I am licensed in California with 34 years of professional work experience. I have experience in helping clients with stress and anxiety, coping with addictions, relationship issues, & trauma and abuse. I work with my clients to create an open and safe environment where thoughts and feelings can be shared without fear of judgment. It takes courage to seek out a more fulfilling and happier life and to take the first steps towards a change. I am here to support & empower you in that journey.
Coming soon -My Book, Different Drummer. "This memoir traces a life that begins with a joyful, energetic childhood and moves into the turbulence and self-discovery of adolescence. Early adulthood weaves together marriage, school, and drumming before the author enters the USMC and serves in Vietnam-an experience that reshapes his understanding of himself and the world. Returning home, he navigates post-war uncertainty, pursues college, and eventually confronts a period of heavy drinking that culminates in sobriety and a new beginning in Dallas. A move to California marks the start of healing, community, and creative expression-leading to graduate school, psychoanalytic training, and a career as a psychotherapist. In later chapters, he reflects on becoming "a different drummer," the life he has built today, and the meaning he draws from the journey in a meditative epilogue.
Additional areas of focus: Abandonment, Adoption and foster care, Attachment issues, Codependency, Communication problems, Control issues, Coping with natural or human-caused disaster, Divorce and separation, Drug and alcohol addiction, Eating and food-related issues, Family of origin issues, Forgiveness, Guilt and shame, HIV / AIDS, Isolation / loneliness, Life purpose, Men's issues, Midlife crisis, Veteran and Armed Forces Issues, Money and financial issues, Mood disorders, Multicultural concerns, Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD, Panic disorder and panic attacks, Personality disorders, Post-traumatic stress, Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling), Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), Self-love, Sex addiction, Sexual dysfunction, Sexuality, Smoking / vaping cessation, Social anxiety and phobia, Trichotillomania, Workplace issues, Young adult issues
Clinical approaches: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Attachment-Based Therapy, Client-Centered Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT), Existential Therapy, Gottman Method, Jungian Therapy, Mindfulness Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy, Solution-Focused Therapy, Trauma-Focused Therapy, Internal Family Systems
CA LMFT 28825
These quotes represent just a few of the many positive reviews that we have received for Dr. James Wood. We don't pay anyone to provide their review and they are all made voluntarily. Some people's experience receiving therapy with BetterHelp might be different.
He is awesome!
Written on Nov 19, 2025 after therapy with James for 2 months on issues concerning stress, anxiety, relationship issues, family conflicts, and self esteem