Audrey Whitesides
Marriage & Family Therapist Trainee
Watsonville Office
I firmly believe that everybody deserves the opportunity to freely express themselves
without fear of judgment or criticism. With a warm, approachable, and understanding
demeanor, I want to help you navigate life’s twists and turns by enabling you to break
free from unhelpful patterns and get in touch with the power and strengths that you
already possess. We all have the ability to live happy, stress-free, and fulfilling lives,
sometimes we just need a little help getting there.
I have a decade of experience working with children, adolescents, and young adults,
providing me with a comfort level as well as a deep understanding of the challenges and
transitions that come with each stage of life. In that time, my areas of interest and
expertise included supporting social skills, coping strategies, and independent living
skills for students who were transitioning out of high school. Currently, I am pursuing a
masters degree in Marriage and Family Therapy, and am an affiliate of the American
Counseling Association and the California Marriage and Family Therapists.
I draw from a variety of therapeutic techniques including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy,
Narrative Therapy, Emotionally Focused Therapy, and Attachment-Based Therapy,
implementing an individualized approach to treatment that will align best with who you
are and what your goals are. Whether you’re dealing with anxiety, depression,
relationship distress, stress from school, or simply looking for someone to talk to, I am
here to help you find your way through.
The prospect of seeking out therapy can be a daunting and even painful process, but I
am here to lighten your load, and together, we can make this journey an enjoyable one.
Request an Appointment
To Request an Appointment at Shine a Light or NPCC, please fill out this form. We respond to inquiries Monday through Friday. All inquiries we receive on the weekends or holidays will be processed the next business day. Thank you for your patience. If you need immediate services, please call 911.
New Office in San Francisco!
Shine a Light Counseling Center is please to merge with New Perspectives Center for Counseling. NPCC has been serving the San Francisco community for thirty years. Now NPCC is transitioning to become the San Francisco site for Shine a Light. NPCC will retain its name, character and history. For information about NPCC or counseling in San Francisco:
New Perspectives Center for Counseling (link)
Emergency Contact
Shine a Light does not provide crisis services. If you have a mental health emergency, call 988 or 911. Or click here for more Crisis Resources
Telephone Contact
You can call Shine a Light at 831-996-1222, but we encourage you to use the email forms to the left. If you call, please leave the following:
- Phone number
- Preferred location
- Best times to meet
- Issue you want help with
- What insurance you have (if any)
FAX us at: 831-417-0443
Good Faith Estimate
You have the right to receive a “Good Faith Estimate” explaining how much your therapy sessions will cost. Your fee will be set according to a sliding scale, in collaboration with your therapist, prior to your first counseling session. Total costs depend upon the number of sessions you choose to utilize.
If you have private health insurance and we are not in-network with your plan, please be aware that your costs for therapy may be less by using an in-network provider. This will depend upon your plan's deductible amounts and co-payments. In some cases, counseling at Shine a Light is less costly than using private insurance.
If you hope to use "out of network" benefits through your private insurance, please be aware that many plans will not reimburse for services provided by trainees. Please request an Associate level therapists for out-of-network billing.
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