Fay Gardner is an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist and Associate Professional Clinical Counselor passionate about supporting individuals living with OCD, Anxiety, and related issues. Fay’s experience working with children, adolescents, adults, and families in group and individual settings informs her warm, flexible approach to treating each client’s unique needs.

Fay received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Pepperdine University’s Seaver College, going on to work in Adolescent Residential Treatment and Adult Partial Hospitalization and Intensive Outpatient Programs for crisis, trauma, and severe emotional distress. She then earned her Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology at the Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology, completing an 18-month internship in community mental health where she provided individual, family, play, and group therapy across a wide range of diagnoses and conditions.

Facing daily life with OCD is a challenge Fay understands on a personal level, deepening her connection to her clinical work. Having encountered many of the struggles her clients bring into the room firsthand, she is distinctively attuned to their progress and needs. Fay’s personal experience additionally lends to her overall commitment to the treatment process, empathizing with the trials and successes involved in the therapeutic journey. She is wholly open and willing to hold her clients’ hardships alongside them and assist in their development of autonomy, free from the OCD and Anxiety cycle.

In her clinical work, Fay pulls from a variety of treatment methods to most effectively help the whole person reach their goals and potential. She has extensive training in evidence-based modalities including Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE), Comprehensive Behavioral Model (ComB), and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). Fay integrates these techniques to meet the individual where they are at and collaborate on their personally tailored path forward.

Outside of therapy work, Fay finds contentment in quiet moments at home with her husband and their cat, avidly reading literary fiction and contemporary psychology, and immersing herself in the outdoors on beach and neighborhood walks.

Fay feels deeply for anyone who may be wandering a path burdened by anxious thoughts and ritualistic behaviors. Within the therapeutic alliance you build together, she is privileged to share in both your times of achievement and adversity as you move through uncertainty and onto your flourishing life.