Sydney Walla

I'm an Associate Professional Clinical Counselor in San Diego who helps adolescents, adults, and couples work through anxiety, self-doubt, and relationship stress to feel more grounded and connected.

Most people who reach out to me aren't in crisis. They're functioning, often impressively so, while quietly exhausted by the effort it takes. They replay conversations at night, agree to things they didn't want, and wonder why life looks fine on paper but doesn't feel that way. If that's familiar, you're in the right place.
I'm Sydney Walla, an Associate Professional Clinical Counselor (APCC #14869) practicing in San Diego and virtually across California. I see adolescents, adults, and couples.
Individual therapy. A lot of my work centers on anxiety, chronic self-doubt, burnout, identity questions, and the messy in-between of a big life transition. We look at the patterns underneath the symptoms — where the overthinking started, what the people-pleasing protects, what you actually want when you stop measuring it against what you should want. My approach pulls from Internal Family Systems, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and mindfulness practices, but in session it mostly feels like an honest conversation with someone paying close attention.
Couples therapy. Partners usually come to me somewhere between "we keep having the same fight" and "we've stopped fighting and that scares me more." Using the Gottman Method, we slow the conflict cycle down enough to see what each of you is actually reaching for underneath it, then build tools you can use at home when I'm not in the room. I work with communication breakdowns, recurring conflict, emotional distance, and the strain of marriage, parenting, career shifts, and family stress.
How I work. Warm and collaborative, direct when directness serves you. I won't nod along while you talk yourself in circles, and I won't pretend I know your life better than you do. You're the expert on you; my job is to help you get back in contact with the insight and resilience you already have. Progress here tends to look less like a breakthrough and more like noticing an old pattern early enough to choose differently.