Complex Trauma Therapy

With Kiel MᶜFarland, PsyD

I specialize in complex trauma, with doctoral-level research focused on how multiple life factors shape our feelings and actions. Data shows it’s never just one thing.

Are you constantly scanning for what might go wrong?

Do you keep asking yourself, “is it me?” 

Relationships can feel confusing or unstable. Trust is hard, even when you want connection. Other times you may feel triggered by things that don’t seem to affect other people, making you question what’s really going on. 

Complex trauma is layered, lived, and active in your day to day, with deep and complicated origins. It has many influences that interact, like income level, culture, minority status, and personal history. Sometimes the trauma is from an obvious crisis, but other times it feels like an invisible cancer that has its hooks in everything.

Complex Trauma Clients Come To Me When They’re:

  • Feeling on edge

  • Distrustful

  • Friendships or relationships are constantly rocky

  • Easily triggered

  • Confused by their own behavior

  • Carrying shame

  • Longing for peace

When you’ve been carrying more than people can see, my therapy helps.

How Therapy With Me Works

Therapy with me is active, honest, and connected. We will look at how your past is shaping your present, while building skills you can use to help soften trauma’s effects.

A big part of therapy  is helping you see how things are linked together in ways that have not made sense before. I will support you, and also challenge you to go deep. While learning practical skills to manage your feelings, together we’ll build up your sense of worth and control. 

Modalities I Use

  • Explores how past experiences shape current patterns so you understand why you feel and react the way you do. This then allows you to be purposeful about your choices.

  • Builds practical tools to shift thought patterns to reduce self-blame and reactivity.

  • Looks at culture, identity, and environment to make sense of complex, layered trauma.

  • Focuses on what’s already working to build confidence and forward movement.

Feel Like Yourself

As you process and settle trauma, you’ll notice real shifts in daily life.

After Complex Trauma Therapy, My Clients Report:

  • Sleeping better

  • Calm

  • Feel safer in the world

  • More stable relationships

  • Choosing healthier partners 

  • Know how to soothe themselves 

  • Like themselves more

About Kiel MᶜFarland, PsyD

My therapy is designed for people navigating complex trauma and it is shaped by both deep clinical training and real-world experience with trauma and recovery.

Together, we’ll slow things down, understand what’s shaped you, and help you craft a outlook on life that is more stable and clear. This is a road I’ve walked many times with clients, and the journey has taught me to be both gentle and strong in my work. I will meet you where you are, while helping you move forward towards healing.

Outside of therapy, I have been married for 24 years and have a college-age child. I’m also a lifelong artist who enjoys creative writing, crafting, and role-playing games like DnD. Before becoming a therapist, I was involved in community theater and volunteered with anti human trafficking organizations in Thailand. 

I love pets and have too many animals. I have 2 dogs that are way too smart for their own good, a talkative cat, an unknown number of fish, and a black snake.

Availability: I work with clients in person in Monrovia, Calif. and via Telehealth across California.

Education, Credentials, & Trainings

  • Licensed Clinical Psychologist, PSY36222

  • PsyD in Clinical Psychology, Fuller Graduate School of Psychology, APA Accredited

    • Culture and Community Psychology track

  • MA in Theology, Fuller Theological Seminary

  • MA in Psychology, Fuller Theological Seminary

  • PhD in Theology, in progress, Fuller Theological Seminary

    • Arts and Spirituality emphasis

  • BA and AA in Studio Arts with Honors

  • APA Accredited Doctoral Training & Internship

  • Post-Doctoral Psychodynamic focused program 

    • LGBTQ+ emphasis

  • Member, Glendale Area Mental Health Professionals Association

3 Steps To Get Started

  • Fill out the contact form and share what’s bringing you in. If I’m not the right fit, I will help guide you to someone who is.

  • We’ll have a short call to see if working together feels right and answer any questions you have.

  • We’ll begin understanding your story, your patterns, and what you want to change, while building a clear path forward.

Ready To Ease The Struggle?