Our Story
Westside DBT was founded by Sasha Ginsburg, LCSW, and Erin Lotz, LCSW, in August of 2010. Sasha trained at Harbor UCLA after completing her Masters in Social Work at University of Southern California in 2005, and Erin trained at Optimum Youth Center after completing her Masters in Social Work at University of Southern California in 2003. The two met while both working at Thalian’s Mental Health at Cedars Sinai and decided to sign up for Marsha Linehan’s intensive Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) training together with Dr. Jennifer Walsh and Dr. Tony Dubois. DBT as a modality spoke to both Sasha and Erin, they founded Westside DBT, and nearly 10 years later, they have never looked back. Westside DBT began with only Sasha and Erin, but has since grown to employ 16 clinicians at two different locations: one in West Los Angeles and one in Studio City.
Westside DBT offers comprehensive Dialectical Behavioral Therapy which was developed and researched by Dr. Marsha Linehan and her colleagues at the University of Washington. Our mission is to provide collaborative, compassionate and effective treatment for adults (ages 18+), adolescents (ages 13-18), and children (ages 5-13), and to raise awareness of DBT as an effective treatment modality for a wide range of mental health issues. We aim to reduce suffering and enhance the quality of our client's lives.
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) is a therapeutic treatment modality that stems from Cognitive Behavioral therapy (CBT). DBT helps alleviate problems with regulating emotions, thinking patterns, and behaviors that cause misery and distress. DBT combines both cognitive-behavioral therapy (Western principles and practices) and mindfulness approaches (Eastern principles and practices) to help people understand – accept and change - patterns of living that are causing suffering.
