April 24, 2017

Meet Talia Wagner of Wagner West Group in Miracle Mile

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Talia Wagner.

Talia, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
People’s journeys and stories have always fascinated me. I find that I was in this role long before I gained the education and skillset to be a Marriage and Family Therapist.

Nonetheless, it took a while to get to the point that my professional career advanced in that direction. I started out in the world of Hi Tech, working for several high-profile Technology companies with international exposure. While this world was exciting and fast moving, it wasn’t fulfilling or inspiring and eventually I realized it was time to move on. Ironically, it was these positions that paved the way to where I find myself today.

The international scope of my work brought on a curiosity about the world, leading me to travel every chance I got. This exposure created a deeper understanding of different cultures, traditions and relationship norms. It was these backpacking excursions that ultimately led me to a career in counseling. Witnessing the sometimes, grim reality of the local people and more specifically, the women in these 3rd world countries, left its mark. It left me humbled and impressed upon me how fortunate I was to be a woman living in the Western world, to be free to make my own choices and pursue my own path.

Deciding to pursue a graduate degree in Psychology at Pepperdine University was a natural pivot and following graduation, I began the long journey to licensure. First as a trainee, then an intern, stationed at various mental health institutes in Los Angeles. While completing the 3,000 hours required for licensing, I realized that I didn’t fully leave the business world in the rear-view mirror, quite the contrary as my choices and interests were more indicative that I was looking for something that was more of a hybrid between the world of Psychology and Business.

These two worlds didn’t fully integrate for me until I set up my private practice in Miracle Mile and began to formulate my unique approach to counseling, using a Cognitive Behavioral scope, with a solution focused lens. This seemed to be a good fit for my clients, who are largely successful in their lives, yet find themselves momentarily grounded.

Assisting them in crafting a game plan and coming up with specific tools has led them to increased successes in their world and launched a hybrid approach that fits well within this population. More specifically, those that were looking for improvements within their relationships, those they have with the people in their lives and the relationship they ultimately have with themselves. These relationships can often be the ones we have personally with our significant other, family members and friends, or professionally, with regards to upward mobility and success.

Has it been a smooth road?
There were personal obstacles that are by no means unique, but these days are rather common for most, as they are the by-product of us a society choosing to get married and have children later in life. The unique challenges this presents is that building our family and our career must now happen simultaneously. Thus, we all face increased pressure, struggling to uncover that work life balance and finding the time to get everything on our to do list checked off.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Wagner West Group – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Wagner West Group has grown in the last few years to incorporate both the personal and the professional. Within the personal realm, we offer individual and couples counseling focused on improvement and higher satisfaction. We do not consider ourselves the experts on our clients lives, but rather as a facilitator, consultant and partner to problem

Because of our more solution-focused scope, therapy is geared to be a short-term process and thus, change and growth happen rapidly. This has been a huge advantage for couples, as by the time most couples pick up the phone to seek counseling, often the situation at home is barely manageable. As such, having immediate tools to reduce conflict and improve communication gives them immediate results and relief. This approach has led to the demand for this service skyrocketing and becoming highly sought after in our business.

With regards to the professional, Wagner West Group has expanded its services to include corporate consultations, trainings and coaching.

Being Marriage and Family Therapists, as well as a married couple, provides us with a unique internal and external view of romantic relationships. We understand the struggles that couples and families face first hand, which lends itself to the scope of our business. This has been fundamental to the reputation we have gained via word of mouth from individuals and couples we have successfully treated in the past.

While many in our society hold an old-school view of therapy, where one goes to a therapist when something is wrong, when they are broken or mentally ill. Inherently believing that people should be able to fix themselves.

Wagner West’s perspective on therapy is one that lends itself more to the world of self-improvement, where there are different arenas in our lives that we would like to improve and thus gain the skillset to be more successful in these endeavors. Here people find themselves functioning at a 7, and utilize therapy to bump up their functioning to a 9.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
Los Angeles is an incredible melting pot of people from all backgrounds and walks of life. It is a dynamic city filled with incredibly successful people, in many different industries. It is a fun and exciting place to live, with many virtues.

However, Los Angeles is a difficult place to navigate socially as it can be challenging to create new relationships. For many transplants to this city, this becomes a primary issue, as they struggle to create a social network of good, dependable friends.

Contact Info: