About the Practice
Shelley Davidescu, LMFT
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, 17 years in practice, working with adults and couples in San Diego and online across California. Born in Mexico City and fluent in Spanish.
My work centers on trauma, anxiety and the relationships that both of them touch.
Why This Work
Where it started
My parents' divorce was one of the most pivotal and influential experiences of my life. Growing up, I was left with many questions and emotions that I didn't yet know how to understand or process. That experience ultimately shaped my desire to become a therapist and help others navigate difficult life transitions, make sense of painful experiences, and work through complex emotions. Today, I have the privilege of supporting clients as they navigate challenges such as anxiety, depression, trauma, and PTSD, helping them move toward greater understanding, healing, and resilience.
That is still at the center of the practice. I am often most useful to people who are carrying something they have never quite had the language for, and who are tired of managing it alone.
In Her Words
A judgment-free room.
Born in Mexico City and fluent in Spanish, I'm proud to serve a diverse, multicultural community. I hold a Master's in Marriage and Family Therapy from Alliant International University and a Master's in Sociology from San Diego State University. My background in both human relationships and social systems allows me to bring a nuanced, culturally aware lens to our work together.
In our sessions, you'll enter a judgment-free zone, a place where it's okay to feel messy, lost, uncertain, or anything in between. Whether you're navigating personal growth or relationship wounds, I meet you where you are and walk with you toward where you want to be.
I integrate a range of evidence-based methods including EMDR, DBT, CBT, Motivational Interviewing, and The Gottman Method to support your transformation. Always at your pace, and always with heart.
Bilingual and Bicultural
Culture belongs in the work
Culture shapes what counts as a problem, who you are allowed to disappoint, and what rest is permitted to look like. My sociology training means I take that seriously rather than treating it as background detail. Family expectation, immigration history, being the first in your family in a particular room, those belong in the work.
I work with adults, couples, LGBTQ+ clients, BIPOC clients and therapists across California.
What a Session Looks Like
An hour, structured but not scripted
Open any card for the detail. Knowing the shape of the hour takes one unknown off the pile.
The first ten minutesWe start where your week actually is, not where an intake form thinks it should be.Read MoreClose
I usually ask what stayed with you since last time and what this week has cost you. That gives us something real to work from rather than a status update. If something urgent happened, we go there first.
The middle of the hourPattern work, skill practice, and sometimes sitting with what is hard.Read MoreClose
Depending on what you need, this might be tracking a spiral back to its trigger, rehearsing a conversation you have been avoiding, doing a round of EMDR, or slowing everything down enough that your body can register that you are safe in the room.
How we closeNothing is left cracked open at the end of the hour.Read MoreClose
We take the last few minutes to settle, name one thing to carry into the week, and check that you are steady enough to walk back into your day. If something opened that needs more time, we plan for it rather than rush it.
Training
Education and certification
Open any card for what that training actually changes about the hour you spend with me.
MA, Marriage and Family TherapyAlliant International University
The clinical foundation of the practice, how people function inside relationships rather than in isolation, and how a symptom in one person is often carried by a whole system.
MA, SociologySan Diego State University
A second lens on the same question. Family expectation, culture, migration and class shape what a person is allowed to want, and I treat that as clinical material rather than background.
EMDR certifiedEye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
Certification means supervised, assessed practice rather than a weekend workshop. EMDR is what I reach for when something is understood intellectually and still lands in the body.
Gottman Method, Level 1Research-based couples therapy training
A structured way of reading what actually happens between two people in conflict, the pattern, the escalation, and the repair attempts that get missed.
Emotionally Focused Therapy, Level 1EFTI, individual attachment-focused training
Attachment-focused work for individuals as well as couples: what you learned to expect from closeness, and how that expectation shows up decades later.
17 years in practiceAdults and couples, San Diego and telehealth across California
Long enough to have sat with a wide range of what people carry, and to tell you plainly and early when I think another clinician is the better fit.
How I Work
Evidence-based methods, chosen to fit you
Three things worth knowing before you book. Each one opens.
- CBT
- DBT
- EMDR
- Gottman Method
- Emotionally Focused Therapy
- Mindfulness-based work
- Attachment-focused work
- Motivational Interviewing
I work with anxiety, trauma and PTSD, depression, relationship difficulties, stress and burnout, and dating concerns.
Explore the four areas of workI do not run one protocolThe method follows the problem, not the other way around.
CBT and DBT skills when the day-to-day needs steadying. EMDR or parts work when something older is driving it. Gottman and EFIT Level 1 when the difficulty lives between two people. We change course out loud when something stops being useful.
Directive, not prescriptiveYou can expect an honest, real opinion from me, not just questions.
I ask direct questions, name patterns as I notice them, and offer something to work with between sessions. You are still the one who decides what we do with any of it.
No promises about outcomesI won't promise an outcome I can't honestly guarantee.
What I can offer is honest, well-trained work, a clear rationale for anything I suggest, and a willingness to tell you if I do not think this is helping. I am licensed in California only, so you will need to be in California at the time we meet.
Starting Out
What the first few weeks look like
Step through it. Very little about starting therapy here should be a surprise.
A short call in your own words. I tell you honestly how I would approach what you are describing, what it would cost, and whether I am the right person for it. No intake interview.
Free 15-Minute Consult
A short call is the easiest way to tell whether we are a fit.
Fifteen minutes, free, no clinical interview. If it is not the right match I will let you know and give you referrals. The office is at 2560 First Ave, Suite 202 in San Diego, and telehealth is available anywhere in California.
In person in San Diego, and by telehealth across California.