"Therapy is the act of utilizing relationship in a healing context, which is the most natural place where healing can happen. Therapy is the 'stopper' that keeps humanity from rushing out of our culture."
-Tony Davis, LMFT
I received my Masters in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University Los Angeles, where I completed a specialization in Child Studies. I interned for a year at the YMCA Counseling Center, seeing adolescents at Le Conte Middle School. I then completed a five year internship at the Southern California Counseling Center, where I saw individuals, couples and families, and received training in multiple theories.
As part of the school program, I spent two years counseling at Fairfax High School, working with students who were either self-referred or mandated. I twice co-led a group for young people called The Effects of Domestic Violence on Children. I am trained in couples and sex therapy by Walter Brakelmanns MD at UCLA through AACAST (The American Association of Couples and Sex Therapists), and am certified as a Couples and Sex Therapist.
I am a member of the professional organizations CAMFT, LA CAMFT and AACAST.
I began my adult life as a dancer/actor/singer, and this profession brought me to Los Angeles from San Diego at the age of 29. I worked extensively in the theater as a performer and in creative roles. As I got older, I got the sense that my performing career was anchored not only by a love of performing, but also the "safety" of the stage, compared with the unpredictability of life off of the stage. I reached a point where I wanted to "stop pretending".
I enrolled in a Psychology program at Antioch University Los Angeles, and over the next five years my life changed along with the way I responded to the world. I learned that by examining the beliefs and assumptions I was brought up with, I could decide what was truthful for me. My biggest realization was seeing that my experience with depression was not a part me, but rather a reasonable response, as an oppressed minority, to feeling powerless and unsafe in the world. I have never considered myself conventional, though I play well in polite society! I continue to stoke my creative fires through my writing, and maintain my out-of-the-box status by being a bike commuter—having sold my car in 2009. I have relished the process of finding my way through creative endeavors and challenging norms, and continue both activities to this day.
Tony Davis, LMFT
I offer a complimentary consultation, so, please feel free to ask me any questions you may have about the issues you are looking to discuss. Just give me a call or email me to set up an appointment.