Monica Chernoff Therapy

Monica Chernoff is a registered Marriage and Family Therapist Associate (#133736) and supervised by Macy Grim, LPCC (5921). She has a Masters of Science in Marriage & Family Therapy from the University of Southern California. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Occidental College. Before graduate school, Monica worked in the school setting, community mental health, and internationally including the Boys & Girls Club - Metro LA, Community Helpline as an Advisor and Training Facilitator, and the Philippine Development Foundation in Tondo, Manila. In addition, she played college water polo and with the National Philippine Water Polo Team. She also worked as a private swim instructor for over eight years specializing in teaching 3-5 year old how to swim and develop survivor skills. Monica’s wide range experiences in athletics, the school setting, and in mental health led her to want to work with children, adolescents, and their families who experience stress and mental health challenges in sports and school. Monica’s started working with the USC Neighborhood Academic Initiative (USC NAI) as a Marriage & Family Therapist Trainee where she primarily worked provided individual psychotherapy to scholarship students and their families. At USC NAI, she worked with wide range of individuals who struggled with school and performance stress, anxiety, panic disorder, grief, major depression disorder, trauma, family conflict, and much more. She also led group therapy for high school boys and gave monthly psycho-educational talks to over 500 parents on various topics as self-esteem, boundaries, and social anxiety. Currently, Monica is working at Macy Grim Therapy, located in Hermosa Beach where she mainly works with families, children, and adolescents. Monica mainly uses humanistic therapy and meets where her client is at. Based on the client’s goals of treatment, Monica implements various modalities such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. She also uses creative forms of therapy, hypnotherapy, and mindfulness. Monica is also trained in Ericksonian Hypnotherapy by Dr. Norma Barretta, MA, PhD who is clinical psychologist and well-known hypnotherapist that has over 70 years of experience in psychology. Dr. Barretta studied personally with Milton Erickson, a pioneer in psychology. Monica is able to provide hypnotherapy to her clients in any presenting problem such as sleep disorders, panic, stress, grief, and much more. Monica also assists Hillary Wilson, LMFT who is a therapist in Palos Verdes and Pre-Licensure Director for the California Marriage & Family Therapist Association (CAMFT). Hillary and Monica collaborate together on parenting talks, groups for adoptive/ foster parents, meetings for CAMFT. (Monica is not Hillary’s Employed Associate).