Dr. Wendy M. O’Connor is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with a private practice in Brentwood, California.

She is passionate about the issues of adolescents, and helping them heal the past and move forward with meaning, passion and purpose in life.

She has been an advocate for children struggling with learning disabilities coupled with low self-esteem.  Early intervention, working closely with schools and parents and empowering and encouraging teens to verbalize their needs became an ongoing passion for her.  She also specializes in attachment with single women and young adults, helping them to develop meaning, find true love, passion and purpose in life, and creating intention for positive change.

She has dedicated herself to volunteer work in the community specializing in physical and sexual abuse with children, and worked with “at risk” teens in the legal system, non-public schools and outpatient clinics.  Her work has focused on helping teens in programs designed to redirect their anger and create meaningful goals for their future. At Vista Del Mar, she focused on individual and family therapy with various emotional issues such as Bipolar Disorder, Self-Injury, Depression, Grief & Loss, Substance Abuse, Anxiety, ADD, ADHD and Attachment Disorder. She also specialized in implementing school interventions for “at risk” students within the Los Angeles Unified School District.  She has worked with a wide range of mothers and daughters in all multicultural and socioeconomic levels from the poorest to the wealthiest Hollywood celebrities & royalty.

In addition to her current practice, Dr. O’Connor is an author and currently working on a new book related to parenting teens. She holds public speaking engagements and workshops that creatively address various aspects of relationships.

Nelly Rico is an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist (AMFT) and a School Counselor in Los Angeles County. Ms. Rico has over twenty-one years of experience as a school counselor with middle school, high school and continuation/alternative education populations, as well as nine years of classroom teaching experience.

Ms. Rico is currently working on the implementation of social-emotional learning programs as a method of promoting youth wellness by teaching skills such as self-regulation, resilience, empathy, self-awareness, and mindfulness. As a youth suicide prevention counselor lead, she has amplified her expertise in youth mental health awareness, prevention and intervention initiatives in addition to crisis response.

Her training includes a Bachelor of Science in Counseling with an emphasis on Rehabilitation Services and a Master of Science Degree in School-Based Family Counseling. Ms. Rico is also a mother of two happy teenagers.

Stephan J. Blustajn is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) who has worked as a pupil services counselor and a mental health practitioner in a large metropolitan school district in Los Angeles. In addition, Mr. Blustajn has a private practice where he specializes in brief therapy, positive psychology, cognitive behavior therapy and mindfulness.

For the past 2O years, Mr. Blustajn has provided trauma informed evidenced-based treatment and interventions to students and their families where he specializes in child welfare and crisis counseling. As a pupil services counselor, Mr. Blustajn worked in the school-site, local district and district-wide crisis teams.

As a mental health practitioner, Mr. Blustajn works in crisis counseling intervention services and mental health evaluation and case management teams. Mr. Blustajn also provides consultation to administrators, teachers and school staff regarding school-wide threat assessments.

Mr. Blustajn received his Bachelor Degree in Sociology from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and his Masters in Social Work from the University Southern California (USC).