Professional Bio
As a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with over 35 years of experience, Dr. Scott Williams brings a broad range of clinical and academic experience to his work. He believes the only effective way to understand ourselves and others is to understand the context we live in, including family, community, culture, and our place in history.
Our journey into the year 2021 is no exception. Our experience of anxiety, uncertainty, and frustrations living through COVID-19, job loss and disruption, and the protests against police brutality can be powerful and at times overwhelming. Dr. Williams understands the need for therapy through these challenging times and the importance of a safe environment for the work he provides. With the onset of the coronavirus, he was quick to shift the delivery of services online in a HIPPA compliant telehealth platform. He continues to provide therapy in this manner. Once he is vaccinated in early 2021, he plans to return to his office following strict COVID-19 guidelines to offer you the choice of meeting with him in person.
Granted the distinguished status of Emeritus Professor from California State University, Northridge (CSUN) in 2020, Dr. Williams brings the depth and wisdom of over 25 years of teaching experience as a faculty member to his clinical experience. He taught a variety of courses in the Family Studies discipline including Marriage and Family Relationships, Family Theories, Human Sexuality, and Adolescents in the Family Context. In addition, he taught The Helping Professional, a course which includes professional development and ethics. He was one of the co-coordinators of the Human Sexuality Minor at CSUN and is an AASECT Certified Sexuality Educator (American Association of Sex Educators, Counselors, & Therapists). Previously he was an instructor of graduate students and supervisor of Marriage and Family Interns as well as other courses throughout the years.
Scott's clinical work has been significantly shaped by Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT); Dr. Sue Johnson's model for couple therapy. He successfully completed his Externship in EFT through The International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy. In addition, his academic background of over 1600 hours of teaching human sexuality to college students and sexual topics to parents and their pre-adolescent children, grounds his work in sex therapy. Scott is a frequent guest speaker and lecturer. His previous involvement with pre-adolescent children in his workshop that he co-created and co-presented with his wife, Preparing for Puberty and the Changes of Adolescence, further substantiates his work with children and the trust that parents and educators have placed in him in dealing with delicate and sensitive topics.
His publications include his doctoral dissertation The relationship among family cohesion, gender, level of acculturation, and depression in Latino adolescents, peer-reviewed journal article co-authored with CSUN colleagues Parenting and adolescent self-esteem in Latino intact families, stepfather families, and single-mother families, poster presentation with CSUN students Contextual Factors Related to Latino and African American Adolescent Maladaptation at the Western Psychological Association Annual Conference, and book My Family: Past Present and Future. He is past editor of the newsletter for the Los Angeles Chapter of Resolve, the national infertility organization. As co-editor of the Does My Child Have Special Needs project website (Center for the Improvement of Child Caring) he teamed with other professionals to create The Discovery Tool, a developmental screening tool used by parents and professionals to help to determine if a child may have special needs and should receive further evaluation.
Dr. Williams’ formal educational background includes a Doctorate of Philosophy in Psychology from Northcentral University, a Master of Arts degree in Marriage, Family, and Child Counseling from Azusa Pacific University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara.
He is the Co-Founder and Co-Director of Living Springs Psychotherapeutic Services in Porter Ranch, California.
In addition to being passionate about his work, Scott is a dedicated family man. He is the father of an adult daughter and son. He lives with his family and his wife, Wendy, in Porter Ranch, California where he also conducts his psychotherapy practice.
Areas of Emphasis:
• Relationship therapy: marital and couple
• Sex therapy
• Family therapy
• Individual therapy
• Adolescent males (individually and with their family)
Contact Dr. Scott Williams:
(818) 701-0107 ext 1