Find a therapist in Temecula, CA — covered by insurance

I work with adults who want to better understand themselves, strengthen emotional resilience, and create meaningful, lasting change. My style is warm, collaborative, and empowering — I believe you are the expert on your own life.

As a graduate of the University of Southern California, my training emphasized both clinical excellence and authentic human connection. I integrate CBT and DBT-informed approaches to help clients develop practical skills for managing emotions, navigating relationships, setting healthy boundaries, and shifting unhelpful thought patterns.

I was drawn to this work because I’ve seen how powerful self-awareness and skill-building can be in transforming not only how we cope, but how we experience ourselves and our relationships. I understand that seeking therapy can feel vulnerable, and I strive to create a grounded, supportive space where you feel truly seen — while also gently challenged to grow in ways that build confidence, clarity, and lasting self-trust.

Hola, Soy Christina Zapata, mi pronombre es ella. Hello, I'm Christina Zapata, my pronouns are she and her. I am bilingual (English/Spanish), bi-and pan cultural. My professional training is in clinical social work. I started out in depth-oriented psychotherapy in 2012, moved to family work with foster and adoptive families in the middle part of my career and have returned to psychodynamic, systems-oriented psychotherapy with individuals and families since 2017. I have experience working with Transgender individuals, those in current or former relationships where intimate partner violence is present, foster and adopted youth, and Spanish speaking political and economic refugees and immigrants. I am trained in EMDR. I have undertaken a three year grief training to help people stay connected to, sit with and move through pain. More recently, I am adding to my practice work around supporting individuals who are experiencing stress and confusion in their workplace.

Being a teenager can feel overwhelming. You might be juggling school, work, relationships, family expectations, and trying to understand who you are—all at the same time. Some days, it can feel like too much. Whether you’re dealing with anxiety, depression, relationship challenges, life transitions, or feeling lost or disconnected, we can work through it together at your pace. I also help with things like setting boundaries, building self-confidence, navigating identity, and improving your relationship with food and your body.

That inner pressure to be perfect or “have it all together” can be exhausting. Maybe your inner critic is loud, or you feel like you’re constantly falling short. Therapy is a space where you can take a break from that pressure, feel heard without judgment, and start to make sense of what’s going on inside.

I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California, and I have really wanted to build

something of my own for a long time. Going into private practice was not an impulsive decision. It is something I have thought about carefully, and I am committed to making it work well for the people I work with. My background includes clinical work with adults and families

across a range of settings from psychiatric hospitals, to non profits and private practice. I am based in the Coachella Valley and serve clients throughout

California via telehealth. I am also in the process of establishing an in-person office here in the

valley, because I know how hard it can be to find consistent, quality mental health care locally.

I work with adults navigating anxiety, depression, trauma, and life transitions. I also work with people dealing with chronic stress, relationship challenges, and the kind of emotional weight that builds up when life keeps asking more of you than you feel you have to give. I have a

particular connection to working with Latino and bicultural clients, single parents, and people who are navigating coparenting and the identity shifts that come with it.

More that fifteen years of teaching English and drama at a Los Angeles public high school taught me many things - primarily, it taught me how often people's barriers to achievement are not due to any lack of skill or ability, but rather from emotional barriers stemming from stress, adversity and trauma. So, I went back to graduate school to pursue a new career as a therapist so that I could help in a different way. My training and experience has focused on treating anxiety disorders, PTSD (including Complex-PTSD) and also couples - helping them to navigate challenges and triggers so that they can reset and reconnect.