Today we’d like to introduce you to Paul Santero.
Hi Paul, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I moved to San Diego from the Bay Area in 1986 to attend SDSU, and received my bachelors degree in business (Marketing). I didn’t find working in the sales and business world very fulfilling and I had an interest and felt a call to explore the religious life as a Catholic priest. I entered the seminary to explore the possibility to be a Catholic priest at USD for a school year. During my time at USD, I discerned I wasn’t called to be a priest and I was attracted to helping people in a therapeutic way (counseling) and decided to go back to school and get a masters degree in psychology. Upon completion of the masters degree I was interested in studying for a doctorate at a Christian school and wanted to learn how to incorporate the Christian faith into the counseling profession. I received my doctorate at the Southern California Seminary in El Cajon, CA. After interning and receiving 3000 supervised counseling hours and studying and passing the federal and state exams, I received my CA licensed in 2019. I own my own business and have been working as a licensed CA psychologist the last 6 years.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
There have been some challenges along the way, to say the least. There was a question of the 500 training hours that I needed to graduate and receive my doctorate. There was an even bigger challenge when my 3000 supervised training hours were being questioned to qualify to take the tests for my CA licensure. The hours it took to study and prepare myself to take and pass the state and federal tests were not a walk in the park either.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about Saint Joseph Psychological Clinic?
I opened my business in 2019 in La Jolla California. I had to start from scratch and I used my skills and experience from my career in sales and marketing to promote my business. As I started to grow, I expanded and opened my second location in Mission Valley and my third in Rancho Bernardo. My goal is to not only treat the person’s disturbing symptoms, but also to help people heal at the root of the problem, where the symptoms are coming from. As we all know, if the root of the problem is cured, then the symptoms will go away automatically. I am very proud to offer my clients the latest, most scientifically proven and best, state of the art, psychological interventions/ methods that will help them feel better fast. Scientifically proven methods like EMDR, Image Transformation Therapy and Mindful Self-compassion are just a few of the methods I use to help fast-forward the healing process. I journey together with my clients and collaborate to help them achieve their goals. I also help my clients develop skills to maintain their newfound joy and satisfaction. A general goal that I have for all my clients is to help them feel better, learn something new, and experience growth in every one of our therapy sessions. I hope new feelings of joy, peace, satisfaction, and fulfillment will result.
I have received and developed specialized training and skills in the areas of:
Sexual Addiction
Unwanted same sex attraction
Co-dependency
Generalized Anxiety
Depression
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Trauma
Shame
Marriage/ Couples / Family Counseling
OCD
Pre-marital Counseling
Spiritual Counseling
We’d be interested to hear your thoughts on luck and what role, if any, you feel it’s played for you?
I feel very fortunate to have a lot of faith in God and I believe he is working through me to help heal my clients. If the clients feel comfortable, I try to bring Christ into every session and allow his grace to help transform and heal my clients. I believe Jesus helped me work out and resolve the many challenges I experienced on the road to receiving my doctorate and attained my California psychology license. I believe the Lord has blessed my business and helped my clients heal and grow as well.
Pricing:
- $250.00/ 45 minute therapy session
- I accept Medicare Insurance.
Contact Info:
