Gry Apeland, MA

Advanced Clinical Therapist | Pasadena and CA Teletherapy

gryapeland.relate@gmail.com

Services Offered: Individual therapy, couples therapy, premarital therapy.

Ages: Children (10 and up), Adolescents, Emerging Adults and Adults

Religious and spiritual trauma, faith questions and deconstruction, coercive control and high-control groups, identity exploration, LGBTQIA+ affirming care, neurodivergent-affirming care, college and graduate students, shame and self-criticism, perfectionism, people-pleasing, anxiety, depression, relationship patterns, couples therapy, premarital counseling, life transitions.

Maybe there are parts of yourself you learned to keep hidden, because at some point they felt too shameful or too different for the people around you. Perhaps you keep finding yourself in the same patterns in relationships, or you are working so hard to get things right that there is little room left to simply be yourself. You might find it hard to trust your own judgment, or notice how often you put everyone else’s needs ahead of your own. So if you are struggling to accept parts of yourself and you find that these shape how you relate to others and yourself, therapy can be a place to bring those parts into the room and look at them with curiosity and care. I know the power of feeling seen and understood, and my aim is to offer that as we work toward self- acceptance together. In our work together, we will work as a team so you don’t feel like you are figuring it out on your own.

My approach is person-centered and relational psychodynamic, which means I pay close attention to your story and to the relationships that have shaped how you see yourself and others. I work with tweens, teens, adults, including many young adults, who are navigating anxiety, depression, perfectionism, people-pleasing and painful relationship patterns, as well as transitions such as starting college or graduate school. I also see couples, such as people preparing for marriage. Offering a safe space for identity exploration, and for working through the shame that can come with feeling different, is central to my work. This includes helping clients find ways to navigate relationships and community in light of who they are. This includes helping clients find ways to navigate relationships and community in light of who they are.

I also have a particular interest in religious and spiritual trauma. Some of the people I work with are questioning or leaving a faith tradition, while others want to keep their faith and make sense of the ways it has been used to hurt them. Many are carrying guilt and self-doubt that outlast the beliefs they were taught, or are working out how to set boundaries with family and community. Sometimes this includes couples where partners’ beliefs have changed at different rates, and LGBTQIA+ couples working out how to hold their relationship within communities that respond in different ways. My graduate training in the psychology of coercive control also informs my work with people who have spent time in high-control groups or controlling relationships. People of any faith or none are welcome here, including those who have moved away from religion altogether.

I see clients in person in Pasadena and online anywhere in California. If you’d like to find out whether working together could be a good fit, I offer a free 15-minute phone or video consultation.

About Gry

Gry is a doctoral student in Clinical Psychology (Ph.D.) at Fuller Graduate School of Psychology, where she also earned her M.A. in Psychology. She holds an M.Sc. in the Psychology of Coercive Control from the University of Salford and a B.Sc. in Psychology from the University of York. She currently works under the supervision of Dr. Brett Veltman, PsyD (PSY 21684).

Gry has trained and worked in clinical and community settings in Norway, the United Kingdom, Thailand and California, most recently at the Institute for Girls Development in Pasadena and Insight Collective in South Pasadena. Her research looks at how LGBTQIA+ clients’ perceptions of their therapist shape their sense of psychological safety in therapy.

Originally from Norway, Gry lived in the UK before making Pasadena home in 2022. In her spare time she is an avid supporter of her local women’s soccer (football) team, Angel City, and enjoys exploring the Los Angeles food scene. When she needs to decompress, she can often be found playing video games.