Frank M. Bruno, MA. LMFT

SPECIAL NOTE: To continue to provide support during the challenges we all face with COVID-19 I am able to provide HIPAA compliant encrypted online therapy. Please email me if this is an option you are interested in: frank@frankthrapy.com

After three decades of working as a high-tech executive, I feel that I was called to change careers and devote my life to  helping others find happiness and fulfillment in their lives. 

I have been married for 30 years and I have raised two children. I bring a wealth of real life experience to each of my clients.

I majored in Philosophy at USC, earned an MBA from Pepperdine University, and a Masters degree in Marital and Family Therapy from Antioch University. 

Below you will find more about my approach to working with kids and families, couples, and individuals.

Working with Children & Families

"Children have never been very good at listening to their elders, but they have never failed to imitate them." 
                                                              James Baldwin

Our childhoods inform and influence so much of our adult lives. As a therapist, I meet children where they are, and I do not try to impose adult ideas on things that they have yet to grasp. This requires nuanced communication, a sensitive ear, and the willingness to see their world through their eyes.

At a certain point, caregivers also must actively engage in the process so that we can open new ways to communicate and understand each other.

Working with Couples

“Success in marriage depends on being able, when you get over being in love, to really love.” 
                                                       Eleanor Roosevelt

Relationships represent one of the most profound and challenging parts of the human experience. If you are unhappy or uncertain in your partner relationship, seeking help is a difficult, but necessary first step.

There are as many causes of relationship discord as there are people on the planet. Discovering and healing these rifts help to move us to more rewarding, loving and supportive experiences. Again, I welcome all types of human relationships

I use both Gottman Method Couples Therapy and Emotionally Focused Therapy in my work with couples.

Working with Individuals

“The problem is the problem, the person is not the problem.” 
                                                             Michael White

Emotions both push us and pull us. Mostly, we feel the push.

And, understandably, we want to know the reasons why we feel the way we feel. But, it is equally important for us to discover the purpose, or pull of our emotions.

They pull us toward our future, our goals, our desires. Realizing the importance of that push-pull balance helps us respond to new possibilities, to bring them out of our imagination and into new behaviors, new actions, and new ways of being in the world. In individual therapy, we seek to restore that balance by understanding, not only the past, but to uncover the future purpose of your deepest feelings.

Spiritual Challenges

“The great lesson is that the sacred is in the ordinary, that it is to be found in one's daily life, in one's neighbors, friends, and family, in one's backyard.” 
                                                  Abraham H. Maslow

Despite living full and busy lives, and successful careers, many of us feel that “something is missing.”

It’s typically not described as depression or sadness, and the reasons for it can be hard to pin down.  Many express it in some variation of “I have a good life …I shouldn’t feel this way.”  Their very intangible nature means these feelings can only be answered by looking deeply within yourself.

Many people try to ignore deep feelings of emptiness, and do not listen to what these feelings are trying to tell them. For many this is where their faith supports them and therapy can help too. I welcome people of all faiths and with those who have none to explore your own depths and find the purpose, meaning and the significance of your life .