Hannah Freeman, APCC

“‘Asking for help isn’t giving up,’ said the horse. ‘It’s refusing to give up.’”
-The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse by Charlie Mackesy

Hannah has been working in private practice for over two years and has almost 3,000 hours of experience working with preteens, adolescents, and adults in individual, couples, and family therapy formats. In addition to working frequently with depression, suicide and self-harm, anxiety, and ADHD, she is particularly passionate about working with LGBTQIA+ issues, identity development, trauma, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), relationship challenges and concerns, codependency, domestic violence, chronic illness and physical disability, and grief and loss.

Hannah’s style is warm, transparent, flexible, collaborative, authentic, and strengths-based. She recognizes the importance of a genuine connection in a therapeutic relationship and places an emphasis on education and resilience. Past clients have expressed special appreciation for her sense of humor, nonjudgmental approach, compassionate directness, and genuine understanding of their experiences, emotions, and thought process.

Hannah takes an evidence-based and trauma-informed approach to therapy. She often incorporates education, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Mindful Self-Compassion, Motivational Interviewing, and person-centered therapy to help clients achieve their goals. With couples, Hannah regularly adopts Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) and Gottman techniques. When clients find value in creative expression, Hannah also loves to incorporate art and narrative therapy techniques in their time together.

As both a psychology and sociology student in school, Hannah believes it is vital to look not only at the individual, but the unique context in which they live. She recognizes that there are often societal, institutional, and systemic factors that interfere with functioning and wellbeing; as a result, she emphasizes advocacy, equity, and taking an approach of cultural humility in her work with clients.

Hannah spent most of her life in San Diego, moving to Texas for five years before returning home to earn her M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from the University of San Diego in 2020. She loves nature and wildlife, art museums, archery, science fiction, live concerts, and stand-up comedy.