Therapists in Huntington Beach — Beach Boulevard

Our Beach Boulevard practice is the ACT Family Counseling office that focuses on younger clients. It is one of two we run in Huntington Beach.

Therapy for children and teenagers

A teenager therapist works here with the things families usually arrive with: a teenager who has stopped talking, school refusal, anxiety that has turned into not leaving the house, self-harm, or a household that has run out of ways to ask what is wrong.

We see children too, and we see parents on their own when that is the sensible place to start. You do not need a diagnosis to book, and you do not need your teenager to be willing on the first call — that is a normal place to begin rather than a reason to wait.

Parents usually start the search for teenager therapy somewhere around the third bad week — not at a crisis, just at the point where nothing they try is landing. Counseling teens here is unhurried: the first session is often mostly listening, and a teenager who says almost nothing in week one is a normal beginning, not a wasted appointment.

We see children as well, and we see parents on their own when that is the sensible place to start. Play is how younger children do the talking, so sessions with them look different from sessions with a fifteen-year-old, and both look different again from a family sitting down together.

How the work is actually done

Our therapists work in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), DBT therapy (dialectical behavior therapy) — often the fit for a teenager whose feelings arrive at full volume — play therapy with younger children, and EMDR where trauma is part of the picture — if you want an EMDR therapist specifically, say so at intake. Which one fits is a conversation at intake rather than something decided before you arrive.

Sessions are weekly to begin with, and there is no minimum commitment. You do not need a diagnosis to book, and you do not need your teenager to be willing on the first call.

ADHD, focus and school

A lot of what arrives here has already been named somewhere else: a teacher who raised it, a pediatrician who mentioned it, an ADHD diagnosis from a year ago that nobody built a plan around. Working with an ADHD therapist is the part that comes after the label — structure that survives a real week, homework that stops being a nightly fight, and a teenager who stops reading "lazy" into every piece of feedback.

One thing to be straight about: we do not carry out psychological testing or formal assessments here. If that is what you need, say so when you get in touch and we will give you the name of a psychologist who does it.

For parents on their own

Plenty of first appointments here are a parent by themselves, with the teenager still refusing to come. That is a normal starting point. Changing how the conversation goes at home is often the thing that gets a teenager through the door a month later, and sometimes it is enough on its own.

Adults and couples too

The office is not children-only. Adults are seen here too: therapy for anxiety, depression, grief and life changes. Couples see a marriage counselor here on the same basis as at our other locations — marriage counseling and couples counseling for unmarried partners work the same way, and premarital counseling before a wedding is a normal reason to book.

Where to find us

18377 Beach Blvd #330, Huntington Beach, CA 92648 — on Beach Boulevard just north of Ellis Avenue, by Five Points and a few minutes from Huntington Beach Central Park and downtown. It is an easy run down Beach Boulevard from Westminster and Fountain Valley, and there is parking on site, which matters more than it sounds when you are getting a reluctant teenager to an appointment. Telehealth is available anywhere in California.

Our other office nearby

Our second local practice is on Algonquin Street. We also see clients in Newport Beach and across Orange County.

Insurance

We are contracted with Kaiser Permanente, Aetna, Cigna, Anthem Blue Cross of California, Blue Shield of California — Direct, Health Net, TRICARE and Optum, among others. See the full list of plans we are contracted with.