HEALTHCARE - Los Angeles depends on a vast healthcare workforce, from physicians and nurses to specialists and other professionals working in demanding clinical environments. Caring for patients does not make those workers immune to chronic stress, grief, trauma or burnout. SD Psychology provides psychotherapy specifically designed to address many of the pressures healthcare professionals encounter. The San Diego County practice was founded by licensed clinical psychologist Dr. Stamatia Daroglou, who has 30 years of experience in mental health. Her background includes work as a behavioral health consultant for the U.S. Navy, where she provided psychological care at the Naval Hospital to patients coping with the emotional effects of physical illness. She has also taught graduate courses, supervised clinicians and led workshops for healthcare and mental health professionals. Today, SD Psychology offers in-person services in La Jolla and Encinitas as well as telehealth for people across California.
Healthcare Workers Carry Heavy Loads
Healthcare professionals routinely deal with circumstances that most people encounter only during some of the hardest moments of their lives. They may witness severe illness, pain, death and family distress while simultaneously managing long hours, administrative responsibilities and high-stakes decisions. SD Psychology identifies these pressures as potential contributors to emotional exhaustion, compassion fatigue, secondary trauma and burnout.
Recognizing those effects can help break the stigma that still surrounds mental health care among people whose careers revolve around caring for others. Seeking therapy does not mean a physician, nurse or other healthcare professional cannot handle the demands of the job. It provides a place to examine how those demands are affecting life beyond the next shift.
SD Psychology works with healthcare professionals experiencing concerns such as persistent work-related stress, difficulty concentrating, sleep disruption, irritability, detachment and reduced motivation. These problems can spill into relationships and time away from work, making it harder for people to recover between demanding days. Therapy gives professionals a confidential setting where their own well-being, rather than a patient's immediate needs, can become the focus.
Burnout Deserves Serious Attention
Burnout can develop gradually enough that a healthcare professional adjusts to feeling exhausted before recognizing how much has changed. SD Psychology points to demanding schedules, repeated exposure to suffering, decision-making pressure, documentation requirements and inadequate opportunities for rest as common contributors.
Therapy can help healthcare workers examine how those pressures affect their thoughts, emotions and behavior. SD Psychology's burnout therapy focuses on identifying patterns of chronic stress and emotional exhaustion, developing healthier boundaries, addressing compassion fatigue and secondary trauma, and rebuilding a sense of meaning in professional life. The aim is not to pretend that a difficult work environment can be fixed with a few coping exercises. Therapy instead gives people room to understand their responses and develop strategies they can realistically use.
That distinction matters in Los Angeles, where healthcare professionals may be balancing demanding clinical responsibilities with commuting, family obligations and the basic challenge of finding enough hours in the day. Mental health support can provide dedicated time to deal with stress that otherwise gets pushed aside until it becomes harder to ignore.
California Access Changes the Equation
SD Psychology is based in San Diego County, but its telehealth services expand its reach beyond people who can drive to La Jolla or Encinitas. The practice offers virtual therapy across California, which means healthcare professionals in Los Angeles can access care remotely from an appropriate private setting. For professionals with changing shifts or limited time between work and home responsibilities, eliminating a long trip to an appointment can make ongoing therapy considerably more practical.
That flexibility also changes what it means to look for a therapist in San Diego. A healthcare professional in Los Angeles may be interested in SD Psychology because of the practice's experience with medical professionals rather than its physical location. Daroglou has a particular clinical interest in healthcare professionals, cancer patients and older adults, and her areas of focus include trauma, chronic illness, grief, anxiety, depression and professional burnout.
SD Psychology's team broadens the available expertise. Dr. Ivy Kensinger works with concerns including trauma, chronic illness, grief and major life transitions. Dr. Casey Adamson has more than 15 years of experience working with people who have experienced trauma through community-based services. Dr. Danna Gonzalez Casas has experience with burnout, trauma, anxiety, depression and grief and is bilingual in Spanish and English.
Care Goes Beyond Work Stress
The pressures healthcare professionals experience do not necessarily begin and end at work. Someone dealing with burnout may also be navigating relationship difficulties, grief, anxiety, chronic illness or a major change at home. SD Psychology's broader psychotherapy services allow treatment to address the person beyond a professional title.
Daroglou provides psychodynamically informed psychotherapy and brings a multicultural perspective to her work. Other clinicians within SD Psychology draw from approaches that include cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, existential therapy and trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy. Treatment can therefore reflect a client's circumstances instead of assuming every healthcare professional needs the same strategy.
This can be particularly relevant for professionals who have spent years separating their work persona from their emotional reactions. Repeated exposure to medical emergencies or patient loss does not guarantee that someone will experience trauma or burnout, but professional training does not eliminate those possibilities either. SD Psychology gives clients a setting where difficult reactions can be explored without reducing every concern to job stress.
Support Should Fit Real Life
Mental health care becomes harder to use when accessing it creates another burden. SD Psychology addresses that practical reality by offering multiple formats. Healthcare professionals near San Diego can choose in-person appointments at its La Jolla or Encinitas offices, while eligible clients elsewhere in California can use telehealth.
The practice's healthcare-focused services recognize another important point: people who spend their careers taking care of patients still need places where they can focus on themselves. Therapy may help healthcare professionals process difficult experiences, examine burnout, strengthen boundaries and reconnect with parts of life that sustained professional stress has pushed aside.
For healthcare professionals in Los Angeles, SD Psychology provides access to clinicians familiar with the emotional demands of medical work without requiring a trip to San Diego. That makes specialized mental health support a more realistic option for the people Californians rely on to care for everyone else.
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