Patrick Cleveland, Founder & Clinical Director
Patrick Cleveland, M.A., L.M.F.T.
Founder & Clinical Director
Greetings! I am the founder and clinical director of Daybreak Counseling Center. I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and an Adjunct Professor of Psychology at Long Beach City College. I first began to study psychology at California State University, Fullerton where I graduated with bachelor's degrees in both psychology and philosophy. My own struggles in life during my teen years led me to these areas of study as I began to ask questions as to why I had made certain decisions and what illusory force was driving these decisions? Through encountering and studying psychoanalysis, I was intrigued by Freud’s discovery of the unconscious mind as a potential answer. It is my continued fascination with the activity of unconscious mental life and a deep passion to help others with the knowledge I've learned that still drives my work and research to this day.
I attained a master’s degree in Integral Counseling Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco which emphasizes a unique approach of utilizing and integrating both Eastern spirituality and Western psychology to facilitate holistic healing and growth. I went on to achieve a second master’s degree in Philosophy as A Way of Life from the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom. My openness to philosophical questions and existential themes is essential to my work as a psychotherapist. I am open to discussing any of life's difficult questions, spirituality issues, and existential themes that may be running through your mind.
Through studying contemporary psychoanalysis I came across the work of French psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan. It was Lacan’s emphasis on desire, language, and how they relate to understanding unconscious motivation that drove me to specialize in Lacanian psychoanalytic therapy. I have traveled for many years to Quebec, Canada to attend annual seminars at the Ecole Freudienne du Quebec (G.I.F.R.I.C.) for continued education and training in Lacanian Psychoanalysis. I also utilize the evidenced based cutting edge approach developed by Richard Schwartz, PhD known as Internal Family Systems. This approach helps us to connect with different parts of ourselves, uncover hidden blocks, and focuses on helping us to get to know our internal world on a much deeper level. I mainly utilize an eclectic foundation and approach to therapy focused on meeting clients where they're at with the best therapeutic intervention, modality, and style that suits them and facilitates personal growth and healing and in doing so I draw from various schools of thought such as self-psychology, object relations, relational psychotherapy, Jungian psychotherapy, Gestalt therapy, internal family systems, inter-subjectivity, dialectical behavioral therapy, mindfulness, narrative therapy, solution focused therapy, humanistic-existential psychotherapy as well as various other psycho-dynamic approaches to psychotherapy. For more information about how I view and practice therapy, please visit the what is psychotherapy? page on this site.
I have worked in the mental health field for over 18 years with various populations including men on parole with substance abuse issues, the chronically mentally ill in both inpatient and outpatient settings, at risk youth, adolescents, college students, teens, children, families, couples, and adult individuals. In my practice now I mainly work with high functioning adults and professionals on areas of personal development, stress, anxiety, depression, life transitions, and relationship issues. After having overcome so much in my own life and personal struggles I am thankful to now be in a position to help others. I remain committed to my own personal development so that I can keep learning and continuing to do all I can to reach my potential and be the best therapist and human being I can possibly be. To inquire about setting up an appointment with me please call our office at 562-566-4257
Here is a List of Issues I Commonly Work With:
· High Functioning Depression & Anxiety
· Relationship Issues & Family Conflicts
· Navigating Life Transitions
· Personal Development & Knowledge of Self
· Social Anxiety & Self-Esteem
· Trauma, Physical & Emotional Abuse
· Spirituality & Loss of Meaning
· Motivation, Creativity, & Performance
· Addiction and Substance Use
· Grief and Loss
Education:
University of Liverpool ( Liverpool, United Kingdom )
M.A. Philosophy As A Way of Life
California Institute of Integral Studies (San Francisco, CA )
M.A. Integral Counseling Psychology
California State University, Fullerton (Fullerton, CA)
B.A. Psychology and B.A. Philosophy
Additional Training:
Ecole Freudienne Du Quebec, Canada
(G.I.F.R.I.C.) Ongoing yearly training in Lacanian Psychoanalysis with training psychoanalysts Willy Appollon, Danielle Bergeron, and Lucie Cantin
New Center for Psychoanalysis, (NCP) Los Angeles - Ongoing training in subjects relevant to the practice of psychotherapy
Los Angeles Institute and Society for Psychoanalysis (LAISPS)
Newport Psychoanalytic Institute (NPI)
Professional Activities and Memberships
- Member of the California Psychoanalytic Circle (San Francisco and Los Angeles) of the Ecole Freudienne du Quebec, GIFRIC ( Groupe Interdisciplinaire Freudienne de Recherche et d'Intervention Clinique et Culturelle)
- Psi Chi National Honors Society in Psychology
- American Philosophical Association
- Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California
- American Psychological Association
- California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT)
- London Society of the New Lacanian School of Psychoanalysis
- New Center for Psychoanalysis, Los Angeles
- Newport Psychoanalytic Institute, Tustin
* To view my complete curriculum vitae and list of clinical experience click click here..
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