Darla Cozzarelli, LCSW

Darla Cozzarelli is a licensed therapist in California who brings both professional training and personal insight to her work. She holds an LCSW, which stands for Licensed Clinical Social Worker, and she earned her degree from the University of Southern California. Her clinical foundation is rooted in community mental health, where she supported people healing from trauma, navigating homelessness, and managing co-occurring conditions such as substance use, psychotic, and mood disorders.

She has worked with individuals from diverse backgrounds and strives to respect each person’s identity and life story. Darla centers a trauma-informed, person-centered approach that emphasizes empathy, collaboration, and respect, with the aim of helping people build insight and self-efficacy at a pace that feels right for them. Her clinical toolkit includes evidence-based methods such as cognitive behavioral therapy, motivational interviewing, seeking safety, and task-centered therapy.

Darla also draws on her own lived experience as someone who was adopted and who has faced mental health challenges. That background informs how she connects with others and shapes a therapeutic stance grounded in compassion, authenticity, and curiosity. She emphasizes practical support as well as long-term planning, bringing skills in crisis intervention and treatment planning to help stabilize acute situations while creating sustainable paths forward.

Across her work, Darla has supported a broad range of concerns including trauma and abuse, anxiety, depression, grief and loss, low self-esteem, and addiction. Beginning therapy can take courage, and Darla aims to walk alongside people with steady support and a commitment to their growth. She does not provide crisis or emergency services. If someone is in crisis, they should call 911 or 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline).