Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Los Angeles
CBT for Teens & Young Adults
Maybe it's your teenager, more anxious and harder to reach than they used to be. Maybe it's your college student, calling home overwhelmed. Or maybe it's you, tired of being told to stop overthinking when that has never once worked.
Cognitive behavioral therapy is not about positive thinking. It's a practical, structured way to work on anxiety, OCD, and the thoughts that have started to take over.
You Might Be Here Because…
If you're a parentYour teen is anxious all the time, and it's getting worse, not better
Your college student is struggling with the jump to independence and won't ask for help
You've reassured them, reasoned with them, and waited it out. It helps for a night, then starts over.
If you're a young adultEveryone assumes you have it together, and you don't
The worrying, the rituals, and the self-criticism have taken over your days
You've told yourself to stop, to relax, or to get over it. It never quite takes.
Whatever brought you here, these struggles are real, and you don't have to work through them alone.
What Is CBT, and How Does It Work?
Cognitive behavioral therapy is built on a simple idea: your thoughts, your feelings, and what you do are connected. Change one and the others start to shift.
Here's what that looks like in practice. Someone who thinks nobody wants me there feels dread, so they skip the party, or the dorm event, or the study group. Skipping works, and the dread drops. But the thought gets a little more convincing, because they never found out what would have happened. That loop is what we interrupt.
Catch it
We catch the thought while it's happening, because most of the time it moves too fast to notice.
Check it
We check it against what's actually true, not what feels true.
Test it
We test it in the real world, in small steps you agree to, so your brain gets new evidence.
CBT is structured and active. You'll leave with things to try, and we'll look at how they went. I'm trained in cognitive behavioral therapy, including exposure and response prevention (ERP) for OCD, and I draw on acceptance and commitment therapy where it fits.
Meet Brooke Sundin, LMFT
Hi, I'm Brooke, an LMFT and the owner and founder of Light Minds Child and Family Therapy. I have over ten years of experience helping teens and young adults work through anxiety, OCD, self-esteem, and life transitions. Cognitive behavioral therapy is central to how I do that.
CREDENTIALS & TRAININGLicense: California #124192
Additional: TPMF1613 (FL), 14231277-3902 (UT), 2995 (TN)
Education: MS Marriage and Family Therapy, California State University, Long Beach
Certifications: SPACE (Yale Child Study Center), ACT (Institute for Better Health)
Areas I Can Help With
Where I focus mostAnxiety
The worry that hums in the background all day and gets loud at night. Racing thoughts, the sense of always falling behind, dread that shows up without a clear reason. We look at what your mind keeps predicting and what actually happens when you test it, so the worry has less pull over your choices.
OCD
Intrusive thoughts that feel impossible to ignore, and the rituals that promise relief but never quite deliver it. I use ERP, a specialized form of CBT and the most effective treatment for OCD, so you can face the fear those thoughts create without giving in to the rituals.
I also work with-
The voice in your head talks to you in a way you'd never talk to anyone else, and after a while you start to believe it. We take that inner critic apart, look at whether it's telling the truth, and build something steadier to stand on.
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Reading every room, rehearsing conversations for hours afterward, shrinking your life down to what feels safe. The fear of being judged is exhausting. We work on building real confidence in those situations, not just ways to push through them.
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Leaving home, starting college, finishing it and facing a world that suddenly expects answers. If you're figuring out life after college or any big change, I help you find your footing without the pressure to have it all sorted out.
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Nothing you do feels good enough, so starting means risking failure, and you put it off. The standards are impossible, but lowering them feels like giving up. We work on loosening that grip so you can build a kinder relationship with yourself.
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The heart-pounding, out-of-nowhere kind that convinces you something is badly wrong. We practice exercises for panic attacks together and work on the fear of the next one, which is often what keeps the cycle going.
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You've lost interest in things that used to matter. Getting out of bed feels pointless, and everything takes more effort than it should. We work on the thoughts and habits that keep the low mood going, and on small steps back toward what matters to you.
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CBT won't hurry grief, and it shouldn't try to. What it can do is ease the thoughts that make carrying a loss even heavier than it already is.
Who I Help
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Teens
Cognitive behavioral therapy for teens who are anxious, avoiding, or hard on themselves in a way that stopped looking like high standards a while ago. We work together, and I don't talk down to them.
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Young Adults
Cognitive behavioral therapy for young adults, in college and after, when everyone assumes you have it figured out. Anxiety, OCD, self-esteem, and the disorientation of not knowing what comes next. We start from where you actually are.
What Clients Say
"Brooke is a thoughtful and insightful clinician. She has helped our teen daughter rebuild her confidence and ability to handle anxiety. She's also given us tools as parents to support our daughter at home."
— L.N.
"Brooke is a kind and compassionate clinician. She cares a lot about her clientele and will go above and beyond to provide them with tools to move through the difficulties of life."
— A.P.
From the BlogOn Teens & Young Adults
Areas We Serve
Based in Los Angeles, I'm licensed in California, Florida, Utah, and Tennessee. All sessions take place over secure video, so there's no commute and no waiting room. Many of my clients are right here on the Westside, across West Los Angeles, Santa Monica, and Brentwood.
FAQs about CBT
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Cognitive behavioral therapists can help people with a wider range of different challenges. According to the American Psychological Association, CBT can be effective in treating anxiety, depression, substance use issues, relationship problems, eating disorders, and more.
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Yes. CBT is one of the most well-established, evidence-based therapies for anxiety, OCD, and depression, and it adapts well to teens and young adults. Part of why is that it's concrete and collaborative: you leave with something to try, not just talk, which tends to land with people who aren't sure therapy will help. I adjust the pace and the language to whoever is in front of me, whether that's a fifteen-year-old or a college senior.
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Ask whether they're actually trained in it, and ask what a session looks like. CBT is structured, so a CBT therapist should be able to tell you plainly what you'd be doing. Fit matters as much as method. Creating a space of trust is more important than any coping tool I can offer, so if the person doesn't feel right, keep looking.
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Yes! Several studies (like this one and this one) show that CBT can be a highly effective treatment.
At the same time, it's important to remember that each person is different. What works for one person may not work as well for someone else. In my practice, I customize each client's treatment plan to their unique needs and goals to help them get the most out of therapy.
Ready to Get Unstuck?
If cognitive behavioral therapy in Los Angeles sounds like what you've been looking for, I'd love to hear from you. The first call is free, and is a space to ask questions and see if we’re a good fit.