About Me

Hello! I am Dr. Megan Hoch, a licensed clinical psychologist (PSY36007). I provide individual psychotherapy to adults located in California. I have experience providing treatment for a wide range of presentations including depression, anxiety, insomnia and other sleep disorders, chronic health conditions, chronic stress, trauma, difficulties with emotion regulation, and difficulties surrounding interpersonal relationships.

I strive to provide therapy that adopts a “whole person” perspective, focusing not only on mental health concerns, but also the ways in which our emotional well-being interacts with our physical health, day-to-day functioning, and overall quality of life. This approach also incorporates a focus on my clients’ lived experiences and strengths, including their passions, personal values, and goals for the future. I strive to practice with a culturally sensitive and humble stance, respecting and attending to my clients’ held identities and cultural backgrounds, such as their age, race and ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, and religion/spirituality.

Education

I received my B.A. from New York University, where I majored in Psychology and completed minors in Politics and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Studies. I completed my M.A. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where I received training in the provision of evidence-based psychotherapy and psychological research.

During my time at UCLA, I developed an expertise in Health Psychology and spent much of my graduate career conducting clinical work and research in the field of psycho-oncology to help improve mental health for individuals diagnosed with various types of cancer. As a graduate student, I also worked for several years as a research clinician with the UCLA Anxiety and Depression Research Center, where I developed expertise in the provision of evidence-based interventions for the treatment of mood and anxiety disorders.

Training and Experience

I have experience working in various mental health treatment settings, including community mental health clinics, academic medical centers, the Veterans Affairs (VA) Healthcare System, and private practice. I have trained within several different theoretical orientations, including Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), psychodynamic psychotherapy, and compassion- and mindfulness-centered approaches. I completed my APA-accredited pre-doctoral internship within the Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare System at the Sepulveda Ambulatory Care Center (SACC), where I provided individual and group therapy for Veterans facing various mental and physical health concerns.

I also completed my postdoctoral training at SACC where I continued my specialty training within behavioral sleep medicine. The postdoctoral residency program that I completed is accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) and helped me further develop my expertise in the behavioral treatment of insomnia and other sleep disorders such as sleep apnea, circadian rhythm disorders, nightmare disorder, and insufficient sleep syndrome.

In addition to my private practice, I also work part-time with the Santa Monica Psychology Group and the UCLA Insomnia Clinic.

My Approach to Therapy

Seeking psychotherapy is often a difficult, but brave step in bringing us closer to the life we want for ourselves. I try to honor the effort and vulnerability my clients bring to our work by practicing with a humble and open stance. A metaphor I often share at the outset of therapy is that pursuing mental health treatment is a lot like climbing a mountain. It can be full of hard, steep moments, as well as more even, smooth paths. It can feel challenging at times, while also strengthening our sense of selves. As a provider, I strive to support you in your climb to the top. I am not able to do this because I have climbed your mountain before — I do not know what its like to climb your mountain, and I am not the expert of your experience (that’s you!). Instead, I am climbing my own mountain. My job is to look out across the way, using the perspective from where I’m standing, to help point out ways that your climb can stay on track and maybe even be a bit easier at times. I seek to honor the wisdom you have from your own lived experience while supporting you in your hard-earned journey to the top.

In my work with clients, I often practice from an integrative approach, using methods from various types of evidence-based interventions in a flexible manner in order to respond to clients’ specific needs and preferences. I tend to adopt third-wave cognitive-behavioral approaches (i.e., Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) that include an effective balance of building skills, processing emotions, and attending to the client-therapist relationship.