About Me

My name is Jill Ruby-Wahba, I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, and Board Certified, Registered Art Therapist.

My goal as a clinician is to help you feel more fulfilled, at peace within yourself and more confident by gaining insight, understanding, self-acceptance and appreciation of who you are. I can help you to make connections between factors in your life that make you who you are, consider what is working and what you wish to change or improve. Together, I will help you identify your strengths, discover origins of your feelings, thoughts, beliefs and behaviors. You will learn skills to make more informed choices, overcome challenges, to build better relationships and create the life you desire.

I believe the authentic interpersonal exchange that builds in therapy is dependent on what each person allows himself to bring into the relationship. Everything expressed and experienced in session provides opportunities for growth and learning that can be explored and practiced in the safe confines of therapy, while applying your new skills in the outside world with family, friends, and others.

Art making in therapy, when desired, is a tool that I use to enable deeper exploration and understanding of the self when feelings or thoughts are to difficult or ambiguous to talk about. No skill or experience is necessary to do it. Sometimes just the interaction with art materials is soothing, allowing space to let your mind wander.

Education:

MA, Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, in Marital and Family Therapy, with specialization in the modality of Clinical Art Therapy
BFA, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA

Additional Training: Specialization in Clinical Art Therapy

Professional Activities and Memberships:
CAMFT/Long Beach South Bay California Association of Marital and Family Therapists, AATA/Southern California Association of Art Therapy, Los Angeles County Psychological Association