Welcome
Thank you for taking the time to visit my website.
My name is Dr. Maddisen Espeseth and I am a licensed clinical psychologist located in Anaheim Hills, California. I provide psychotherapy services to clients ranging from toddlerhood to young adulthood with a passion for working with fellow therapists. My subspecialties include trauma-related disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
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I offer comprehensive, neuroaffirming psychodiagnostic testing services to child and adult clients ranging from toddlerhood to early sixties. Common rule-outs include autism, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), specific learning disabilities (dyslexia and dyscalculia), intellectual disability, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, psychotic disorders,
personality disorders, and trauma-related disorders. I can travel off-site (to clinics, homes, schools, etc.) to provide services as clinically indicated. I do not utilize artificial intelligence (AI) programs to conceptualize diagnostic impressions or write my summative reports.
My Treatment Approach
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
I am a Certified Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapist and IFS Institute (IFS-I) Approved Clinical Consultant (ACC). IFS is an attachment-focused, non-pathologizing approach that proposes that the psyche is a complex system of various subpersonalities or "parts." Each part offers a unique wisdom to the internal system, and dually shares relationships with other parts as well as the core "Self." By understanding and unburdening our parts of past trauma, we pave the way for a Self-led life.
Play Therapy
Sandplay Therapy
I am a Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor (RPT-S), former president elect of the Association for Play Therapy (APT) local Orange County chapter, and APT member. Play therapy is a neurodevelopmentally
attuned approach that entails the use of varying play-based, sensoriaffective interventions. The symbolic nature of play grants access to a rich surplus of intra- and interpersonal knowledge that is otherwise, inaccessible via traditional "talk therapy." I defer to a heavy attachment-based lens, conceptualizing play within the context of a client's unique working model.
I am a Certified Sandplay Therapist (CST) and member of Sandplay Therapists of America (STA). Informed by Jungian depth psychology, sandplay is a nonverbal, non-interpretative approach that is intended to create a symbolic holding place for the psyche to instinctively and effectively navigate the relationship between conscious and unconscious worlds. Sand is utilized as an emblematic conduit of the psyche's "prima materia" whereas figurines act as concrete manifestations of varying intrapsychic structures such as archetypes.
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Psychodiagnostic Testing
The intent of psychodiagnostic testing (sometimes referred to as psychodiagnostic assessment, psychological testing, or psychological assessment) is to assist with ascertaining the rationale for a client's presenting strengths and challenges. Standardized, empirically-validated objective and subjective instruments are administered in order to assess domains such as neurocognitive, socioemotional, communicational, sensory, personality, or behavioral functioning. Data collected via these measures is holistically interpreted within the context of a client’s present functioning and past history in order to identify client-specific, neuroaffirming, practical recommendations as outlined in a written report provided to the client at the close of the assessment period. I can travel off-site (to clinics, homes, schools, etc.) to provide services as clinically indicated. I do not utilize artificial intelligence (AI) programs to conceptualize diagnostic impressions or write my summative reports.
At this time, I provide psychodiagnostic testing services to child and adult clients to assist with the rule-out of the following diagnoses listed below.
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Autism (My Speciality)
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Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
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Specific Learning Disabilities (Dyslexia and Dyscalculia)
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Intellectual Disability
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Mood Disorders
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Anxiety Disorders
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Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders
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Psychotic Disorders
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Personality Disorders
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Trauma-Related Disorders
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Consultative Services and Workshops
In addition to clinical client services, I also offer on-site, off-site, and virtual consultative services for fellow therapists, agencies, institutions, groups, and practices. As an Internal Family Systems Institute (IFS-I) Approved Clinical Consultant (ACC), I can support fellow providers in completing the necessary consultation hours required for certification in IFS. As a Registered Play Therapist-Supervisor (RPT-S), I can also assist clinicians with completing supervision and consultation hours needed for certification as a Registered Play Therapist (RPT).
Consultation services are specific to the consultee's needs; however, example foci include but are not limited to supporting clinicians in addressing therapy roadblocks or client-therapist impasses, collaborative treatment planning, navigating legal and ethical concerns, offering psychoeducation regarding conceptual and clinical application of models I am trained in, crisis management planning, identifying when and how to refer for psychodiagnostic testing, mentorship pertaining to private practice development or progression toward subspecialty certifications, and so on. I am likewise passionate about providing psychoeducative consultation services to interdisciplinary professionals (such as teachers, medical specialists, etc.).
I similarly love offering on-site, off-site, and virtual workshops in order to support a variety of communities in strengthening mental health awareness and resourcing. Workshop audiences have included school staff members, group practice providers, play therapists, medical healthcare professionals, and so on. Example workshop topics include but are not limited to psychoeducation and clinical application of Internal Family Systems (IFS) and attachment theory, child development and trauma, neurosequentially-informed treatment, play therapy approaches to specific disorders, introductions to specific play therapy models such as Theraplay, sandplay basics, the ins and outs of psychodiagnostic testing, and so on.
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