Louise Sturm, MA, AMFT, APCC
Registered Associate Marriage and Family Therapist AMFT 123259
Registered Associate Professional Clinical Counselor APCC 8935
Supervised by Dr. Thomas Lucking, PhD, LMFT 97696
831.607.9925
Appointments
[email protected]
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
High Praise for Louise and Trauma Treatment at Therapy InMotion
“I’ve been seeing Louise since I started therapy about a year ago, Louise was my first therapist. I’m over 70 years old and had no idea I had PTSD. After a while, we built trust between us and I felt a shift for me. Louise is very structured with her approach and it has been so helpful for me. Every time I gave it my best and I noticed it helping quickly. I’m able to talk to my friends and family. I went so long without anyone even knowing I was in the war so you can imagine how much improvement was needed. It has just turned my life around and I can’t thank her enough. I had to call and tell you about it because she’s changed my entire life. I’ve been sleeping, the nightmares have stopped, I talk with my kids, now grown, and have valuable relationships. I can’t thank you all enough for your hard work. It’s a team effort I’m sure but Louise really saved me. You all should just take all of the veterans because I’ve never felt understood like I do here. Please let everyone know how much I appreciate it.”
– Veteran with PTSD
Amazing Trauma Therapy at Therapy InMotion
“My husband has severe combat related PTSD. We had gone through several therapists and none of them could ever get beyond step one with my husband. He didn’t want to meet with them and was angry after every therapy session – there was never any progress.
Then we tried Therapy InMotion. From the beginning his therapist (Louise) knew that pushing him would not work. She was very patient, gentle and skilled, gaining his trust, which was so integral to their relationship and his treatment.
She is making good progress with him, and my husband is light hearted after their sessions. Louise has also helped me with some of the issues of being a wife whose husband has PTSD. We couldn’t be more pleased with the progress Louise has made. I would highly recommend Louise and Therapy InMotion.“
– Jill M.
Louise is a member of Therapy InMotion