Talia Banayan, Psy.D., Registered Psychological Associate (PSB #94027918)
Dr. Banayan earned her Doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Loma Linda University. She has been trained in a variety of different clinical settings including school systems, community mental health clinics, medical centers, and now private practice. She has worked with a diverse group of clients with regard to ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, and age. Dr. Banayan works with individuals across the lifespan and has focused training regarding infant mental health, health psychology, parenting services, and trauma recovery.
Dr. Banayan’s statement on her clinical work: “As a psychologist, I see therapy as an extremely personalized journey with therapy being a client-centered experience. Given that I work with individuals as early as infancy all the way through adulthood, I have a wide breadth of therapeutic skills that adjust based on the client’s developmental stage and individual needs. The first phase of my work with a client of any age is to listen to their needs and work together to establish the approach that is most beneficial to the goals they have and the reasons they come into therapy.
I recognize that therapy is often the first time many people have a safe and supportive place to sit with their most private thoughts and prior life experiences. As a psychologist with adults and young adults, I follow my client’s lead while infusing therapeutic techniques including but not limited to emotion-focused approaches, mindful grounding, somatic/body-based learning, and cognitive-behavioral skills. So many of us live our lives on autopilot, without recognizing the factors of our own behaviors that serve us and those that are hurting us. This can cause individuals to live life in a state of reactivity rather than engaging from a values-driven and centered state. Therapy is a place to make the unconscious experience conscious. So much of the unconscious experience can be stored in the body and presents as physical pain. I value the incorporation of cognitive, behavioral, emotional, and somatic skills to release this pain. I do so by using warmth and strength-based communication to cultivate a space that feels safe, supportive, and empowering.
When working with children in their early years, I actively involve parents in order to support their child to the greatest potential. I see my role as a child psychologist as a facilitator of therapeutic skills to be used at home and daily living by the family. While I teach children to use their coping skills to regulate themselves, I believe in involving parents making it a process of supported regulation rather than isolation. Beyond the use of behavioral interventions, I believe that cultivating a deep understanding of the family culture and specifically regarding the parents’ own life experience and their views on parenting allows me to tailor my work most appropriately to best meet the family’s needs.”
Dr. Banayan is currently a Psychological Associate under the licensed supervision of Allyn T. Rodriguez, Psy.D. (PSY 27459). You may contact Dr. Banayan directly at (504) 383-3626 or dr.taliapsyd@gmail.com to discuss your goals for therapy and how we can best support you.