Creating the Life You Want Starts WithYou

I Can Help You Discover How

Meet Cheryl Bentley, AMFT, practicing Holistic Depth Therapy in Los Angeles

PROFESSIONAL

PSYCHOTHERAPY

I’ll be your rock & your ally as you embark on growth & change.

What’s it like to work with me?

I’m a believer of using whatever works, such as books or podcasts, however, there’s no replacement for personalized care. I’ll be able to talk with you about topics too taboo or vulnerable for typical social spaces while meeting you where you are each week as your needs shift.  I’ll be here to help you see what you aren’t seeing in your life and your patterns.

Consider this: working with me offers you a dedicated hour each week that’s just for you—a space to focus, reflect, & receive undivided support for your goals, challenges, & growth.

My goal is to bring my whole self to each session, offering authenticity & the benefit of both my personal & professional experience. My own healing journey has taught me vulnerability, honesty, courage, & depth, while my clinical training spans trauma, EMDR, IFS, anxiety, depression, couples work, attachment, mindfulness, & Jungian psychology.

If I do my job well, my tools will become yours, helping you embrace vulnerability, honesty, courage, & depth in your own healing.

Therapy is a place where you can talk about anything and it never leaves the room. 

It’s a unique environment where my role is to fully support and understand you while being honest—knowing when to offer compassion and when to challenge you for deeper growth. I will guide you and together we’ll watch your psyche, life, & spirit flourish.

Together, we’ll create a space where real transformation is possible; you’ll feel both seen & empowered.

Post-modern Analytic Depth Psychology

Combines aspects of postmodern philosophy, which accounts for society and environmental factors that influence the “self”, and depth psychology, which focuses on the subjective nature of reality and the unconscious mind. This approach emphasizes that individual experiences, identities, and truths are shaped by social, cultural, and historical contexts, and uses psychoanalytic methods to explore unconscious processes, while challenging fixed interpretations and embracing multiple perspectives on the self and the psyche.

Somatic Informed

A body-centered therapeutic approach that focuses on the connection between body and mind to help individuals process and release trauma. Somatic interventions can often allow individuals and trauma survivors to drop into their feelings if they are experiencing numbness or blocks to feeling.  By paying attention to physical sensations, movements, and emotions stored in the body, it allows for deeper healing and stress relief.

Methods

Mindfulness & Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

Mindfulness and CBT complement each other by addressing both emotional regulation and thought patterns.

Mindfulness helps develop present-moment awareness by focusing on thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations without judgment, thus enhancing self-awareness, stress reduction, and fostering emotional regulation. CBT focuses on identifying and challenging negative thought patterns to foster healthier thinking and behaviors.

Internal Family Systems

When fitting, I employ Internal Family Systems. IFS views the person as made up of different "parts" or sub-personalities, each with its own feelings and roles. Through IFS, we can work to heal wounded or conflicted parts by accessing your core "Self," fostering internal harmony  and self-compassion.

My Guiding Principles

  • Honesty

    Maintaining an  honest relationship with you, even when it’s challenging to be honest. I want us to enjoy the safety & depth of having such a relationship.

  • Vision

    I’ll hold a vision of promise & believe it can happen for you; if your trust in the process ever falters, you can lean on my belief in you.

  • Modeling

    Serve as an example of a healthy relationship & provide a space for you to practice new skills, vulnerability, & bravery.

  • Vulnerability

    Offering my own experiences when applicable or helpful. Being forthright and owning my own mistakes in our work together.

  • Curiosity & Humility

    I will maintain a state of curiosity &  growth by learning about & from you, your perspective, & how you navigate the world.

  • Growth

    A commitment to my own continual growth professionally & personally in order to support you best.

Specialty Areas

  • Women Therapy

    Women

  • Creatives & Entrepeneurs Therapy

    Creatives & Entrepeneurs

  • Couples Therapy

    Couples

  • Trauma Therapy

    Trauma

  • Anxiety & Depression Therapy

    Anxiety & Depression

  • Therapy Los Angeles

    Intensives

Why Chrysalis?

chrys·a·lis /ˈkrisələs/; noun

  1. a quiescent insect pupa, especially of a butterfly or moth.

    ex: "the transformation from egg to caterpillar to chrysalis and, finally, adult"

  2. a transitional state.

    ex: "she emerged from the chrysalis of self-conscious adolescence"

While the therapeutic process can be confronting, therapy provides affirmation, insight, thoughtfulness, & inner-strength. Over the course of time, it offers you an opportunity for deep transformation not unlike the magic a caterpillar undergoes inside the chrysalis to emerge as a butterfly.

As you move through the work, you begin to carry the changes & efforts made in therapy into all of your experiences. You’ll notice that you start to respond to things differently & have a new found freedom, understanding, peace, & power in your steps.

Credentials

Education & Licensure

  • University of California; Berkeley, Bachelors of Art

  • New York University; Masters of Fine Art

  • Antioch University; Masters of Clinical Psychology

Training & Certifications

  • Emotionally Focused Couple’s Therapy Level 1 

  • EMDR Level 1 & 2 

  • Trauma Informed Clinical Practice

  • Trauma Informed Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

  • 420 hours of silent meditation retreat course work in Zen & Vipasanna

  • Peer Counseling Certification

  • Doula Birth Certification

Professional Association

  • Associate Marriage & Family Therapist 

  • CAMFT

Leave old patterns behind.

Step into confidence, authenticity, & empowerment.

Change doesn’t happen in a vacuum. With consistency and the right support, you can leave old patterns behind & move forward.