Larissa Pasut, MA, LMFT

I'm am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology, LMFT #121465. I've been working as a therapist since 2016. I began my work at the YWCA Silicon Valley’s Healing Center, where I focused on working with people who had experienced sexual and/or domestic violence in their lives. Over the years, I gained a deep clinical understanding of how experiencing trauma or attachment disruptions as a child affects a person's sense of self and their ability to develop a cohesive identity, and of the long-lasting effects on a person's ability to regulate their emotions, engage in relationships, and perhaps most importantly, to know and trust themselves. I came to understand the brilliant but ultimately self-defeating strategies that children use to survive their circumstances, strategies that they carry into adulthood where they no longer serve them. My approach is rooted in the belief that each person is unique and has an innate wisdom, and that we can all reach our full potential. I do believe that every decision we make and every action we take, regardless of how damaging it may seem in the moment, is an attempt at protecting ourselves and makes perfect sense when you consider who you are and what has happened to you in your life. I've learned how the nervous system works and I use this understanding as well as my practical distress tolerance and emotional regulation skills (DBT skills) to help you stabilize your day-to-day life so that you can feel a sense of agency and control, and begin doing the deeper healing. For deeper healing work, I use parts-based approaches using a blend of the Structural Dissociation model, Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment, ego state therapy and Internal Family Systems (IFS) which helps make sense of the conflicting impulses and urges you might experience. I can help you live your life according to your values, and help you understand why often you seem to work against yourself. I work to cultivate self-awareness, self-compassion and self-acceptance, to empower you and to help you recognize and redefine your core beliefs. I can also make use of hypnosis and EMDR and when appropriate to both help you stabilize and regulate your emotions as well as for trauma processing. With couples, I have an ability to see the dynamic at play and can help partners understand what is underneath the conflicts, and help you find more effective ways of getting your needs met. I tend to work with high-conflict couples, using my understanding of trauma to help them regulate during session and experience successful communication. You can move beyond surviving and thrive. Healing starts when you pick up the phone or email.