Hi there.
Hi, my name is Miranda Becker (they/them or she/her), a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist in the state of California (LMFT #148778).
Before entering this field, I worked in politics and advocacy. I continue to view mental health and resilience as deeply intertwined with social justice — both because injustice creates trauma, and because our determination to heal can elevate both ourselves and our larger communities.
As with many others in this profession, I came to the world of therapy through my own healing journey. I was lucky enough to have caring people there for me when I needed it most, and I hope to be able to do the same for others.
My previous counseling experience primarily focused on working with LGBTQIA+ clients, and as someone who identifies as queer and gender fluid, it has been a great honor to be able to give back to my community. However, I am excited to connect with couples, families, and individuals from many other communities as well.
Why start therapy?
It takes a lot of courage to admit that something isn’t working, and that it’s time to change how you’re approaching life.
Maybe you’ve been struggling with racing thoughts, a creeping sense of dread, or worries that you just can’t shake. Maybe your relationships aren’t feeling as solid as they once did, or you’re wanting to tackle some old family habits that you don’t want to recreate.
Or maybe you’re just feeling lost in the fog, wanting to find your way out.
This is an opportunity for you to get curious about your life and about how to incorporate more gentleness into how you interact with yourself, in order shift patterns where you might otherwise feel stuck.
My specialties
My specialties include:
Growing your Intuition, Self-Empowerment, and Self-Compassion
C-PTSD, trauma, and abuse, including: surviving sexual trauma, narcissistic abuse, childhood events, family dysfunction, religious trauma, and societal oppression
Depth work into family of origin and intergenerational patterns
Spirituality and ancestral work
Anxiety, panic, and chronic stress
Perfectionism
Self-esteem, self-confidence, and codependency
People-pleasing patterns
Working with LGBTQIA+ couples and individuals
My approaches
I believe the key to therapeutic healing comes down to three primary components:
Self-Trust (Intuition)
Self-Empowerment
Self-Compassion
My work focuses primarily around helping clients build these three pillars of healing within themselves. I take a nonjudgmental approach that is based around meeting you where you are and accepting you how you are. Our conversations together will be deeply strengths-based, because it’s always worth reminding you that you have many wonderful qualities — perhaps even more than you knew! I also have a warm sense of humor and enjoy injecting that into our conversations. Even though we do talk about hard things, we can also take some moments to laugh!
I approach therapy from a holistic perspective that incorporates several primary modalities or therapeutic schools of thought. These include Rogerian therapy (sometimes called Humanism or Person-Centered), Attachment theory (exploring relational patterns from your family and childhood), Internal Family Systems (IFS) parts-work, and Somatic work.
Below, you can learn more about the modalities I pull from:
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The body holds so many memories of experiences we’ve been through, even if we’ve consciously pushed those memories to the side. Tapping into the body can help you reconnect with your vitality, intuition, truth, and power.
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We are all multifaceted, often contradictory beings. By acknowledging the complex inner sides of yourself, you can start feeling in charge of your own life and gain a deeper sense of self-compassion and self-acceptance along the way.
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Attachment theory is about recognizing connections between how you were treated in childhood - especially by caregivers - and how you show up in relationships today. It gives us the opportunity for deep exploration into how to build safer, more secure attachment to ourselves and others by healing wounds from the past.
How does therapy work?
Coming to therapy can feel like taking a big risk: it’s a plunge into the unknown, and also into some things we know (but maybe don’t always want to face). It’s a place to explore, dive deep, process, and — most importantly — form a safe, healing way of relating to others.
While you go on this journey, I hope you can see me as a Fellow Traveler walking the path alongside you. I can’t do the work for you, but I can remind you that you’re not alone.
When working with me, ideally you will feel you have someone in your corner, who accepts you as you are, sees you with full compassion, and can empathetically connect with you, no matter.
Over time, I will guide you to tenderly notice, honor, and accept your full range of emotions, including ones we often turn away from.
All sides of you are valid and worthwhile, and they have a story to share. By listening to these stories, you can heal those sides of you that have remained trapped in pain from the past.