Max Gough, AMFT, APCC

Emotional pain often takes unexpected forms—persistent anxiety, relationship strain, a fog of sadness, or the quiet residue of old trauma. Even when life appears functional on the surface, something within may feel misaligned or unresolved. Reaching out for support is a meaningful first step toward greater clarity and integration.

I work with adults, adolescents, and couples who are navigating the complexity of being human. My orientation is rooted in depth psychology and psychodynamic thinking, and I draw from contemporary relational and somatic perspectives. Together, we’ll explore the layered terrain of your inner world and make sense of how it speaks through the language of symptoms, dreams, relationships, and patterns that may once have served a purpose, but now ask to be reexamined. I aim to support you in expanding emotional capacity, loosening stuck dynamics, and reconnecting with parts of yourself that may feel lost or silenced.

My approach is collaborative, intuitive, and attuned to the unique rhythm of your unfolding process. I believe therapy is most alive when there is room for surprise, imagination, and even a little irreverence. Healing doesn’t always follow a straight path, and I hold space for both the mystery and the mess.

I hold a master’s degree in counseling psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute, a program grounded in Jungian, archetypal, and depth psychological traditions. I completed my clinical training at Valley Community Counseling Clinic in North Hollywood, offering long-term, psychodynamically informed therapy to individuals and couples from diverse backgrounds. I am currently a registered Associate on the path toward dual licensure as a Marriage and Family Therapist and Professional Clinical Counselor.

Before becoming a therapist, I worked in both the performing and visual arts—I trained as a dancer and later worked as an interior designer. These creative paths continue to inform my sensitivity to embodiment, space, and symbolic expression in clinical work.

Therapy won’t remove life’s hardships, but it can deepen your capacity to stay present through them. It can shift your relationship to pain, to others, and to yourself. It’s a place where change becomes possible—not always in grand gestures, but in the quiet, steady reorientation toward what is most true. I look forward to walking that path with you.