Schwarz and Associates, Rebecca L Schwarz, LMFT

Personal Bio

I know that beginning therapy can be an anxiety provoking experience. This is a horrible burden for somebody who is already suffering. I want you to know that you can come to our very first session with the expectation that I will treat you with warmth, empathy and respect.

I have focused my practice on helping people struggling with relationship problems such as:

• Marital disenchantment
• Communication problems
• Conflict resolution skills
• Family struggles with parenting kids, (especially teenagers!)
• Launching young adults
• Divorced couples attempting to be good "co-parents" of their children while starting their lives separately
• Blending of families in remarriage

I have a heart for working with individual adults, adolescents, and children struggling with:

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Panic attacks
• Grieving
• Posttraumatic stress
• Obsessive-compulsive disorder
• Victims of sexual abuse and incest

Periodically I run groups for victims of sexual abuse.

As a recent Breast Cancer Survivor, I am in a unique position to utilize my own painful experience to help women or their families suffering from this or other forms of cancer and chronic illness.

Therapy Approach

I work primarily from what is called a Rogerian approach, providing genuine, unconditional positive regard for all of my clients. My experience has taught me that it is within this genuine, intimate, trusting relationship that people feel safe enough and empowered enough to change. I work with my clients with the understanding that we are equals - I may have more training in the field of psychology, but I am human too, and that some of the things of which they are distressed I may have struggled with also, or have worked on with other strugglers, so I am able to be empathetic with them. It is only after I have been able to gain their trust that I can actively help them to change.

What makes this a Christian Counseling Practice?

As a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist I have been trained in proven principles of psychology. As a Christian who practices Marriage & Family therapy, I believe that all of the proven principles of psychology are found in Scripture and are based on God’s design.  I believe that Rogers’ model of person-centered therapy is very much in keeping with God’s design of using the Church Body as his means of healing the distress of His people. “As iron sharpens iron” we are to help each other to grow into the people God wants us to be. He also uses the Holy Spirit to help and guide us, nudging us to make the changes He wants us to make.

What causes change and growth in counseling?

I believe that what causes change and growth in counseling is the relationship between a willing client and a supportive therapist along with the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit. God designed us to need relationship, with Him and with each other; it is within these relationships that a person can grow and change.

Things you can expect during our sessions

With each person I treat, I stress the use of Christian principles to solve psychological problems. As I generally practice therapy with Christian clients, I utilize scripture and prayer along with other more standardized psychological interventions; if however, this is uncomfortable for you, please feel free to share this with me. I have quite a "tool box" of interventions that can be used to bring you the help and healing you desire.

I am a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist who received my Master's in Marriage and Family Therapy from Hope International University (formerly Pacific Christian College) in Fullerton, CA. My Professional Credentials include:

Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist #MFC46721
Trained in Prepare, Enrich & Mate, Marital and Premarital Inventories
Member of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists
Member of the American Association of Christian Counselors

Final Thoughts