Jordana Gardenswartz, PsyD, is a registered psychological associate (#94029683) completing her postdoctoral fellowship at the California Psychology Center. She is passionate about treating clients with anxiety, depression, body image concerns, disordered eating, relationship concerns, and identity exploration, particularly around emerging adulthood. She integrates relational, emotion-focused approaches to psychotherapy alongside behavioral, evidence-based interventions like Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). Her work is heavily informed by mindfulness and somatic approaches, helping clients notice and work with the ways emotions show up in the body. Dr. Gardenswartz grounds her work in a multicultural and feminist lens and is committed to providing LGBTQ+ affirming care, having trained in several specialized LGBTQ+ clinics.

Dr. Gardenswartz earned her PsyD in clinical psychology from the PGSP-Stanford PsyD Consortium. She has trained across diverse clinical settings, including Stanford Medicine, UCSF, community mental health clinics, and university counseling centers. Her dissertation focused on adapting DBT for individuals with functional neurological disorder and other psychosomatic concerns. She completed her predoctoral internship at UCLA Counseling and Psychological Services, where she provided individual therapy, group therapy, crisis services, and psychological assessments to undergraduate and graduate students.

“I believe that the power of therapy comes from feeling safe and supported enough to face the feelings, sensations, and thoughts that previously felt unbearable, because avoiding those experiences tends to make our lives smaller. Once we can bring those experiences into the warm light of the therapy room, we see that they’re not as scary as we once thought they were – they may even be trying to help us.

To create the safety necessary for this work, you can expect me to be warm, genuine, and attuned to what you’re bringing on any given day — including staying curious about your specific background and cultural context, and mindful of how your identity and lived experience have shaped what you bring into the room. I go at your pace, too — I don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach, so the specific tools we use will always be shaped by what you actually need. When it really feels like we’re on the same team, that’s when the most progress happens.

It is my honor to accompany clients as they meet the feelings they once thought were ‘too much,’ and learn new ways of relating to themselves and others. When you can hold your full self with self-compassion instead of judgment, what once felt unbearable stops running the show — and makes way for a life that is not only bearable, but fully worth living.”