"People start healing the moment they feel heard..."
Leisha Borja, MA, LMFT
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist, Certified Clinical Trauma Professional, Owner & Clinical Director of Thriving Lotus Family Therapy Group, INC
My Story
I completed graduate school at Pepperdine University in 2011 and have been practicing as a psychotherapist since 2010. I became a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in 2014. In response to the critical need of mental services during the 2019 COVID Pandemic, I opened up Thriving Lotus Family Therapy Group, INC to serve more people within the community of Santa Clarita and state of California.
Prior to my work as a Marriage & Family Therapist, I provided positive parenting and behavioral therapy to children with special needs. Post-graduate, I completed an externship in Functional Family Therapy and am experienced in assisting families to decrease incidences in acting out adolescents. I am a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional with International Association of Trauma Professionals.
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I come from a second-generation, Southeast Asian culture and have a deep understanding of the struggles of adolescents and their families adjusting to western cultural values and internal conflicts with assimilation. I am a survivor of trauma, which has given me great insight of my clients experiencing PTSD, anxiety, and depression.​​​
My Approach
I typically begin with a client-centered approach that focuses on strengths and empathy to empower and motivate an individual through the therapeutic process. I utilize a psychodynamic approach to engage clients through depth work to identify any unconscious parts that shape your current behaviors. Some individuals prefer a more goal-oriented approach and I often combine client-centered with Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT). CBT increases awareness of automatic thoughts, beliefs and behavior patterns that may have served as protection and survival, but are now contributing to the distress you are experiencing. My passion is providing a systems approach in supporting families in finding solutions to the problem together. I also, utilize Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) from a trauma perspective to help couples and individuals understand their level of engagement and disengagement from an attachment perspective and assist to gain safe, emotional connectedness with their partners and others.