What You Want to Know
Before You Begin

Depth psychology is a therapeutic approach rooted in the work of Carl Jung that explores the unconscious — the parts of yourself you can't see directly but that drive your emotions, relationships, and choices. Unlike behavioral approaches that focus on changing what you do, depth psychology asks why you do it. In my practice, this means working with dreams, shadow material, inner child wounds, and archetypal patterns to help you understand yourself at a level most therapy never reaches.

Inner child work is a therapeutic process that reconnects you with the younger parts of yourself that were wounded, neglected, or forced to grow up too fast. These parts don't disappear in adulthood — they drive your emotional reactions, relationship patterns, and self-sabotage. In sessions, we don't do regression or role-play. We work through reflective conversation and Seven Paths Practice™ to identify, understand, and integrate these parts so they stop running the show from backstage.

Shadow work, from Jungian psychology, is the process of identifying and integrating the parts of yourself you've hidden, denied, or projected onto others. Your shadow isn't your "dark side" — it's everything you've been told is unacceptable, including positive qualities you were taught to suppress. Shadow work isn't about becoming a better person. It's about becoming a whole one. In my practice, this is one of seven archetypal domains we explore through Seven Paths Practice™.

I use the Enneagram as a clinical framework — not a personality quiz or social media trend. The Enneagram maps your core motivations, defense structures, and growth edges in a way that integrates beautifully with depth psychology. In sessions, it helps us understand not just your type but the fixation driving your suffering, the pattern you keep repeating, and the specific invitation for growth that your type offers. It's a doorway, not a label.

Seven Paths Practice™ is a trademarked psychodynamic framework I developed over 30 years. It includes 385 activities across seven archetypal domains: Inner Masculine, Inner Feminine, Persona, Self, Dream, Shadow, and Inner Child. It's the structure beneath my therapeutic work — a way of moving through depth material with intention and creativity, through reflective conversation, writing, and creative engagement.

The Enneagram's evidence base is growing but not yet at the level of tools like the Big Five. What it offers clinically is a depth and specificity about motivation, defense, and growth that most validated instruments don't reach. I use it as one framework within a broader depth psychology practice — not as a standalone diagnostic tool. In my experience across 30 years of practice, it is one of the most precise maps of human personality I've encountered.

CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) focuses on identifying and changing thought patterns and behaviors. It's effective for specific symptoms. Depth psychology goes underneath — it asks what's driving the thought patterns in the first place. Where CBT teaches you to manage your reactions, depth psychology helps you understand what in your unconscious, your history, your shadow, or your inner child is creating those reactions. They're not enemies — but they operate at different levels.

EMDR processes specific traumatic memories through bilateral stimulation. Shadow work explores the broader patterns of what you've exiled from your conscious identity — not just traumatic events, but disowned qualities, suppressed emotions, and projected material. EMDR is a technique. Shadow work is a way of understanding yourself. Some people benefit from both, and they can complement each other well.

Internal Family Systems (IFS) and inner child work share the idea that we contain multiple "parts." IFS uses a specific model with Exiles, Managers, and Firefighters. My approach to inner child work is Jungian and psychodynamic — it locates the inner child within a larger archetypal framework that includes Shadow, Persona, Dream, and Self. Both are valuable. My approach tends to be more narrative and reflective, less protocol-driven.

Depth psychology tends to be the right fit if you're asking questions like: Why do I keep repeating this pattern? Who am I beneath the role I play? What have I lost or exiled in myself? If you've done therapy before and found it helpful but incomplete — or if you've never been in therapy but know you need something substantial, not surface-level — this approach was designed for that kind of readiness.

The first session is a conversation, not an intake form. I want to understand what brought you here, what you've tried before, and what kind of work you're actually looking for. I'll share how I work, and we'll both decide if this is the right fit. There's no pressure, no hard sell, and no obligation to continue. Depth work requires trust, and trust starts with honesty on both sides.

There's no fixed timeline. Some people come for a specific transition and work for a few months. Others engage in longer-term depth work because they find value in ongoing self-understanding. I don't impose session minimums or treatment plans designed to keep you in therapy indefinitely. The work moves at the pace of your psyche, not a protocol.

This is common and it doesn't mean something is wrong. Shadow work surfaces material you've spent years avoiding — it makes sense that encountering it would feel uncomfortable. The key is having a therapist who can hold that discomfort with you without rushing to fix it or retreating from it. Feeling worse temporarily often means the work is reaching the right depth. We'll pace it together.

The "dark night of the soul" is a period of profound disorientation, loss of meaning, or spiritual crisis — often triggered by a major life event, a collapse of identity, or the failure of everything you thought was true. It's not a diagnosis — it's a threshold. Yes, this is central to my work. Depth psychology is built for exactly this territory. The dark night isn't something to fix. It's something to move through with a guide.

This is a two-week intensive engagement for business leaders in the Los Angeles area, priced at $2,000 per week. It's not team-building, coaching, or HR consulting. It's relational architecture — surfacing and repairing the relationship dynamics that silently drive dysfunction, miscommunication, and distrust within your organization. I bring 30 years of clinical training in relational systems to business contexts.

Individual therapy is $200 per hour, cash pay only. Business relationship strategy engagements are $2,000 per week for a two-week intensive. I do not offer a sliding scale. If cost is a barrier, I'm happy to provide referrals to colleagues who may be a better fit.

No. I am a cash-pay only practice. I do not accept insurance, nor do I provide superbills for out-of-network reimbursement. This allows me to focus entirely on the clinical relationship without the constraints of managed care, diagnostic requirements, or session limits imposed by insurance companies.

Yes. All individual therapy sessions are conducted remotely via secure, HIPAA-compliant telehealth. I am licensed in California and Idaho and serve clients statewide in both states. Remote sessions eliminate geography as a barrier and allow for the same depth and quality of engagement as in-person work.

I hold active licenses in California and Idaho. I serve clients remotely in both states. For business relationship strategy work, I serve organizations in the Los Angeles area.

Yes. I'm available for workshops, keynotes, and panel discussions on depth psychology for contemporary practitioners, AI and the therapeutic relationship, systems design in human services, and reflective practice. I'm also available as a part-time lecturer for university graduate programs. Contact me at 415-993-0277 or linda@sevenpathspractice.org. You can also visit my Speaking & Teaching page.