Welfare, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), 2012
EMDR Therapy Level I and II trained, Institute for Creative Mindfulness
Hakomi Level I Mindfulness-Based Somatic Psychotherapy, Hakomi Institute
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Mindfulness Awareness Practices at UCLA (MAP I and Map II)
Yoga and mindfulness practices for Trauma UCLA
-
English
Farsi/Persian
My Journey of Becoming a Therapist:
The areas that I specialize in with my practice are all areas where I have done my own healing. I was born in the U.S., raised in Iran since I was three years old, and immigrated back to the U.S. at the age of 17.
Having a bicultural identity and feeling caught in-between two worlds, while not fitting in either, drew me to psychology. Because of my experience with immigration and having to create a new sense of identity at 17, I wanted to understand how our upbringing, environment, and culture influences who become. I chose to pursue my masters in social work as I was interested in working with people who had experienced immigration, displacement, and/or loss and needed help with navigating their mental health journey as they settled in a new place/country.
During and following my graduate studies, I worked in community mental health agencies and non-profits, where I provided long-term psychotherapy to adults from various cultural backgrounds. My clients presented different concerns including but not limited to anxiety, depression, trauma, life transitions, chronic medical conditions, sexual abuse/assault, relationship issues, and family conflict.
After completing my training hours towards licensure, I worked for over a decade in various settings, including group private practices and a university counseling center, where I provided therapy to professionals, creatives, artists, first and second-generation graduate students, and clients on their journey of becoming parents including new mothers.
As I did more of this work and would peel back the layers with my clients, I noticed a common theme which was at the core of everyone’s story; there were wounds/traumas that were left unseen and unhealed. Recognizing this thread, I immersed myself in learning more about trauma and modalities to heal trauma, which led me train in EMDR and somatic-based therapies (Hakomi Method).
Based on my own journey, I have a passion for holding space for others who find themselves similarly caught in between two (or more) worlds. I feel truly honored to provide a space for others, where they can begin and/or continue their healing journey.
When I’m not working, you can find me spending time with my family and friends.
What nourishes my soul is eating good food with the people that I love, dancing freely to music, and spending time in nature.
What energizes me is moving my body, making or looking at art, traveling to new places, and learning new things.
What grounds me is connecting with my breath, taking time to reflect through journaling and my own therapy, and getting a good night of sleep.