Existing
Isn’t
Easy
Psychodynamic Counseling
Therapy in Pasadena & Online
Doing the Unstuck
Therapy’s not about “fixing” you—it’s about getting you untangled from the loops, stories, and survival habits that are a size too small now. Maybe you’re ping-ponging between stressed and depressed. Maybe you’re feeling like Tony Soprano once the ducks start to fly away. I’m here to help. Maybe you’re a couple who’ve gone from over-the-moon to underwater. Regardless, If you feel like you’re caught in Groundhog Day, I’m here to help you get to your personal February 3rd.
About Me
Mack Hayden, AMFT #160230
Hi there! I hate talking about myself—that’s why I became a professional listener in the first place! But just in case you want to know a bit more about who you might spill your guts to, here’s a heads up so nothing feels like a jump scare!
I draw as much from my love for stories (novels/movies/etc.), philosophy, and music to inform my approach to therapy as any specific methodologies. When it comes to those approaches, I love Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for pragmatic, “help me feel better NOW” issues and Existential Therapy when it comes to the wider-angle, deep-rooted stuff.
Throw a little Jung and DBT in there, add a spritz of IFS, sprinkle in the non-crazy Freudian stuff, and that’s my approach in a nutshell.
What I Offer
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Individual therapy is about finding out why you’re pushing a big rock up an even bigger mountain. What the specific rock and mountain are depends on the person: depression, burnout, overthinking, breakups and letdowns, family stuff, spiritual confusion, and general existential dread are some of the usual suspects. But that uphill battle is something we’re all in together. Let’s unearth the patterns keeping you looped, make space for the parts you usually shove aside, and find the purpose and peace you need to break on through to the other side.
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Every great love story has a few plot twists. Right now, you’re in the part of the rom-com where it seems like it may be trending away from “happily ever after.” Couples therapy helps you pause, rewind, and figure out what story you actually want to tell together. Whether you’re fighting the same fight, healing after infidelity, or just wondering what the hell happened, I’ll help you start a new kind of dialogue, get curious instead of critical, and start building something more real and rewarding than ever before.
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For a lot of us, faith felt like belonging until it somehow slid into the complete opposite. Deconstruction therapy offers room to grieve what you’ve lost, question what you were taught, and rediscover what feels true now. We can explore the parts of spirituality, morality, and identity that still hum beneath the rubble—and work toward a life that’s defined by curiosity, instead of fear.
You’re Not Broken.
You’re Just Human.
But I get if that doesn’t feel like good news right now. Being human is confusing as hell as it is. We love people who drive us nuts. We get paralyzed trying to do the “right thing” or keep doing the wrong ones. We wake up completely out of gas when we want or need to start our next chapters. Therapy isn’t about eliminating that mess—it’s about learning to live with it differently.
I’ll be completely straight with you. Therapy is probably not going to make your life endlessly happy. If you figure out how to do that, it’s time for you to give me a call! But what therapy can do is give you a new way of looking at yourself. It can help you navigate life, the universe, and everything with more openness and curiosity. It can help you identify the sources of meaning, love, and light that’ll make the hardest days endurable and the best days even brighter.
I’ve been through the valley plenty of times myself and I wouldn’t lie to you—it can get better, it will get better. There is a light that never goes out—and I’d love to help you find where it’s shining.
