ABOUT
PHILOSOPHY
and approach
Dr. Weiss is recognized in her field and by her clients for providing empathetic, results-driven psychotherapy and careful and comprehensive psychodiagnostic evaluations that get to the correct diagnosis the first time. Dr. Weiss’s approach stems from her belief that optimal results come from working collaboratively with clients, families, teachers, and other treating professionals to generate treatment plans appropriately tailored to individual clients. No two clients are alike, and no two issues are the same. Likewise, Dr. Weiss believes that there are no shortcuts to accurate psychodiagnosis. Dr. Weiss spends several days with each client and always observes elementary school clients in classroom settings. She takes the time necessary to investigate and understand each client’s learning styles, social and emotional factors, and academic challenges. That’s why leading academic institutions across Los Angeles and elsewhere trust and rely on Dr. Weiss’s recommendations.
For the past 20 years, Dr. Weiss has successfully applied this approach to help clients realize their cognitive potential and overcome seemingly intractable challenges, including anxiety, perfectionism, depression, ADHD, autism, executive-functioning challenges, self-esteem issues, life transitions, and overwhelming academic stress.
BACKGROUND
and training
Dr. Weiss has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP), a master’s degree in counseling psychology from Boston College, and a master’s degree in clinical psychology from CSPP. She received her undergraduate degree from Boston University, where she graduated cum laude with distinction. Dr. Weiss is also a proud graduate of the Harvard-Westlake School. By virtue of this experience, Dr. Weiss brings a first-hand understanding to the academic pressures many of her clients face in private preparatory schools. Dr. Weiss has worked with hundreds of students enrolled in both Los Angeles private and public schools.
Dr. Weiss’s clinical training and experience includes providing therapy for children and families, running parenting groups for parents of teens, leading teen groups in high schools, providing individual therapy in an elementary school, providing individual therapy and community outreach at Wheaton College Counseling Center in Massachusetts, leading a teen girls group in a private practice, and a pre-doctoral internship in an inpatient psychiatric hospital where she treated children, teens, and adults. She also conducted psychoeducational testing in a college learning resource center. Dr. Weiss’ doctoral dissertation on relational aggression in girls was selected for presentation at the American Psychological Association’s annual convention, a rare honor given to a select few researchers. While completing her postdoctoral training, Dr. Weiss gained extensive experience conducting psychodiagnostic evaluations of students with ADHD, autism, and other learning challenges, including so-called “twice exceptional” clients.
Outside of clinical practice, Dr. Weiss is active in both professional and non-profit organizations. She served as president of the California Psychological Association of Graduate Students (CPAGS) while also serving on the Board of Directors for the California Psychological Association. At present, Dr. Weiss serves on the Board of Directors for Builder Bees, a non-profit organization that provides programming for girls of all abilities. Dr. Weiss also enjoys mentoring students at her alma mater, the Harvard-Westlake School.
In her free time, Dr. Weiss enjoys doing art projects with her two young children, building Legos with her daughter, knitting, playing soccer with her son, traveling with her husband, and baking.
Bianca (Berzner) Lenga has her masters in clinical psychology and is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist based in Los Angeles. For many years, Bianca passionately worked as a Child Behavior Specialist for children with developmental delays and disorders both in the school and home settings with compassion and patience. As a psychotherapist, Bianca continues to work with children, teens and individual adults in her practice through a developmental, humanistic lens. She factors in the biology, psychology, and sociology surrounding her clients and their unique gifts and challenges. Bianca incorporates mindfulness-based, cognitive-behavioral, somatic, and psychodynamic models into treatment with a strengths-based lens.
With extensive training in and personal experience with the mind-body connection, Bianca shares empathy, curiosity, humor, and her light-hearted nature. Her goal is helping clients understand themselves and how to attend to their needs so that they are regulated, thinking clearly, making choices they are proud of, and feeling their best selves in relationship with others. Bianca enjoys journeying with her clients on their paths toward self-awareness, self-compassion, and joy by providing them liberating and life-changing tools.
She has a background in teaching art to children, is a certified yoga instructor, and a proud alum of Los Angeles based local schools: Curtis, Crossroads, USC, and Antioch. In addition to her love of yoga and art, Bianca is passionate about traveling and cooking with her husband, growing with her daughter, and cuddling her Yorkies, Zoey & Harley.
BIANCA LENGA, M.A., LMFT (#134931)
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist
12401 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 300
Los Angeles, CA 90025
and
16055 Ventura Blvd #500
Encino, CA 91436
Kathleen Flaherty is an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist (AMFT) who utilizes a client-centered relational approach to meet each individual’s present needs. She views therapy as a collaborative forum for self-exploration and personal discovery to alleviate uneasiness, develop self-compassion, and examine values and patterns that may serve or block one from living a life of fulfillment. Your story is your own; Kathleen will listen with compassion and curiosity to assist you in bringing awareness to areas for constructive growth. Utilizing attachment, cognitive behavioral, and mindfulness techniques, Kathleen will align and support you along your unique journey.
Kathleen studied Psychology as an undergraduate at UC Berkeley and continued her education at Pepperdine University earning a master’s degree in Clinical Psychology. Working in both the Bay Area and Los Angeles, Kathleen has a decade of experience working with neurodiverse children and families in the clinical, home, and school settings. Kathleen’s warm demeanor and open mind helps her connect with young clients to aid them in developing emotional intelligence, self-awareness, and self-regulation skills. Through her training at the renowned Southern California Counseling Center, she has developed an adept awareness to how our relationships, culture, and community affiliations influence mental health and well-being. She is formally trained as a yoga instructor and in utilizing somatic intervention techniques including Community Resiliency Model (CRM) and Trauma Resiliency Model (TRM). Kathleen believes healing takes place holistically on a somatic, emotional, social, and spiritual level, and is committed to help you explore each dimension as it relates to you.
Kathleen currently works with adult, child, and adolescent individuals, as well as couples and families.
Registered Associate Marriage & Family Therapist (#AMFT121463)
Supervised by Dr. Dorie Weiss (#PSY22224)
12401 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 300
Los Angeles, CA 90025
Alison Greene is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) in the State of California. She was awarded a Master of Social Work degree from the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, where she was on the Dean’s List and was the recipient of the Gladys M. Salit Award for academic excellence. Alison is currently a Lecturer at her alma mater at the USC School of Social Work. She received her undergraduate degree from the University of Wisconsin.
Alison uses multiple modalities in her practice to promote change and help clients reach their potential. This helps each client begin transformative treatment rapidly, often seeing results quickly, and sets the groundwork for sustained success over time.
A product of the Los Angeles public school system, Alison brings compassion to the academic realities many of her clients’ experiences. As an elementary and middle school counselor and parent education coordinator at New Roads School, an independent school in Santa Monica, Alison led the implementation of evidenced-based social emotional curriculum in the classroom and supported students, faculty, and parents. At Larchmont Charter School, Alison supervises a robust internship program where she advises on best practices in case presentation, diagnosis, clinical interventions, legal and ethical considerations, and professional use of self. Alison is a trained council facilitator and believes in both individual, family and group therapeutic interventions.
For sixteen years, Alison worked for the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services where she conducted in-home assessments and parent education for foster and adoptive families. She created matches - and thus, families - and assisted in the transition of children from out-of-home care to permanent adoptive homes.
Alison enjoys spending time with her two children, playing pickleball with her husband, shopping for vintage finds, and traveling.
Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCS 23883)
12401 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 300
Los Angeles, CA 90025
Camille da Santos is an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist (AMFT) in Los Angeles and approaches therapy from an eclectic perspective, drawing on theories and techniques from depth psychology, humanistic psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT). Additionally, Camille often takes a trauma-informed approach to psychotherapy, encouraging somatic awareness and resourcing within the body. Above all, Camille strives to create a safe and non-judgmental space for her clients to engage in self-exploration and believes that each client innately contains the tools and answers necessary for their own healing.
Camille is a graduate of Immaculate Heart High School. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree from Loyola Marymount University and her Master’s degree from Pacifica Graduate Institute. Camille completed her internship at the prestigious Maple Counseling Center and also has experience in school counseling at an independent high school in Los Angeles. Camille’s clinical areas of interest include relationship issues, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, trauma, and grief/bereavement; she has published a graduate thesis on grief-processing.
She is LGBTQ+ affirmative and is passionate about diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice. In her free time, she enjoys reading, cooking, and traveling.
Camille treats adolescents and adults in Encino, West L.A., and virtually throughout California.
Registered Associate Marriage & Family Therapist (#AMFT133272)
Supervised by Dr. Dorie Weiss (#PSY22224)
12401 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 300
Los Angeles, CA 90025
and
16055 Ventura Blvd #500
Encino, CA 91436
Dr. Daniel Fenton is a licensed neuropsychologist and psychotherapist who works with individuals across the lifespan. He conducts neuropsychological and psychological evaluations, in addition to psychotherapy and consultation. He utilizes a whole child approach and focuses on the context and culture surrounding the child and how that impacts the way the child interacts with the world. He approaches each client with the understanding that individuals exist in a complex system of relationships affected by different environments; from immediate settings such as family and school, to broad cultural values, laws, and customs. Dr. Fenton is skilled in providing thorough assessments for clients of all ages while establishing strong rapport. He has a special interest in helping teens and their families navigate the complex and frequently challenging developmental period between teenage years and young adulthood.
Dr. Fenton earned his doctoral degree in clinical psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology in San Francisco, where he developed a multi-component website to reduce stress levels of parents of children with special needs. After graduate school, he completed an internship/residency in clinical neuropsychology at the Iowa City V.A. Medical Center where his research focused on the behavioral impact of mild traumatic brain injury, while his clinical work involved working with individuals experiencing mild-severe traumatic brain injury, aging/memory disorders, as well as a variety of psychiatric conditions. Dr. Fenton went on to complete a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in clinical neuropsychological and rehabilitation at Cedars Sinai Medical Center.
Dr. Fenton has practiced in various settings, including school settings, community mental health centers, skilled nursing facilities, medical centers, and inpatient rehabilitation hospitals. He has many years of experience treating anxiety, depression, grief, trauma, psychosis, and emotional dysregulation.
Dr. Fenton is a Los Angeles native and graduated from Windward School. In his free time, Dr. Fenton enjoys spending time with his wife and cat, in addition to cooking every recipe in his collection of cookbooks.
CA Licensed Neuropsychologist (#33655)
NV Licensed Neuropsychologist (#PY1126)
12401 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 300
Los Angeles, CA 90025
Charlie the Dog is a purebred Cavalier King Charles spaniel certified in play therapy and cuddling, with a specialty in afternoon naps.