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Behavioral Healthcare

Behavioral Healthcare

We take care of your mind as well as we take care your body. Stepping toward improving your mental health can be both exciting and challenging!

At APLA Health, we offer a multitude of behavioral healthcare services to meet your needs. Our services are provided by licensed clinical psychologists, licensed clinical social workers, licensed marriage and family therapists, and highly trained therapists.

Young man silently contemplating after therapy session
We can help you with a variety of concerns including:
  • Depression and anxiety
  • Grief and loss
  • Anger management
  • Building healthy relationships and stable support systems
  • Eliminating and/or managing alcohol, drugs, or behavioral addictions
  • Adjusting to life events (job loss, breakups, medical diagnoses including HIV, etc.)
  • Recovery from trauma
  • And many other issues
APLA Health offers outpatient services such as:
  • Individual therapy sessions
  • Confidential assessments, consultations, and intakes
  • A team of substance abuse specialists (Gleicher/Chen Health Center) with the availability of individual therapy, groups, and medically assisted treatment
  • Integration with your medical care team
  • Referrals for more intensive services, if needed
  • Same-day crisis services
  • Group therapy

Clinician Biographies

Sean Boileau, PhD – Behavioral Health Director (he/him)

Chen Health Center / The David Geffen Center

Dr. Sean Boileau earned his Doctor of Counseling Psychology degree with a focus on Multiculturalism and Diversity at Arizona State University. He deliberately completed field placements in diversity-focused community counseling centers in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods in Phoenix, Arizona, such as Chicanos Por La Causa-Centro de la Familia and Jewish Family Services. He then interned at the University of California, San Diego, and completed his post-doctoral fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley, focusing on creating outreach programming and providing clinical services for members of the LGBT communities on campus. In his early career, Dr. Boileau served as a psychologist and clinical supervisor with the University of California, Santa Cruz, as well as the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.

In addition to serving as the Behavioral Health Services Director at APLA, he has lectured as an adjunct professor at Antioch University of Los Angeles since 2010. He has previously taught undergraduate classes in the Maricopa County Community College System and graduate-level courses at the University of San Francisco.

Specialty Areas
  • Ambivalence and Poor Motivation
  • Internalized Homophobia
  • Low Self-Esteem and Poor Self-Concept
  • Military and Combat Trauma
  • Perfectionism / Overachievement
Theoretical Approach
  • Interpersonal Therapy
  • Motivational Interviewing
  • Narrative Therapy
  • Humanistic Therapy
Language Spoken
  • English
Peterson Pham, LCSW (they/he/she)

Long Beach Health Center

Peterson Pham (they/he/she) is a bilingual and community-oriented licensed clinical social worker. As a queer, non-binary, person of color, Peterson incorporates intersectional experiences into their clinical work.

Peterson received their Master of Social Work, with an emphasis in Community Mental Health, from California State University Fullerton in 2018 and received a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, with minors in Education and Applied Psychology, from University of California Santa Barbara in 2013.

Peterson has over 8 years of behavioral health experience, with skills stemming from serving diverse and underserved populations such as students in recovery at Recovery Education Institute, homeless consumers with substance misuse at Orange County Healthcare Agency, clients involved in HIV treatment and prevention at APAIT, monolingual/language deprived children, youth, and families at OCAPICA, and patients who are severely, persistently mentally ill at UCI Medical Center.

Peterson believes that we, as a community, are not complete without each other, that your continued existence is a form of resistance, and that your personal is political and powerful. Peterson is committed to providing braver and safer spaces to collaborate with our community members in improving our life functioning and achieving our deserved health outcomes.

Specialty Areas
  • QTBIPOC Intersectional Issues (cultural conflict, intergenerational trauma, narcissism)
  • Effects of Systemic Oppression (agency, isolation, acculturation, appropriation)
  • Community Organizing & Empowerment (burn out, community care, resiliency)
  • Non-“Traditional” Relationships (non-monogamy, BDSM, kink, Power exchange)
  • Student Issues (challenges in higher education, transitions, executive functioning)>
Theoretical Approach
  • Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (meditation, deep-breathing, radical acceptance)
  • Focusing by Dr. Eugene Gendlin (felt-sense, mind-body connection)
  • Interpersonal Therapy (minority stress model, anti-racist perspective, feminist perspective, sex/kink positive, person-centered)>
  • Strength-based Perspectives (empowerment model, recovery model, harm reduction)
  • Inner Child Work (ancestral work, intergenerational transmission)
  • Narrative Therapy (storytelling, art, role playing)
  • Solution-Focused Perspectives (goal setting, reality therapy)
Language Spoken
  • English
  • Vietnamese
Christopher Boyden-DeShazer (he/him/they)

Olympic Health Clinic

Christopher Boyden-DeShazer is a black queer licensed clinical social worker recognized by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. Christopher earned a Master of Social Work from the University of Southern California, and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from San Francisco State University. Christopher has extensive experience providing support to various diverse and vulnerable populations impacted by anxiety, trauma, depression, addiction, and severe mental illness. Christopher has throughout their professional journey worked to address disparities in treatment for people of color and LGBTQIA+ communities.

Christopher utilizes a collaborative, culturally competent trauma-informed clinical approach infused with mindfulness. Christopher works with clients from a non-pathologizing judgmental approach and deeply values diversity within identities. Christopher practices a humanist perspective, using empathy and kindness to recognize and support client’s strengths in dealing with a variety of concerns. Christopher believes empowerment comes from within and grows when given support.

Specialty Areas
  • Anxiety / OCD / Panic
  • Depression
  • Trauma and PTSD
  • Substance Abuse / Addiction
  • LGBTQIA+ Affirmative Therapy
  • Minority Groups
  • Grief, Loss, and Bereavement
Theoretical Approach
  • Mindfulness
  • Trauma Informed Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
  • Psychodynamic Therapy
  • Harm Reduction
  • Seeking Safety
  • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
  • Solution-Focused Therapy
  • Strengths Based
Language Spoken
  • English
Elizabeth San Elias, LCSW (she/her)

Chen Health Center

Elizabeth San Elias is a licensed clinical social worker by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. She obtained a Masters of Social Work from San Francisco State University in 2007 and a Bachelor’s in Social Work in 2003 from California State University, Los Angeles.

Elizabeth has significant experience working with people diagnosed with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, major depression, and substance use disorders. Elizabeth has extensive experience working with severe and persistently mentally ill adults in field based crisis response programs. She provides trauma informed strength based care. Elizabeth is a passionate advocate for social justice and strives to provide high quality care to marginalized and underserved communities. Elizabeth is bicultural and bilingual allowing her to provide culturally competent services to the Latinx community and maintains cultural humility with all clients she serves.

Elizabeth is one of our substance abuse specialists at APLA Health.

Specialty Areas
  • Trauma
  • Depression
  • Addiction Recovery
Theoretical Approach
  • Rogerian
  • Harm Reduction
Language Spoken
  • English
  • Spanish
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