Los Angeles
Adding a drive across the city to your week is a lot to ask, and you should not have to.
Online only, by secure video, Monday through Friday. For the city where the commute eats the day and adding one more crosstown trip is what kills good intentions.
Online only, by secure video, Monday through Friday
The Place
What it is actually like here
Los Angeles is a telehealth city whether anyone planned it that way or not. The distances are real, the traffic is real, and a therapist who is eleven miles away can be a fifty-minute drive in the wrong direction at the exact hour you would need to make it. That is how a lot of people end up with a therapist they like and an attendance record they do not.
I work with clients in Los Angeles online only, by secure video, Monday through Friday. I am licensed in California only, and you need to be physically in the state at session time. There is no in-person option here: the office day in San Diego is one Sunday a month and is not a practical arrangement from LA.
At a Glance
- Shelley Davidescu, LMFT, 17 years in practice
- Telehealth Monday through Friday across California
- In person one Sunday a month in Bankers Hill
- Free 15-minute consultation
Individual sessions are $210, or $325 for 90 minutes. Couples sessions are $225, or $345 for 90 minutes.
Full fees and policiesHow Telehealth Works
How telehealth works
A private space, a stable connection, and a device at eye level. That is the whole list. You get a secure video link and you join at the appointment time.
Sessions run Monday through Friday. A midday session from a closed office or a parked car is common and works fine, as long as nobody can overhear you.
If the connection drops we reconnect, and if it will not hold we finish by phone. Nothing about the format changes what we are actually doing in the hour.
Why People Write From Here
The pressures particular to this place
The commute is not a background detail here, it is a nervous-system fact. Two hours a day in a car, most of it spent in low-grade vigilance, is two hours the body spends braced. People describe arriving home already depleted and then feeling guilty about having nothing left for the people who are waiting for them.
The entertainment and legal economies add a specific instability. Project work with no continuity, a contract that ends without warning, a job where relationships are the product and rejection is routine and personal at the same time. Even people doing well carry the sense that the whole thing could evaporate on a phone call.
The third pressure is the loneliness of a very large city. You can be surrounded by people all day, be genuinely well liked, and still have almost nobody who knows what your week is actually like. Distance makes casual contact expensive here, and the friendships that would carry the weight get scheduled out of existence.
Where to Start
Four places this usually begins
Anxiety Therapy
For chronic low-grade dread in a city that never gives the body a full stop.
Stress and Burnout
For a commute and a workload that together leave nothing for the rest of your life.
Life Transitions
For contract work that ends, restarts, and never settles into a shape.
Couples Therapy
For two people whose schedules have quietly stopped overlapping.
Questions
Answered plainly
Anything not covered here is worth asking on the free 15-minute consult.
Do you see Los Angeles clients in person?
No. Los Angeles clients are telehealth only. The office is in San Diego and in-person is limited to one Sunday a month, which is not a workable arrangement from LA.
Is telehealth as useful as sitting in the room?
For the work I do, yes, and for a lot of people it is more practical. Anxiety work, EMDR, and couples work all translate to video. What matters more than the format is whether you have a private hour and a door that closes. If you do not have that at home, we will talk about where else the hour could happen.
What are the session times?
Monday through Friday, during the day, by secure video. Specific availability changes, so it is worth asking on the free 15-minute consultation.
Are you licensed to work with me in California?
Yes, I hold a California LMFT license and I work with clients throughout the state. I am licensed in California only, so you need to be physically located in California at the time of the session.
Can I do a session from my car?
Yes, and people do. Park somewhere you will not be overheard, use headphones, and give yourself a few minutes afterward before driving anywhere. It is not the ideal setup but it is a real one.
Free 15-Minute Consult
Fifteen minutes to find out whether this is the right work.
Tell me what is going on and where you are in California. I will tell you honestly how I would approach it, and whether I am the right person for it.
In person in San Diego, and by telehealth across California.