Donald Stiles

Hi, there! My friends call me Donnie, and I'm a former Staff Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps who served on active duty for 8 years and completed 3 consecutive tours in Iraq (2004, 2005, 2006). Upon completion of active duty, I decided to “chase the money” and became a DoD contractor and conducted two more tours to Iraq (2008, 2011) and one tour to Afghanistan (2009) wherein I learned a valuable life lesson; being deployed so dang much sucks and chasing the money is a terrible idea and it did not align with my personal values. I decided I needed a career that fully aligned with my philosophy: a life of service is a life well lived. I used my VA benefits to obtain my undergraduate degree in philosophy from the University of California, Los Angeles. I then obtained my Master's of Social Work from UCLA's crosstown rival, the University of Southern California, with a concentration in Adult Mental Health and Wellness and a sub-concentration in Military Social Work. I believe in a humanistic, person-centered framework for therapy, and I specialize in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Solution-Focused Therapy. I am a trauma-informed therapist who believes the therapeutic alliance is critically vital for healing. I will share your successes and your setbacks with you. I will hold you gently, but firmly accountable, and I will lift you up when you've got nothing left in the tank. I want you to know that this will be tough, but it will be so damn worth it, and I look forward to working with you. Never below you, never above you, always beside you.