Leilani’s integrative approach to therapeutic work draws from a diverse range of psychodynamic trainings, workshops and education involving trauma-informed therapy, adolescent self-image and empowerment, parental alienation and estrangement, EMDR, mentalization, sex/pornography addiction, substance abuse addiction and grief and loss.
Leilani has received extensive training in working with children and parents to navigate difficult times of divorce, custody disputes and family crises. She also works with adults seeking to heal from childhood experiences that involve parental conflict and divorce. In August 2018, Leilani presented her Master’s thesis at a conference in London, Moving Upstream: Family Separation Clinic and European Association of Parental Alienation Practitioners. Titled, “Therapy Contraindicated: The Treatment Challenges of Working with Severely Alienated Children”. Her thesis highlighted the negative impact children face during times of high-conflict parental divorce and provided practical recommendations that therapists could follow in these difficult situations based on the latest evidence-based research.
She earned her master’s degree (M.A.) in Counseling Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute and her B.A. in History from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
