Welcome! My name is Dr. Caitlin Artiaga, and I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. I work with individuals, families, and partnerships—whether romantic, professional, or platonic—to support meaningful growth, healing, and connection.
My Theraputic Style
My therapeutic style is collaborative, direct, and empowering. Rooted in family systems theory, I view each client within the context of the many systems they exist in, whether that’s family, partnership, community, or larger societal structures. I pay close attention to the interconnectedness of race, class, gender, sexuality, and generation, as well as how society constructs and reinforces these identities. This systems-based lens helps me understand the full picture of your lived experience and hold space for both personal and collective healing.
I want to explore your early childhood attachments, your family of origin, your core wounds, and the messages you have internalized. I will be curious about how your lived experiences have been stored in your body and nervous system, and how we can explore making those connections. I find (from personal experience) that we often detach from our bodies as a way to survive, and my role as a therapist is to hold your experiences in a safe, contained space, so you can begin to work with them from a place of greater perspective and compassion.
I am comfortable with conflict and tension, and I’m often able to help everyone in the room feel heard—even when emotions are high. In family or partner work, I work to slow things down, so that communication becomes clearer, underlying needs can be voiced, and deeper understanding can take root.
My Experience
My most extensive work is with teens and their families. I have a background in both outpatient and inpatient levels of care, having served as the Clinical Director of PHP/IOP and Residential Teen Programs. Through this work, I’ve supported clients navigating a wide range of challenges, including suicidal ideation, self-harm, trauma, substance use, escalated attention-seeking behavior, parent-child conflict, and school resistance or avoidance.
I regularly work with clients experiencing symptoms such as depression, anxiety, emotional dysregulation, and difficulties with focus and impulsivity. I'm also experienced in treating diagnoses such as Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), ADHD, PTSD, and Bipolar Disorder.
In my work with teens, I believe the most important piece is the larger family work. I have extensive experience supporting parents, siblings, and caregivers in understanding one another better, validating each other’s experiences, and creating deeper healing and connection within the family system.
I welcome everyone and anyone into the therapy space and strive to be an affirming, trusted ally to a multitude of marginalized communities. My practice is LGBTQIA+ affirming, kink- and sex-work positive, disability- and neurodivergence-affirming, and welcoming to undocumented individuals. I work from an inclusive, intersectional lens that honors the full spectrum of human identity and experience.
About Me
A little about me: I’m biracial (Filipino/White) and was born and raised in Stockton, California. I earned my bachelor’s degree from UC Santa Barbara. I feel like I’ve lived many lives—spending much of my 20s in the fashion and footwear industry before shifting gears (and deciding to go back into major debt) to pursue a career in mental health.
I earned my Master’s in Couples and Family Therapy from Alliant International University and continued there to complete my PhD. I graduated in December 2024 after defending my dissertation, The Biracial Therapist: Experiences of Racial Transference and Countertransference, which explored how race is experienced in therapeutic spaces from the perspective of biracial clinicians.
My academic journey has included several teaching roles—I’ve served as a teaching assistant for different graduate-level courses and independently taught the clinical practicum lab course multiple times, supporting students as they transitioned from classroom learning to client work. I’ve also presented at local and national conferences, including AAMFT, NCFR, and AFTA, and I’m an AAMFT Approved Supervisor and Clinical Fellow.
Currently, I serve as the Clinical Director for an inpatient teen residential program, where I oversee the female programs in Redondo Beach, CA.