Exploring Life & Business with Tigran Vardanyan of Talking Therapy LA

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tigran Vardanyan.

Hi Tigran, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My journey in Mental Health starts in Buenos Aires, Argentina where I received incredible formation in Psychoanalysis and experience working with psychosomatic issues and a very diverse population as a Clinical Psychologist. In 2017 I moved to the US, and become a LMFT under my mentor Iman Dadras, PhD with who we decided to open our practice called Talking Therapy LA. The vast experience and knowledge of professor Dadras in critical theory and our shared love for Psychoanalysis, we decided to stay open a practice that is divergent from the trendy symptom focused and manualized modalities that often neglect to address the subject beyond a diagnostic category. We bring to the center of our work the unique experience of the patient/subject as part of a whole cultural, social, political and economical system and we help them make sense and process their suffering. Part of the reason why we called our practice Talking Therapy, refers to the importance of making space for each person’s narrative around their identity and the singularity of their life experiences, values and struggles, and not to try to “fix” a problem.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has been significantly arduous to build and run a company. We are grateful for the wonderful community we have built in Pasadena, and to the colleagues who have join our team and are helping us to expand our practice. However, having a practice run by two middle eastern men comes with its own challenges. In addition, offering a treatment style that is not the mainstream of what most people practice in Los Angeles, especially in the east side, (even though in many other parts of world and even in the New York is more common) has created many difficulties for us.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Talking Therapy LA?
Today we have expanded our team and aside from Dr. Iman Dadras and me, Tigran Vardanyan, we also count with Justine Wu and Wilson Ho who are amazing and inspiring clinicians with specific areas of expertise. We provide services in English, Spanish, Farsi, Cantonese and Armenian. We work with families, couples and individuals navigating life and relational challenges as well as trauma. We work with LGBTQ and Bipoc people. We provide therapy for families and couples in monogamic or polyamory relationships and we offer support groups specifically for men, women, and teenagers, as well as a group to process grief. At Talking Therapy LA, we specialize in the powerful art of talking therapy which is a long term process, with long lasting changes in our clients’ lives. We believe in the importance of establishing a solid therapeutic relationship with our clients in order to create the space for our clients to heal. At Talking Therapy LA, we believe in the transformative power of conversation to heal, empower, and inspire.
In addition to the clinical work, we are focused on offering seminars for other therapists or people interested in learning about mental health or philosophy, and building a strong community of like minded people. We are also in the process of starting our podcast where we will talk about a wide range of topics related to our field.

So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
People can reach out to our email address: info@talkingtherapyla.com, our phone number (818)493-9437. They can find more about our practice and different activities in our website www.talkingtherapyla.com.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.talkingtherapyla.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talking_therapy_la/