Samantha Davidge is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker passionate about helping clients live happy and fulfilling lives. She approaches her clients with genuine interest and understands the decision to enter therapy, explore difficulties, and make changes, is a courageous one. Clients have shared about Samantha's patience and skills that enhanced their capacity to gain insight, make mental shifts, apply behavioral changes and achieve a truly enhanced life experience. A great deal of Samantha's therapeutic work has been in the area of death and dying. Her work with terminally-ill patients and their families provided a foundation for serving and understanding individuals from many different cultural, ethnic, faith-based, racial, and socio-economic communities.
Samantha's experience with assisting individuals includes developing and exploring strategies to improve clients' coping with problems such as:
Loss and Grief
Employment Changes
Strained family or peer relationships
Parenting Difficulties
Chronic or Acute Physical Health Issues
Anger
Stress
Anxiety
Trauma
Depression
Adoption Related Issues
Mid and later life issues i.e. empty nest, retirement, downsizing, caring for an aging or ill family member
Adjustment or coping difficulties related to the above issues may be experienced as diminished ability to retain information, difficulty focusing and/or finishing tasks, strained personal and/or professional relationships, changed sleeping or eating behaviors, poor school or work performance, moodiness, difficulty making decisions, feelings of indifference, feeling less interested or motivated in activities that are usually enjoyable, or physical changes such as headaches, digestive troubles, muscle tension and/or soreness, pacing, lowered energy level, and/or using alcohol or other substances to alter emotions.
Samantha earned her Master's in Social Work from USC in 1991. She has been trained in psychodynamic and cognitive behavioral theories and has extensive experience in assisting her clients learn, apply and integrate evidence-based approaches to treat and improve their specific problems.
Additional areas of focus: Addictions, Grief, Intimacy-related issues, Sleeping disorders, Parenting issues, Anger management, Self esteem, Career difficulties, Coping with life changes, Coaching, Compassion fatigue, ADHD, Abandonment, Adoption and Foster Care, Aging and Geriatric Issues, Attachment issues, Blended Family Issues, Caregiver issues and stress, Forgiveness, Hospice and End of Life Counseling, Isolation / loneliness, Money and financial issues, Mood disorders , Multicultural Concerns, Post-traumatic stress, Self-love, Young Adult Issues
Clinical approaches: Attachment-Based Therapy, Client-Centered Therapy, Mindfulness Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy, Solution-Focused Therapy, Trauma-Focused Therapy
CA LCSW 18228