Who We Are
Tom Stone Carlson, Ph.D.
Director, SoCal Narrative Therapy
Tom has been practicing therapy for over 25 years. He is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California and a Clinical Fellow and Approved Supervision with the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. He has written widely on the topic of narrative therapy including a recently published book with narrative therapy co-founder, David Epston, called "Reimagining Narrative Therapy." He is also the primary editor of the Journal of Contemporary Narrative Therapy. Tom is also the developer of a unique approach to narrative couples therapy called, "Relational Accountability." As part of the SoCal Narrative Therapy team, Tom works as a supervisor, trainer, and therapist. As a therapist, Tom specializes in working with couples, women living with effects of violence and abuse, and men seeking to change their relationship with practice of control. Tom also specializes in working with clients with diverse sexual orientations, gender identities, and relationship forms.
Sanni Paljakka
Training & Supervision, SoCal Narrative Therapy
Sanni Paljakka works as part of our training and supervision team at SoCal Narrative Therapy. She is the Director of the Calgary Narrative Collective and is the co-editor of the Journal of Contemporary Narrative Therapy. Sanni has written extensively on the topic of narrative therapy and presented her work throughout the US, Canada, and internationally. She is the main author of the forthcoming book called, "So you want to do narrative therapy: Letters to an aspiring narrative therapist." Sanni is one of the main innovators of the practice of writing therapeutic poems from clients' words that are read back to clients as a witnessing practice to their life initiatives.
Meet our Team (Coming Soon)
Therapists at SoCal Narrative Therapy are Associate Marriage and Family Therapists who work under the supervision of our Director. As a team, we are committed to doing right by our clients. As part of that commitment, we meet regularly to study our work together to find ways that we can improve our practice and develop an approach to therapy that is unique tailored to your particular life dilemmas and hopes for living.