Diana Dowds

Hi. I'm a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT) in private practice in downtow San Pedro. I work with adults, teens, kids, couples, families, and groups. With more than ten years experience as a clinician and a teacher, I’m practical, hard-working, and effective. Competent in an eclectic base of theoretical orientations with specialization in emotionally-focused therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, crisis intervention, geropsychology, adolescents, and sexual conce s, I have a particular sensitivity to diverse populations.

Prior to starting my practice, I planned, organized, and implemented a counseling group as an integral part of a community clinic’s healthcare mission. With full responsibility for program startup, administrative growth, trainee/intern clerical supervision, and client management, I gained invaluable experience in providing effective therapies both within the clinic and in local schools. For many years I also worked for Boys Town Califo ia (Father Flanagan’s Boys Town), supporting and developing direct-care residential staff in adolescent assessment and treatment.

Working with local universities, I've served as interim coordinator for a psychology graduate program, facilitated groups, collected and analyzed data for research on cognitive processing, learning disabilities, and intelligence, and taught effective communication, comprehensive integration, and metacognitive learning courses. My teaching experience also includes training as a reading specialist, and I've taught proficiency seminars to all ages across the nation.

• American Psychological Association [APA]
• Western Psychological Association [WPA]
• Califo ia Association of Marital and Family Therapy [CAMFT]
• American Education Research Association [AERA]
• American Association of University Women [AAUW]
• Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society
• Psi Chi National Honor Society in Psychology
• Alpha Kappa Delta Honor Society in Sociology