Kayla Uggetti
MA, AMFT, APCC
Associate Staff Therapist
Kayla Uggetti is an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist and an Associate Professional Clinical Counselor, who uses a strengths-based approach to help her clients achieve their goals. Kayla brings warmth and compassion into the therapy room to create a safe, trusting environment where clients can do deep work and exploration. Kayla works with children ages 4 and up, adolescents, adults, couples and families on developing effective communication, useful coping mechanisms, and increasing self-esteem. She specializes in working with those struggling with anxiety, depression, personality disorders and complex trauma. She has worked with adults and children from a variety of backgrounds and offers a culturally sensitive perspective and is an ally of the LGBTQIA+ community.
Kayla has a bachelor’s degree in Human Development from California State University, San Marcos, where she studied the bio-psycho-social development of the entire lifespan. She then completed her master’s degree in Clinical Psychology at Azusa Pacific University in San Diego. Kayla began her training working with individuals on the Autism Spectrum by providing behavioral strategies to improve communication and social skills, and she also worked in various community mental health sites such as The Help Group, where she specialized in treating treatment refractory children on and off the autism spectrum, as well as adults and families with acute trauma and complex backgrounds and diagnoses. Kayla helped to provide wraparound care to these complex patients and families, and often worked within multi-modality treatment teams, assuring that these clients received the highest quality care possible.
Kayla has been trained in and continues to deepen her knowledge of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). She is currently completing her prelicensure mentorship and licensing hours under Dr. Suzanne Wallach’s supervision, receiving comprehensive training as a skills group leader, primary therapist, and team member within the SoCal DBT program, as well as weekly trainings and supervision with Dr. Wallach. Kayla has completed her DBT Foundational Training at Marsha Linehan’s Behavioral Tech with trainers Leslie Kaworski-Anderson, PhD and Jo Berg, PhD. Kayla is also trained in DBT for Adolescents and Families by protocol co-developers Drs. Alec Miller & Jill Rathus.
In her private practice at Suzanne Wallach & Associates Kayla utilizes a trauma informed approach along with Narrative, CBT, and DBT modalities. She has training in the CASE Approach for assessing for safety and is also trained in Motivational Interviewing, an evidence-based approach that is designed to strengthen personal motivation for and commitment to specific goals. Kayla has a passion for working with couples, and has received certification in Gottman Level 1, which helps couples compassionately manage their conflicts, deepen their friendship and intimacy, and share their life purpose and dreams based on the Sound Relationship House Theory. In all her clinical work, Kayla strives for strong rapport with her clients and providing the highest quality of care, basing all clinical work on the strength of the therapist patient relationship as the basis for motivation and change in behavior which leads to increased life satisfaction.
