Orange County
Everything can look presentable, and that is often what makes it hard to say out loud.
Online only, by secure video, Monday through Friday. For Irvine's corporate campuses and a culture where the surface stays polished no matter what is underneath it.
Online only, by secure video, Monday through Friday
The Place
What it is actually like here
Orange County runs on corporate campuses and a well-kept surface. Irvine in particular is built around large employers, planned neighborhoods, and an expectation that things look orderly. That expectation is not hostile, but it is constant, and it makes admitting that something is wrong feel like a breach of an unspoken agreement.
I work with Orange County clients 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. The distance to my San Diego office is exactly the kind of obstacle telehealth removes, so there is no in-person option attached to this page.
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 camera at eye level. You get a secure video link and join at the appointment time.
Sessions run Monday through Friday. Campus employees often use a closed room at work or a session from home before the day starts.
The drive from Orange County to San Diego is over an hour each way in good conditions. Telehealth turns a three-hour errand into a one-hour appointment, which is the difference between weekly therapy working and not.
Why People Write From Here
The pressures particular to this place
The polished-surface culture is the thing people name last and feel first. Houses that are kept, cars that are washed, kids in the right activities, and an ambient sense that struggling in public is not done here. It produces a lot of people who are extremely good at appearing fine and have no practice at all describing what is actually happening.
The corporate campuses add their own pressure. Large employers, structured career ladders, performance cycles, and reorganizations that arrive from somewhere above you with no warning. Stability that is real until it suddenly is not tends to produce a specific anxiety: nothing is wrong, and you cannot stop scanning for it.
The third is distance, and not only geographic. Long commutes on the freeway systems, family spread across the region, and a social life that requires planning weeks ahead. People here are often surrounded by a full life and short on anyone they can say the unflattering sentence to. That sentence usually turns out to be the first real thing we work on.
Where to Start
Four places this usually begins
Anxiety Therapy
For scanning for a problem in a life where nothing has visibly gone wrong.
Stress and Burnout
For performance cycles and reorganizations that keep the body on alert.
Couples Therapy
For two people managing a household well and barely talking inside it.
Perfectionism and Overthinking
For the effort of keeping the surface intact, and what it costs to maintain.
Questions
Answered plainly
Anything not covered here is worth asking on the free 15-minute consult.
Do you see Orange County clients in person?
No. Orange County clients are telehealth only. My office is in San Diego and in-person is limited to one Sunday a month, which is not practical as a weekly arrangement from up there.
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.
When are sessions available?
Monday through Friday, during the day, by secure video. Current availability changes, so ask on the free 15-minute consultation.
Are you licensed in California only?
Yes. I hold a California LMFT license and work only with clients who are physically located in California at the time of the session.
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.