Psychotherapy · Santa Barbara, CA
Helping people come home to themselves
You bring your experience, questions, hopes, and uncertainty. I bring warmth, curiosity, compassion, and clinical experience.
I work with individuals, couples, teens, and families. In person on West Mission Street, and online throughout California.
Santa Barbara at golden hour, seen from the Riviera
Who I work with
What may bring you here
A life that looks fine from the outside
You may be leading an organization, practicing medicine, running a business, or raising a family. Others may assume you have everything together. Inside, you may feel anxious, exhausted, or as though you always have to be on.
A relationship that keeps returning to the same place
You want more than managing conflict. You want intimacy, trust, and a way to feel heard without ending up in the same argument in different clothes.
A family in a hard season
A teenager who has stopped talking to you. A new baby and a marriage under strain. A change nobody planned for, with everyone feeling it differently.
How I work
What we’ll pay attention to
This is less about a list of methods and more about what we will look at together.
Draft for Jamie’s review- The patterns that keep bringing you back to the same place: what sets them in motion, what they protect, and what may become possible when you have more choice in how you respond.
- In couples work, we notice not only what you argue about, but what happens between you as each of you tries to be heard.
- What happens between us in the room. Therapy begins with a relationship, and we’ll attend to it as carefully as we do anything you bring from the rest of your life.
About
Jamie Fortin, LMFT
I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, certified animal-assisted therapist, and clinical supervisor. I work with individuals, couples, teens, and families in person in Santa Barbara and online across California. My work is humanistic and relational, drawing on depth psychology, attachment, family systems, and evidence-informed approaches when they are useful to the person in front of me.
I consider emotional literacy imperative and emotional mastery the goal.
- Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist, CA Lic. 136703
- Clinical Supervisor · Certified Animal-Assisted Therapy Interventionist
- Advisory Board, Postpartum Education for Parents
- Founder and leader, Fatherhood Forum, since 2012
The office
West Mission Street
A cream chair, a blue sofa, plants, and afternoon light. A room where you can settle in and arrive as you are.
Sophie, my Standard Poodle co-therapist, is often here. She joins sessions only when you would like her to, and sessions without her are always available.
The office, with Sophie
Articles
Thoughts on therapy and daily life
Anxiety
Why do I feel anxious when life is going well?
Often, the anxiety was never only about the circumstances. It took shape when being capable helped you feel safe, and it may not quiet down simply because the pressure has lifted.
Beneath every reason for therapy is the quiet hope that life can feel more like home.
Begin when you feel ready.
We can begin with a free 15-minute call by phone or video. We’ll talk about what brings you in and whether working together feels like a fit. There is room for your questions, uncertainty, and time to consider.