Dr. Sean House is a licensed psychologist in the State of California (PSY-25128) who became interested in addictive behaviors counseling in1995 during his master’s degree program in counseling at Eastern Washington University. While at EWU he learned the value of integrating mental health and addictions counseling, using motivational interviewing, an approach based on working with each client's unique interests, rather than providing a cookie-cutter approach that is characteristic of traditional addictions counseling. Dr. House deepened his interest in addictions counseling through studying harm reduction therapy during his doctoral program, and the cognitive-behavioral approach to relapse prevention developed by the late Dr. Alan Marlatt. Dr. House has been a strong advocate of client-driven counseling applied to the area of addictions, often meeting with resistance from counselors and programs coming from an abstinence-only, disease-model perspective. Dr. House earned a Ph.D. in counselor education at the University of Idaho in 2004. He has taught mental health and addictions counseling at the University of San Diego, University of Idaho, and Central Washington University. Dr. House has worked in a variety of mental health and addictions treatment settings, including community outpatient centers, intensive outpatient clinics, high-end residential rehabilitation facilities and a methadone program. His approach to therapy draws from a wide range of approaches including psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, client-centered, existential, gestalt, and solution-focused.
Dr. Maria Sadeghi graduated from the University of Idaho with a master’s degree in clinical psychology in 1993 and a Ph.D. in counselor education in 1998. She is a licensed clinical psychologist in the State of California (PSY-18302). Her clinical experience has focused on working with clients who have persistent mental health issues as well as addictions (co-occurring disorders). Recognizing that addiction is often a symptom of underlying psychological distress, Dr. Sadeghi helps her clients to work through the emotional difficulties that support addictive behavior. Dr. Sadeghi is skilled at psychological assessment and diagnosis, crisis intervention, women’s issues, and couples counseling. Her approach to therapy integrates a wide range of modalities including existential, interpersonal, humanistic, psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral therapy. In addition to providing direct service to clients, Dr. Sadeghi has served as a program director for a dual diagnosis residential program and a residential eating disorders program, as a clinical director for a health-based psychological services agency in Auckland, New Zealand, as the chief of psychology for the state of Idaho, and as an assistant professor at Central Washington University.