Jodi Bruce, MFTI

San Pedro Psychotherapist

Psychotherapist ~ Adults, Couples, Adolescents, Children, and Families

Jodi Bruce has worked for over a decade with adolescents, adults, couples and families dealing with a variety of problems including depression, anxiety, addiction, Borderline Personality Disorder, trauma and eating disorders.  She has been trained in evidence-based therapy and trauma specialist modalities such as DBT and CBT. These modalities can provide you with the tools and skills you need to overcome the barriers to living a fulfilling life. Jodi assists her clients by being compassionate about their life experiences, while empowering the client to make positive changes.  She will assist you with challenging negative thinking patterns and behaviors that no longer are beneficial for a happy and joyous life.

Specialty Experience:

Dual Diagnosis
Jodi has worked in residential care treatment centers for those diagnosed with both a substance use and mental health disorders.  While working in residential care Jodi developed necessary skills to provide intensive treatment for those dually diagnosed.  She is also trained to assist family members navigate the challenges of dealing with their loved one.

Eating Disorders

Jodi has experience with both adolescents and adults suffering from eating disorders including anorexia, bulimia and binge eating.  Jodi can help you explore your dysfunctional relationship with self-esteem, body image and food.  Seeking resolution and recovery from your eating disorder will take the intervention of a variety of evidence-based therapies.

Borderline Personality Disorder
In recent history, those diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder may have believed their diagnosis was hopeless. Today’s studies show using the evidence-based modality of Dialectical Behavioral Therapy can dramatically change the impact of BPD in your life and the life of your loved ones. Jodi has helped clients learn skills to regulate emotions, become more mindful of their everyday experiences, strengthen interpersonal effectiveness and tolerate emotional distress more effectively.

Parenting
Jodi has worked with parents in outpatient group and individual therapy to explore psychological developmental stages, effective disciplining, boundary-setting and communication. Parenting has its rewards and its challenges. Understanding how your own parenting is influenced by your family of origin may assist with changing negative patterns in parenting.

Trauma

Therapy can help you better understand the effects of trauma on your mind, body and spirit.  It is important that you seek help in a structured and safe way. Trauma is often experienced through dreams, flashbacks, hypervigilance and restlessness. Manifestation of trauma can look like self-harm, addiction, anger and destruction. Jodi can provide the safety and structure you will need to begin the process of healing.

Grief and Loss

Jodi has worked with those who have suffered considerable loss. Grief and loss is not limited to death. Death often marks the beginning of a life transition. Life transitions happen when the way we experienced the world has changed. These transitions can be an effect of age, loss of relationships, death of a loved one or pet, achieving sobriety from substance abuse, loss of status, job or retirement.

Addiction and Recovery

Addiction is known as a family disease. Addiction has devastating effects to the addicted and those who are closest. Jodi has worked in abstinence and harm-reduction ways to help her clients regain control in their lives. The process of recovery and maintenance often presents one with a new set of challenges.

Family Therapy

Families are the one of the most influential factors in our social development. Each family presents a unique personality and dynamic that can struggle with various transitions. Families often seek support to gain perspective of each other through an objective person. Jodi takes the time to understand the individual personalities and unique dynamic of the family in effort to unify the family through their strengths.

Adolescents

Adolescence is often revered as a difficult stage of life. Jodi sees adolescence as one of the most important and impactful stages of life. The transition of child to young adult is often met with parental anxiety. This stage requires parents to rely on the parenting but transition to also being a mentor as their young adult tries to figure it out on their own. This stage has incredible pressure for the young adult as their body and mind is in a constant state of change and the social influences of behavior can have lifelong consequences.  Therapy is often one of the safest places for a young adult to process and grow.

Young Adults

Heard of a quarter-life crisis? The time when you’ve become an adult and yet still find you may be struggling to have the status or respect of older adults. You may also find that now that you have made some serious adult decisions such as a career or relationship, you may find you are now questioning everything. Jodi has a nonjudgmental place for you to start exploring your life, your decisions and your goals.

Couples Therapy

Couples often seek therapy when the dynamic encounters a seemingly impossible roadblock. The foundations of a relationship are thought of as communication, trust, respect and love. Damage to the foundation can cause structural collapse. Often times, an unbiased participant in the dynamic can assist the couple to overcome issues such as infidelity, emotional cheating, intimacy issues, family of origin disputes or parenting.

Anxiety & Panic

Those who struggle with managing their anxiety and attempting to avoid panic attacks often feel that every day is merely surviving. Jodi has helped her clients become more aware and less dependent on the avoidant behaviors that temporarily managed anxiety while simultaneously made their anxiety worse (drugs, food, sex, gambling, isolation, etc.). Using techniques from CBT and DBT, Jodi can help you stop avoiding and decrease your reactivity to anxiety and panic.

Maternal Mental Health

Throughout history and across cultures, mothers are revered. There is often pressure felt to maintain an idealistic position as a mother. Mothers, whether they are new mothers or empty-nesters can experience a variety of issues including but not limited to postpartum depression, changes in identity, struggling with memories of own childhood, changes to relationships, bodily and hormonal changes or judgment in the never-ending attempt to juggle the needs of others with the needs of the self. Jodi provides a place where you don’t have to be anything more than who you are.

Blended Families

Most families today include some form of, “yours, mine and ours”. Blended families can include the blend of two divorced and remarried parents with the children of those marriages or a multi-generational household. Jodi has worked with the individuals, couples and families of blended families in hopes of easing difficult transitions, redefining roles or identities and establishing a healthy homeostasis.

Codependency

Codependency and “love addiction” can have the same dangerous effects as any addiction. Domestic violence and abusive relationships commonly have a factor of codependency. The codependent person often feels shame and does not seek help for fear of judgement or expectations of leave their loved one.  Jodi can assist you in your ability to become interdependent through reflection of healthy boundaries, effective decision-making and safety planning.

Education:

Antioch University –Los Angeles, California
Masters of Arts in Clinical Psychology, Psychological Trauma Studies

Southwest Minnesota State University – Marshall, Minnesota
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology

License & Certification:

Registered Marriage and Family Intern #86437 – Supervised by Alicia MacGowan, LCSW (LCS#21303)

“I look forward to helping you get past being stuck in the problem and instead finding solutions.”