Vanessa Bellafiore, LMFT —
Therapy driven by collaboration, connection, and radical acceptance.
Client-Centered Therapist in Pasadena
If you’re here, you’re probably looking for someone to help you navigate something challenging and make sense of your experience.
Choosing a therapist who’s the right fit for your specific personality, challenges, and goals is imperative in your journey and I want to help you make the right decision. So, here’s a chance to get to know me and decide if you’d like to take the next step.
My intention in my practice is to show up perfectly imperfect with all of my humanness so my clients feel safe to do the same.
Hi, I’m Vanessa, an integrative therapist based in South Pasadena, CA.
How I became a therapist in Pasadena, CA
There are some experiences that impact who you are and how you look at life forever. For me it was the unexpected, tragic loss of my father when I was 19 years old. The loss of a beloved parent at such a young age propelled me into deep despair and left me feeling completely and abruptly untethered. But it was also the catalyst for my voracious curiosity about the human experience and how we make sense of the world. I recognized this innate drive within myself, and my desire to delve deeper into it, both professionally and interpersonally, which eventually led me to graduate school and the therapy practice I’ve created.
Combining my personal journey, professional training, and years of client work, I believe certain things to be true.
You may come to therapy with the hope that you can somehow “get rid of” an undesirable part of yourself or erase that experience from the past that you can’t seem to let go of. But it’s the belief that you need to “get rid of it” that actually perpetuates it.
Rather than viewing these parts or experiences that you’ve rejected, or relegated to the shadows as unacceptable, what would it feel like to instead view them as access points to self-acceptance? How might you renegotiate the role they play in your life in service of mending and repairing your relationship with yourself and thus, the way you interact with the world around you?
“If you have a deep scar, that is a door. If you have an old story, that is a door. If you love the sky and the waters so much you almost can’t bear it, that is a door. If you yearn for a deeper life, a full life, a sane life, that is a door.”
-Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes
My style as a therapist in Pasadena, CA
Positive therapeutic outcomes — and healing in general — doesn’t happen in the absence of trust, authentic connection and a sense of safety. It’s nearly impossible to open up to a closed off, contained clinician assessing you from across the room, and you deserve better than that.
My intention is to bring my authentic self into therapy sessions, roll up my sleeves, and get into the thick of it with you. While I bring a clinically grounded framework and evidence-based techniques into the room, my goal isn’t to sit back and analyze you to see where you fit in the DSM. Along with theory and conceptualization, I bring curiosity, compassion, and a genuine interest in hearing your story — ultimately wanting you to know you’re not alone as you tell it.
You will be met with warmth, deep presence, and a dose of humor.
Although I’m very comfortable sitting with the depths of grief and suffering you may arrive with, I also think it’s important to be with what’s good in your life when the opportunity presents itself.
Background
I’m a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California and have been in private practice since 2019. I earned my Masters in Clinical Psychology with a General Practice Specialization from Antioch University in 2017. For the next two years, I worked as a Therapist Trainee at Beit T’Shuvah Inpatient Behavioral Health Center focusing on clients with drug and alcohol addiction.
I’ve been a member of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists since 2017. I completed EMDR training at The Institute for Creative Mindfulness in 2019, and began Somatic Experiencing Practitioner Training in early 2024.
With high regard for professional and academic training in psychological theory and clinical conceptualization, it brings me great fulfillment to incorporate additional, innovative, evidence-based techniques into my practice.
Prior to becoming a therapist in Pasadena, I enjoyed a successful career in luxury fashion while I spent my twenties exploring the arts, music, and culture. While I flourished in the creativity inherent in the fashion industry, I found myself most moved by the intimate relationships I cultivated with my clients and colleagues.
While working in fashion, I continued to work through the loss of my father and became voraciously curious about the human condition and how we make sense of the world. As my drive to dig deeper increased, and with the loving nudge of a beloved therapist, I decided to leave my career in fashion to pursue my MA in Clinical Psychology and step into the work I knew I was meant to do.
My Mission
I provide my clients the highest quality of care using a therapeutic approach that makes space for the full spectrum of your human experience while remaining grounded within a clinical framework. I’m deeply moved by the profound human connection that occurs through compassionate, congruent, and insightful therapy.
Through the practice of whole-hearted authenticity as well as the therapeutic relationship itself, my hope is that clients feel empowered, resilient, fulfilled, and genuinely supported when facing the depths of life.