Louise Sturm, MA, AMFT, APCC

Louise is a Registered Associate Marriage and Family Therapist and is supervised by Dr. Thomas Lucking. She is a holistic psychotherapist with a humanistic, experiential, client-centered approach to therapy. Counseling is individualized to meet your unique needs and goals. Louise has experience working in community clinical settings that serve a diverse population of individuals, including outpatient and school based settings.

In addition, Louise holds a BA in visual and public art, which gave her the opportunity to lead projects that included intergenerational and multi-cultural bridging. She has over 30 years of experience working as an art teacher and preschool teacher, serving individuals, children and families of diverse socio economic and cultural backgrounds. Her expressive arts work allows her to offer extra dimensions of therapy that foster experiential growth. Her accumulated skills and background equip Louise with even greater opportunities to offer her clients a truly multi faceted approach to therapy.

Louise specializes in working with family systems to promote interconnectedness and with individuals to recognize their goal towards healthy behavioral patterns. Her specialties include anxiety, trauma, attachment and relational issues. She supports clients to experience emotions as they arise in the safety of a therapy session. Here, they can discover for themselves the value of awareness and more flexible management of emotions. Louise has also worked with couples to foster the development of emotional intelligence and the importance of secure relationships.

Louise has a specialty working with Neurodiverse couples. She works under the supervision of Dr. Thomas Lucking, PhD who is a published author, speaker, and expert in the field of Neurodiversity. Louise supports NT partners who are struggling with OTRS (Ongoing Traumatic Relationship Syndrome). She uses the Island of Shared meaning model that Dr. Lucking created to support ND relationships and partners to bridge the Neurodiverse gap that these relationships struggle with. 

Louise is currently training to obtain certification as an eco therapy guide. She has a deep passion for the healing qualities of nature and what it can bring to a client’s therapeutic experience. She continues to exercise and develop the use of experiential therapy as an approach to organize feelings and form a narrative around an overwhelming experience.

Clients: Children, adolescents, adults, older adults, couples (Neurodiverse and Neurotypical) and families.

Modalities:

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
• Dialectal Behavioral Therapy (DBT)
• Art Therapy
• Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
• Play Therapy
• Experiential Therapy
• Communication Skill Building using the Island of Shared Meaning model

Specialties and Practice Areas:

• Autism Spectrum
• Family issues
• Neurodiverse couples including NT partner support
• Child development
• Aging
• Life Transitions
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Trauma related issues
• Mindfulness

Locations: Telehealth and Santa Cruz office

Louise is a member of Therapy InMotion