Inspiring Conversations with Gabriel Cohen of Blissful Life Marriage and Family Therapy Inc.

Today we’d like to introduce you to Gabriel Cohen.

Hi Gabriel, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I became a therapist because I want to help people. As a devout Dodger fan, Jackie Robinson’s epitaph was one of my inspirations to choose this path: “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.”
I am honored and privileged to be able to work with clients and get to know people. I love learning everyone’s unique stories and perspectives and being able to help add to the value and happiness of people’s lives. I believe everyone deserves the chance to be happy!

I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT# 85601). I graduated from UCLA in 2006 with Bachelor’s Degrees in Economics and Psychology. After working briefly as an accountant, I began working in this field as a counselor with youth at a community mental health agency (Star View Community Services). I worked there the better part of the next 15 years. I had various roles during my time with Star View, starting as a support counselor, moving to become a therapist, then a Clinical Supervisor, and finally into a Director role for the last 6 years I was with the agency.

In 2010, I spent a year teaching English in Greece as a Teaching Fellow at the Hellenistic American Education Foundation at Athens College. Upon my return, I completed my Master’s Degree in Marital and Family Therapy at California State University, Dominguez Hills in 2011. I started working in a private practice setting in 2011 and became licensed as an MFT in 2015. I started Blissful Life Marriage and Family Therapy and moved to focusing on it full-time in early 2023.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There have been many trials and tribulations along this journey. Starting with earning Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees, it took years and a tremendous amount of work. Working in the mental health field is very challenging, although very rewarding as well. Learning how to do this clinical work and how to connect with clients was a great challenge and again, incredibly rewarding to learn how to do it better and better. This is something that I continue to strive to work on to this day and will always work on throughout my career.

Working in an agency is also challenging work, wearing many hats and navigating a variety of issues on a day-to-day basis. During my time with Star View Community Services, I learned so much in both clinical acumen, management and general problem-solving.

Starting my own business was also a mountain to climb. There’s nobody to guide you through setting up a business, learning all of the systems that you have to interact with from insurance, online medical record services, accounting services, marketing, and websites and so many more. All of it is basically what you must do in order to do the work with the clients that makes it a job truly worth doing. It continues to be a great challenge to this day and one that I’m happy to be working on day in and day out, so I can continue to serve my clients and the community.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
My specialty is couple’s therapy. I use Gottman Method Couple’s Therapy in my work, and I am a huge proponent of the model and the research that it was created from. I have personally seen hundreds of clients from all sorts of backgrounds and situations learn the skills and turn things from looking bleak to getting that loving feeling back in the relationship and being happy again (sometimes even happy for the first time!). If clients are willing to do the work, I can help guide them in learning the tools that can turn things around and get the happy relationships and blissful life they deserve.

I also offer a marathon couple’s therapy service, where a couple can do 1 or 2 very intensive days of treatment and make the kind of progress it might otherwise take them months to complete. I understand how busy couple’s lives can be, with demands from all around. If meeting once a week would be prohibitive due to schedule demands, childcare issues, or simply feels like it would take too long, marathon sessions may be a better option for a couple.

While my specialty is couple’s therapy, I am also capable and competent to do individual therapy for those 12 years old and up. I have also helped hundreds of individuals to do the work to make the changes they wanted, to live happier lives. Sometimes this includes dealing with issues such as anxiety, depression, addiction, or trauma. I typically use EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) when doing individual therapy. I work with clients to tailor therapy to the needs of the client and we decide on the goals of treatment together, which will give me an idea of the best tools to use in a given course of treatment.

Is there anyone you’d like to thank or give credit to?
All of my success starts with my parents. With their support while growing up and beyond, they did an amazing job of setting me up for success. They were the most encouraging parents and helped guide me through school at every level. They also both helped me learn how to develop the emotional maturity needed to find professional success. My father told me to take my first job in the mental health field because I was interested in it, when others in my life were telling me to wait and stay in an accounting job. That was the single best piece of advice I ever received.

Once I moved to my first job as a support counselor, I met my wife at work. She has been the biggest influence and source of inspiration for my career as a Marriage and Family Therapist. She helped support me in choosing the Master’s degree program that I did, and she has been my biggest advocate since I have known her, we have been together, and we have been married. I am incredibly lucky to have found her and immensely grateful to continue to have her in my life. In starting Blissful Life Marriage and Family Therapy Inc., she was with me every step of the way for all the ups and downs and she has been a rock in my life, helping me to have my own blissful life!

I also had an amazing team that helped me grow professionally, along with multiple mentors. Being a part of the Group Services team at Star View was seminal in my professional development, and I made lifelong friendships with many of the people I worked with on that team. My supervisors at Star View all taught me so much about being a therapist and being a manager (which is quite useful in running a company!). I would not be where I am today without the coaching and guidance I received from all of them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://blissfullifetherapy.com