Ria Severance, LMFT 24650
Ria Severance is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, who brings a deep, personal commitment and honed clinical skill to her work.
Regardless of her clinical focus, Ria is a validating context for growth. She empowers clients to build on their strengths and creativity, and facilitates leaving them inspired by who they are, as well as effective in their relationships and lives. Clients learn to generate and live into their vision of a life truly worth living, regardless of their circumstances.
A bilingual/bicultural Latina, Ms. Severance has 30+ years of clinical experience developing empowering relationships with clients of diverse cultures, classes, interests and needs. She has an exceptional ability to perceive, articulate and reflect multiple levels of a person’s experience and to communicate that in ways that enhance self-understanding, compassion, self-acceptance, inclusion and the motivation to build relationship skills. Warm and non-judgmental, Ria’s style is genuine and direct. Ms. Severance is an out-of-the-box, creative thinker – quick to envision and facilitate win-win collaborations and solutions to relational challenges.
She is a dynamic and engaging speaker and offers monthly free webinars, for clinicians and the public, regarding the pros and cons of Divorce Options, including those more likely to preserve respect and assets. Her fresh approach ignites and invigorates as it empowers. In the past, Ria has also offered professional trainings at annual conferences for the state’s Collaborative Practice California (CPCal), and the International Academy of Collaborative Professionals (IACP). Ms. Severance serves on the Boards of Pasadena Collaborative Divorce, Los Angeles Collaborative Family Law Association (LACFLA), and (Co-Founder) Virtual Divorce California, and also volunteers as a Co-Mediator and Divorce Coach at Loyola Law School.
PRACTICE SPECIALTIES
• DBT-informed treatment (Dialectical Behavior Therapy – not currently on a team) for Depression, Anxiety, Traumatic syndromes, and Dual-diagnoses/Post-Alcohol/Substance abuse recovery
• Gifted Adults, Teens and Children
• Parent-Child Relationships
• In-Home Parenting Therapy for challenging child behaviors
• Parent Skills training
• Pre-Marital Counseling
• Decision Counseling
• Couples Therapy
• Co-Parenting Therapy/Skills-building
• Consultaton regarding Resist-Refuse Dynamics
• Collaborative Divorce: Adult Communications Coach & Child Specialist
• Mediation of Parenting Plans (Custody Agreements) and Co-Mediation
• Executive Development Consulting – Workplace/Management Effectiveness and Team-Building
• Supervision/Consultation for licensed colleagues pursuing AAMFT & CAMFT Supervisor Certification or for High-Conflict, Divorce-Related cases.
EDUCATION, LICENSE, CERTIFICATIONS AND TRAINING
• UCLA PSYCHOLOGY BA – 1983 SUMMA CUM LAUDE
• CSULA PSYCHOLOGY MS – 1986 – GRADUATED W 4.0
• Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist – 1986
• American Association of Marriage & Family Therapists (AAMFT)- Approved Clinical Supervisor
• California Association of Marriage & Family Therapists (CAMFT)– Approved Clinical Supervisor
• Collaborative Divorce Coach & Child Specialist Training Certificate (Collaborative Divorce Team Training, LLC)
• Collaborative Divorce Streamlined Protocols Training Certificate
• Dispute & Divorce Mediation Training – UCLA
• Divorce Mediation Training Advanced Certificate
• Advanced Training in Dialectical Behavior Therapy – including evidence-based methods for Emotion Regulation, Distress Tolerance, Interpersonal Effectiveness and Mindfulness
• Certificate of Advanced Post-graduate 4-year Training in Object Relations and Self-Psychology
• Countless other psychology and ethics-related trainings.
MEMBERSHIPS & HONORS
• Winner of the 2018 “Eureka Award“ by Collaborative Practice California at our annual conference. The “Eureka Award” recognizes individuals who have made significant contributions and demonstrated an abiding dedication to establishing and sustaining Collaborative Practice in California.
• Received “Best of 2019 South Pasadena” Award
• Elected Member Phi Beta Kappa (Scholars Honor Society)
• Elected Member Psi Chi – National Honor Society in Psychology
• AAMFT member
• CAMFT member
• CCP (Civil Collaborative Professionals) Founding Member, Marketing & Training Committees
• Pasadena Collaborative Divorce, Board member
• Virtual Divorce California, Founding Member & Board Member
• LACFLA Board Member (Los Angeles Collaborative Family Law Association) – Featured Honorary Member of the Month, Serves as training staff for LACFLA’s Collaborative Practice Trainings
• CPCal (Collaborative Practice California), member and conference presenter
• IACP (International Association of Collaborative Practice), member and conference presenter
• Loyola Law School’s Center for Conflict Resolution – volunteer serving the underserved as Collaborative Divorce Coach and Co-Mediator
• Senator Carol Liu’s 21st District Women’s Council to provide leadership in the areas of Human Services and Education
• World Education University (tuition-free online university), Advisory Board Member and Consultant
• Fifty-Fifty Leadership Board Member (A women’s organization geared to ensuring 50% of the world’s leaders are women), current projects include empowering young women in foster care transitioning out of the system
LOCATION:
1910 Huntington Drive, #16
South Pasadena CA 91030