Jilla Lavian, LCSW

Jilla Lavian is a licensed clinical social worker with 20 years of experience helping people navigate hard transitions and regain direction. She works with folks facing stress, anxiety, depression, parenting strain, career questions, and life changes such as a midlife crisis. Jilla listens, reflects, and helps clients set realistic goals that fit their daily lives.

Her background includes a dual Master of Social Work and a master's in Jewish Communal Service from the University of Southern California. She also trained as a transformational life coach. That mix informs a practical style that blends conversation, goal work, and attention to inner experience.

In sessions she encourages people to notice thoughts and feelings without harsh judgment. That awareness then becomes material for change - small steps, clearer choices, and steadier coping. Jilla uses techniques from cognitive behavioral work, mindfulness, motivational interviewing, and psychodynamic ideas to help clients see patterns and try new behaviors.

She often focuses on issues tied to family history, attachment wounds, caregiver stress, and codependency. Grief, career uncertainty, sleep disruption, and compassion fatigue are other areas she addresses. Her approach aims to restore clarity, creativity, and self-nurture rather than quick fixes.

Jilla offers services in English and Persian and practices in California. People who prefer a collaborative, reflective therapist can expect practical tools paired with exploration of deeper emotional themes.

Approaches you can use in online sessions

Jilla commonly draws on cognitive behavioral ideas and mindfulness practices when helping people understand and change unhelpful patterns. Cognitive behavioral techniques focus on identifying thought patterns and testing new behaviors to reduce anxiety, improve sleep, and tackle depression. Mindfulness therapy teaches simple attention and breathing skills to calm the mind and increase awareness of emotions, which can help with stress and anger.

She also uses motivational interviewing to help people clarify what they want and find their own reasons to change. That approach is useful for career shifts, lifestyle changes, or moving through a midlife transition. The therapist frames these methods as tools to try together rather than fixed prescriptions, and she works collaboratively to choose which ones fit each person’s goals and preferences.

If you are considering online work, confirm the current session options before booking so you know which formats are offered. Many people find remote sessions helpful because they can fit a short appointment into a busy day, reduce travel time, or choose quieter surroundings without rearranging schedules. The therapist will discuss practical arrangements and tailor sessions to your needs during the first meetings.