Perie J Longo, PhD, LMFT
License No. MFC 29130

Phone: 805-687-1619
Address: 1114 State St, #315,
Santa Barbara, CA 93101

Areas of Interest Include: Couples work, women in transition, self-esteem and confidence building, depression, family therapy and blended families, families of those with mental illness, end of life issues, bereavement, and writing therapy.

I have been licensed as a Marriage and Family therapist since 1991 in private practice. I also have a M.A. in speech and communication which I taught for many years at UCLA, Santa Barbara City College, and Brooks Institute. I believe the desire to change and make healthy choices, to lead fulfilling lives, to find the extraordinary in the ordinary, and the light under all sorrow lives in everyone. This idea is beautifully expressed in the poem “The Guest House” by the ancient and revered poet, Rumi.

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning is a new arrival.
A joy. A depression, a meanness.
Some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
Who violently sweep your house
Empty of its furniture.
Still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
For some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
Meet them at the door laughing, and invite them in.
Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

(tr. by Coleman Barks in The Essential Rumi.(1995). Castle Books, p. 109)

My goal is to help you resolve inhibitions and find the courage to move forward in your life as your heart dictates. You set your goals and I support you on your path to empowerment. Together we build on your strengths, develop trust and safety, and find an individual healing plan that is right for you. I embrace an eclectic approach to therapy, integrating family systems, Gestalt, psychodynamic, and narrative approaches. I am also a Registered Poetry Therapist trained to help you write your way to wellness (through poetry, journaling or other writing) if you want to integrate this method into your healing process (see Poetry Therapy). Therapy is one of the greatest investments you will ever make, one that keeps paying off year after year, as you design your life with your own strengths. As the poet May Sarton says in her poem “Stop the Sun”:

O, in this single hour I live
All of myself and do not move.
I, the pursued, who madly ran,
Stand still, stand still and stop the sun!

And Mary Oliver, in her poem “The Journey,” writes about the day that arrives when you are:

determined to do
the only thing you could do—
determined to save the only life you could save.

Perie Longo, Ph.D., MFT, PTR

Registered Poetry Therapist

1114 State St, #315
Santa Barbara, CA 93101

(805) 687-1619

E-Mail [email protected]