Marissa Palmer, LCSW

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Marissa’s initial interest in the field of social work and mental health came while employed in a residential group home for adolescents. Inspired by this experience, Marissa attained her MSW from California State University, Long Beach in 2009. Since then, she has worked in a variety of settings, including medical social work in hospice care, community mental healthcare with young children and teens, substance use prevention with Los Angeles County, and clinical group private practice. 

Marissa finds it a privilege to work alongside clients who make the brave choice to begin therapy. In her work, Marissa utilizes a combination of approaches, ranging from psychodynamic, strengths-based, and mindfulness, to cognitive behavioral approaches. Marissa is nationally certified in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) and has training in Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Collaborative Problem Solving (CPT), and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT). Identifying as bi-cultural herself, Marissa enjoys working with clients of diverse backgrounds and identities. In doing so, she takes care to incorporate an understanding of the whole person and their goals for change. 

Marissa believes in the importance of a safe and non-judgmental therapeutic environment where clients can deepen their understanding of themselves, explore persistent concerns, and work to resolve unhelpful patterns and feelings of being stuck. Through this collaborative process, Marissa has been successful in helping clients relieve suffering, and improve their sense of wellbeing.