818-928-5541
Magdalena Werne, M.A., AMFT, APCC
Meridian Counseling Therapist and Counselor
Associate Marriage and Family Therapist #137357
Associate Professional Clinical Counselor #13168
Supervised by Keith Parker, M.A., LMFT #39058

"We often find that the harder we try to get rid of
emotions and thoughts, the stronger they become."
— No Bad Parts by Richard Schwartz
My Story
Dedication to Practicing the Art of Therapy and Service to Provide Mental Healthcare
I am so happy you are here and considering options to improve your mental well-being. I am thankful to live in an age where the stigma of receiving therapy services is lessening. I cannot imagine the stigma my grandparents lived through when it came to issues relating to mental health. Although society has yet to accept the reality and the need for mental healthcare fully, I believe we are improving daily.
Your presence on my website is honored.
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Before entering the therapy field, I had experience as a nursing home dietary aide, a certified nursing assistant in the hospital and retirement home settings, a summer camp counselor, and providing speech therapy-related services in private practice and school-based settings. I received a B.S. in Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology from Ball State University in Muncie, IN. I received an M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University in Malibu, CA. I completed my traineeship at San Gabriel Valley Grief Resource and Training Center in Pasadena, CA. I am an active member of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT) while also being a committee member and volunteer for such an incredible organization.
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I have training in Brainspotting, The Gottman Method Couples Therapy, and Internal Family Systems. Please find more information about these modalities below (N/A on cellphones) and how you may benefit. My approach to therapy treatment is going inward and inviting the parts of you that hold fear and create distrust of the self to tell their story and then discover another, more beneficial way to care for the self. I may also facilitate concepts of cognitive-based therapy, which improves one's thought patterns, reducing maladaptive behaviors. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) is one of my passions and involves radical acceptance of life's inevitable hardships and learning how to unblend oneself from distressing emotions. Finding the 'middle way' to reduce emotional and behavioral extremes are concepts to utilize from Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT). I am also a practitioner of psychodynamic theories, where one brings awareness to how the past may be unknowingly affecting the present.
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Altogether, I am a firm believer in finally allowing self-compassion to envelop one's being. Collaboratively, together, we will tailor an individual treatment plan. I am not the expert on your story; you are. You may not feel connected at this time, although you have the resources within yourself to become a soaring Phoenix out of the ashes. We will dig to find those internal resources together, and you may fly to love yourself.
-Magdalena
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"People will tell you where they've gone. They'll tell you where to go, but until you get there yourself, you never really know."
Joni Mitchell
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"You've Always Had the Power, My Dear, You Just Had to Learn it for Yourself."
-Glenda from The Wizard of Oz Film
Brainspotting is a psychotherapy modality that utilizes our visual field to process trauma held within the mind, referred to as 'trauma capsules.'
After assessing the visual point in which the most prevalent emotional distress is located, the Brianspotting practitioner is then able to compassionately attune to the client as the client's mind processes the 'trauma capsule' located within the deep subcortical areas of the brain, such as the limbic region which involves our emotional regulation. Since our visual system connects from the eyes to the brain's subcortex, Brainspotters can access stuck 'trauma capsules.' In return, trauma may then be processed and released. Brainspotting differs from traditional talk therapy in that talk therapy activates the neocortex area of the brain, which is not responsible for emotional regulation. Therefore, not much talking takes place when the mind is processing distress during Brainspotting. What I love about Brainspotting is how once engaged and the visual point is located, the mind knows what to do in order to process distress.
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Internal Family Systems...Where All Parts of You Are Welcome
I fell in love with Internal Family Systems (IFS) as a therapy modality after reading a clinical case study involving the treatment for adults displaying Complex-PTSD symptoms. Due to consistent trauma, C-PTSD survivors, typically during infancy and childhood, may have had to hide parts of themselves that they were made to feel were bad (known as exiles) to survive their traumatic, emotionally neglectful environments. Hard at work to keep these exiled parts in hiding are other parts that will go to great lengths to prevent you from feeling the pain these burdened parts are feeling. Think of behaviors such as overworking, overeating, or underworking and undereating. These parts (known as protectors) will engage in behaviors to prevent the pain of the exiled parts from being felt by you. IFS is about welcoming and appreciating all parts of you that have been working throughout your survival. It's about welcoming all parts of you back home and becoming self-led and less trauma-led.

“Friendship fuels the flames of romance because it offers the best protection against feeling adversarial toward your spouse.” -John M. Gottman
The Gottman Couples Method is a modality for couples who need to increase affectionate communication with one another and increase their relational bond. One of my favorite ideas of the Gottmans is 'turning toward' communication versus 'turning away' communication. For example, if your partner details something you may consider to be redundant, continually turning away from your partner's observations may create a lack of attunement within the relationship. The Gottman Couples Method is heavily backed by decades of couples research, while interventions are well organized. The Gottmans are able to help identify relational patterns of couples that may be causing significant distress within a relationship, such as the 'Four Horsemen,' which are bound to cause communication breakdowns. The 'Four Horsemen' include criticism, contempt, defensiveness, and stonewalling. Here is a free Gottman Relationship Quiz.
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