About Joy
Joy is a Registered Associate Marriage and Family Therapist (AFMT140627), supervised by Holly Lien, LMFT (#35076). She received her Master's of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy from Chapman University and her Master's of Science in Educational Counseling from National University. She also holds a Pupil Personnel Services credential (PPSC) and has worked as a counselor in K-12 and higher education for over 15 years.
Education and Licensure
Approach to Therapy
Joy’s life experiences and work allow her to connect deeply with clients who struggle with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD and Complex PTSD), anxiety, depression, emotional dysregulation, and difficulty coping with life stressors. She does so by weaving Cognitive Behavioral therapy (CBT), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and humanistic therapy. However, Joy firmly believes that the client is the expert in their life and prefers to meet her clients where they are in their healing journey and help them find the path that works best for them.
Joy has worked with a diverse group of clients from a variety of socio-economic, cultural, and racial backgrounds, as well as clients from various sexual orientations and identities.
She is LGBTQIA+ affirming, neurodivergent affirming, and continues to learn and grow in order to be a better therapist and human-doing. Joy provides an empathetic, supportive, and safe space for clients to explore their inner world, while helping them recognize their strengths and develop new coping strategies for the future.
Joy has made an indelible, positive impact on my life, helping me to gain new perspectives and navigate challenges with confidence. She has played an instrumental role in helping me become my own advocate—a skill I will carry with me throughout my life. In all our time together, I have never felt unheard or insignificant.
- A.W.
Joy’s ability to listen, understand, and provide thoughtful support has made all the difference. Her generosity, skill, and dedication have deeply touched me, and I feel truly fortunate. Thanks to Joy, I have become a stronger and more self-assured individual.
- J.R.
I have been incredibly impressed with Joy Souza and her work with my child. Joy has been attentive to my child’s needs on every front. Joy has been a comfort and a supportive presence in her therapeutic work with my child’s needs, and my child has even spoken highly of the experience as well. I believe that a better person to work with my child simply put can not be found. I am impressed with Joy’s professionalism, and ability to reach my child where they were and create the necessary pathways back to emotional and mental health after such an incredibly hard time. The knowledge and capacity of Joy to effectively work with children and help them with their own struggles and to find the foundations necessary to grow are unparalleled. I could not recommend Joy more.
- AJ