Dana Pham LCSW
Psychotherapist
Dana’s Experience
Dana studied Sociology and Applied Psychology at UC Santa Barbara and earned her Master’s in Social Work from New York University’s Silver School of Social Work. Her professional path has been devoted to clinical work and to becoming a thoughtful, ethical, and grounded therapist.
Dana has done powerful therapeutic work with kids, teenagers, and adults. Dana had the fortunate experience of working with a community mental health agency in Colorado that allowed her to gain a significant breadth and depth of clinical experience. She has supported individuals and families through change, crisis, and complicated times in their lives.
Dana has also worked with people navigating trauma, addiction, and people struggling with anger management or rage. Dana has worked to effect lasting change in their lives by giving them skills to reduce harm and to increase their regulation skills so that they can increase their capacity for ease and peace.
Areas of Focus
Complex Trauma
Dana works with complex trauma; the kinds of experiences that shape how people feel in relationships, how their nervous systems respond, and how they see themselves.
Dana utilizes trauma-informed interventions to provide a safe and secure environment in sessions. Sessions are thoughtfully and gently navigated to help clients notice what feels safe, how to stay more present in the body, and move at a pace that honors their history and capacity.
Dana walks alongside clients as they build steadier internal resources, develop regulation skills, and begin to feel more at home in themselves, while also providing a safe place to process these tough and dysregulating emotions.
Anxiety, Stress, and Low Mood
People come to Dana because life feels heavy, fast, or overwhelming. She works with those experiencing ongoing worry or tension, difficulty relaxing or slowing down, feeling drained, flat or unmotivated, sadness, discouragement, self-doubt, and transitional life changes that feel overwhelming or scary.
Gaming, Screens, and Digital Life
Dana supports teens and adults around gaming and screen use.
She personally appreciates gaming and understands how it can be creative, connecting, and meaningful. That perspective helps conversations about balance feel respectful and realistic.
She approaches this topic with curiosity rather than judgment. Together, you explore:
- what positives gaming offers
- where it may start to feel like too much
- how to build healthier rhythms, boundaries, and awareness
How Dana Works
As your therapist, Dana will first focus on making sure that you are comfortable and find it easy to share what is happening for you and what you are hoping for. Dana has a remarkable ability to track your story and remember the small details so that you can be assured she is fully attending to your process. Dana asks clarifying questions that not only clarify for her, but also help you clarify what the essence and most powerful parts of your experience are in order to identify your goals.
From a therapeutic tools perspective, Dana uses DBT & CBT which are behavior therapies that use present centered awareness and grounded skills to better understand what is happening for you, and what you could move towards to get the best outcomes. Dana is experienced as a generalist, which means that she will also employ a plethora of other interventions and supports that she has picked up along the way. In this way, your therapy will be specific to you, your struggles, and your strengths.
Dana works with you in ways that focus on your own needs and strengths. We call this a strength’s based and person-centered approach to emphasize support, acceptance, and compassion. In other words, while Dana takes care to assist you with your struggle, she notes the skills you use, and your focus therapy with Dana will be around increasing awareness of those skills, habits in thinking, actions, and lifestyle that are already working but may need to be strengthened. Dana can support you in clarifying what you know already and embolden the strengths you already have to get a more satisfying life.
Rates
Individual first session (60 min): $222 (first intake or requested longer session)
Individual regular session (50 min): $185