Dr. Reza Nabavi, the Founder and Executive Clinical Director of Resolutions Therapeutic Services in Santa Monica, is a licensed Clinical Psychologist in the Los Angeles area who has 20 years of clinical experience working with individuals and families suffering from alcohol and chemical dependency, problem gambling, sexual compulsivity, low self-esteem, mood and anxiety disorders, chronic mental illness, men’s issues, interpersonal problems, process addictions, and co-occurring disorders. His psychodynamic training does not limit the use of other modalities at Resolutions such as DBT, EMDR, SE, TRM, CBT, Havening, Internal Family Systems, ACT, Daring Way, etc.
Dr. Reza’s integrative approach incorporates humanistic, family systems, and mindfulness-based cognitive behavioral therapy techniques. Clients have described him as warm and empathic, while appreciating his honest and direct feedback as well. While long-term depth work can be valuable in terms of gaining important insight into one’s self, not everyone has the luxury of being in therapy for years. Dr. Reza understands this and uses a strengths-based approach because he believes in empowering clients by teaching them tangible and effective coping skills that they can utilize on their own. This is a large focus of the intensive outpatient programs he developed at Resolutions Therapeutic Services, to provide tools that are practicable.
Dr. Reza completed his undergraduate studies at the University of California, Irvine (UCI) in Psychology and Social Behavior. He then continued his graduate studies at the California School of Professional Psychology (CSPP) in San Francisco, the first professional school of psychology in the country, where he obtained his masters and doctorate degrees in Clinical Psychology. He co-authored the Masculinity Attitudes, Stress, and Conformity (MASC) Questionnaire, an instrument to assess males’ attitudes about traditional male norms, behavioral conformity to those norms, and the amount of stress males experience when there are discrepancies between their masculinity behavior and attitudes. His clinical practice draws on his expertise in the psychology of men; one of the two men’s groups that Dr. Reza leads is focused on relationships and healthy sexuality. The other is a mindfulness-based relapse prevention group for men in early recovery.
Dr. Reza received his post-doctoral training at APA accredited internships. He is a certified domestic violence and abuse counselor who has worked in a variety of settings, including community mental health agencies, residential treatment centers, domestic violence shelters, schools (i.e., elementary, middle, and high schools), inpatient, and outpatient settings. He completed his certification through the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Office of Problem Gambling and is currently an authorized provider for the treatment of problem and pathological gamblers. His experiences have included family, group, couples, and individual psychotherapy. In addition to his clinical practice, Dr. Reza has also taught doctoral level courses, including Psychology of Men and Masculinity, Theories of Personality, Assessment and Treatment of Substance Abuse, Group Process and Child Abuse. As a clinician and educator, Dr. Reza makes it his priority to stay current with advances in the field of psychology to ensure that clients receive maximum benefit from the collective wisdom of the psychological community.
Dr. Reza was the Director of Family Services at the world renowned Promises Treatment Centers in Malibu, where he conducted individual, group, couples, and family therapy. He has had the privilege of working with extraordinarily successful individuals, including top executives, royalty, high-powered businessmen, doctors, lawyers, politicians, Hollywood producers, musicians, professional athletes, and celebrities. Dr. Reza also worked as a primary therapist at PCH (Psychological Care & Healing), a mental health treatment center in Los Angeles. Following his transition into private practice, Dr. Reza continued to privately treat impaired physicians, nurses, attorneys, and pharmacists from the Promises Professionals Treatment at Promises (PTP) . In addition, he has offered his clinical services to a number of other reputable drug and alcohol residential treatment centers, as well as mental health treatment centers throughout the country. For the past seven years, since opening up Resolutions Therapeutic Services in Santa Monica, CA, Dr. Reza has been entirely focused on bringing together the most talented team of clinicians in the field to create the strongest DBT informed, trauma and evidence based IOP in the greater Los Angeles area.