Carlsbad or Online (CA & WA)
Dr. Jessica Kim
Licensed Psychologist | Director of Couples Therapy | she/her/hers
My goal is that as we navigate the complexities and intricacies of your life, you will feel more joy, purpose, and freedom: both with others and with yourself.
A short introduction
About Dr. Kim
Dr. Jessica Kim is a licensed clinical psychologist at Coastal Therapy Group’s Carlsbad office and the practice’s Director of Couples Therapy. She works with couples, adults, and teens, and her clinical focus runs through relationships: the patterns partners fall into, the early templates underneath them, and the complex trauma, transitions, identity questions, and grief that shape how we relate. She is a relational psychodynamic therapist, which means the therapy relationship itself is part of the work rather than a backdrop to it, and she brings a multicultural lens to every case, including her work with children of immigrants. She holds a doctorate in Clinical Psychology from Rosemead School of Psychology at Biola University and is licensed in both California (PSY34921) and Washington (PSY61320770), seeing clients in person in Carlsbad and online in both states.
In her own words
The irony of doing internal work is that it is relational
The irony of doing internal work is that it is relational. Internal work often involves unraveling deep-seated beliefs, addressing past traumas, and exploring complex emotions. This work is most effectively done in relationships.
Leading our couples program
Director of Couples Therapy
Dr. Kim leads couples work at Coastal Therapy Group. In her own practice that means sitting with partners in the middle of it: the argument you have had four hundred times, the distance neither of you named, the rupture that has not healed. Relational psychodynamic work is a natural fit here, because what happens between two people in a long relationship is rarely about the dishes. It is about what each of you learned, early and elsewhere, about being close to someone and staying safe at the same time.
The role also reaches past her own caseload. Every other week she leads the couples case consultation our clinicians attend, and Coastal Therapy Group pays outside couples-therapy experts to consult on our cases as well. That is how the practice keeps its couples work sharp: our therapists sharpen their skills alongside each other rather than practicing in isolation, and more than one experienced mind is thinking about how to help your relationship.
She sees partners for ongoing weekly work and for Couples Intensives, a single three-hour session for couples who want to move faster than a weekly hour allows.
How she works
Getting to the root of your conflicts
As a relational psychodynamic therapist, I deeply care about providing an attuned and collaborative space, so that we can explore the “deep stuff” together to get to the root of your conflicts. I believe that the therapeutic relationship provides a safe foundation for us to explore your known and unknown parts and underlying patterns of how you relate to yourself, others, and to the world. This also includes understanding your experiences in the context of your family history, other significant relationships, communities, and culture. Recognizing these patterns is critical as it can bring about self-awareness and insights to better make sense of your present in light of your past. Greater insight and understanding can increase your agency to make choices to live differently and better deal with life’s inevitable challenges.
Therapy is not only about getting intellectual understanding or learning tools or skills but also about processing emotions and feelings that have not found ways to be expressed. I hope that as we navigate the complexities and intricacies of your inner world, and your relationships, and address your unique challenges, you will feel more joy, purpose, and freedom: both with others and with yourself.
Individuals & teens
Meeting you where you are at
I embrace a multicultural perspective, recognizing that our identities are shaped by a myriad of cultural influences and beliefs. With an appreciation for diversity, I create a safe and inclusive space where individuals from all walks of life feel valued, understood, and respected. I enjoy working with teens, adults, and couples who are struggling to navigate complex trauma, tough transitions and change, identity exploration, and grief. Although the process of change can be challenging, I believe that it’s always worthwhile. I would love to support and empower you in this process.
Ways to work together
Formats to fit what you need
Alongside weekly therapy, Dr. Kim offers focused, time-limited ways to work together, useful when you want meaningful help within a defined stretch of time.
The foundation. Ongoing individual sessions, in person in Carlsbad or online throughout California and Washington.
Ongoing work with partners on the patterns underneath the arguments: how you each learned to protect yourself, and what it would take to reach each other again.
About couples therapy →A focused three-hour session for partners who want to move faster than a weekly hour allows, going straight to the core hurts keeping things stuck.
About intensives →A structured psychological consultation (intake, brief assessment, and a feedback session) for clarity and direction without committing to ongoing therapy.
About Insight Sessions →Credentials as a Psychologist
- Director of Couples Therapy, Coastal Therapy Group
- Licensed Clinical Psychologist, California PSY34921
- Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Washington PSY61320770
- Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (PsyD), Rosemead School of Psychology, Biola University, La Mirada, CA (APA Accredited)
- Masters in Clinical Psychology (MA), Rosemead School of Psychology, Biola University, La Mirada, CA (APA Accredited)
- Bachelors in Human Development, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA
- EMDR Basic Training
Areas of Specialized Experience
- Couples Therapy
- Marriage Counseling
- Relationships & Intimacy
- Complex Trauma
- Adult Children of Narcissistic Parents
- Grief & Loss
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Identity Exploration & Transitions
- Working with Children of Immigrants
- Neurodivergence
- Psychological Assessment
Before you reach out
Questions clients tend to ask first
What does it mean that you are the Director of Couples Therapy?
Two things. I see couples in my own practice, and I am responsible for how couples work is done across Coastal Therapy Group: who we train, how we think about the work, and the case consultation our couples clinicians attend. It means the approach you get with me is the same approach the practice stands behind.
Do you still see individual clients, or only couples?
Both. Individual therapy is still a large part of my practice. I work with adults and teens on complex trauma, tough transitions, identity, and grief, and many of my individual clients never do couples work at all.
What kind of couples therapy do you do?
Emotionally Focused Therapy is the backbone of my couples work. It treats your fights as attachment signals rather than problems to be argued down. Underneath that is the psychodynamic lens I bring to all my work, so we pay attention to what each of you carried in from earlier relationships. I also draw on PACT, which tracks what your nervous systems are doing in the room, and on Gottman's research for the practical mechanics of how couples argue and repair. Which of those leads depends on the two of you.
We are not in crisis. Is couples therapy still worth it?
Yes, and those are often the most productive rounds of couples work. Plenty of the partners I see are not on the edge of anything. They have drifted, or they keep having the same argument in different clothes, or something happened a while ago that never fully settled. You do not need a crisis to justify getting help with your relationship.
My partner is reluctant to come. What do we do?
Come anyway, and say so on the consultation call. Reluctance is usually about fear of being blamed, or of being told the relationship is over. A lot of my early work is making it clear that the room is not a courtroom and I am not there to pick a side. Most reluctant partners settle once they feel that for themselves.
What does therapy with you actually look like?
I work relationally and psychodynamically, which means we are not only building skills. We are paying attention to what is underneath: the patterns you learned early, what they are still protecting, and how they show up between you now. Sessions are weekly to start. With couples, we spend the first few sessions understanding how the two of you got here before we start changing anything.
Do you work with clients from immigrant and multicultural families?
Yes, and it is close to my heart. I work often with children of immigrants and with clients navigating more than one cultural world, including the pressure of holding a family’s expectations alongside your own life. Culture is not a side topic in my office. It is part of how we make sense of you.
What do sessions cost?
Individual sessions with me are $260 for 45 minutes, and couples sessions are $300 for 55 minutes. A Couples Intensive is $900 for one three-hour session. We are a private-pay practice and provide superbills you can submit for possible out-of-network reimbursement. Full details are on our Cost + Info page.
Where do sessions take place?
In person at our Carlsbad office on State Street, and online throughout California and Washington. I am licensed in both states, so clients who move between them can keep working with me.
What is the first step?
Schedule a free 15-minute consultation. We talk through what you are navigating, individually or as a couple, and whether we are a good fit. From there we can book a first full session, usually within a week.