Quick Answer
Relationship Therapy at Angeles Psychology Group for Silver Lake is depth-oriented, affirming care for partners, polycules, and chosen families. Sessions work with the attachment patterns, character-level defenses, and unmet developmental needs underneath the recurring conflict — not just the surface argument. Care is delivered in person at our Mid-Wilshire office or by secure telehealth across California, and begins with a free 20-minute consultation with no obligation.
Key Takeaways
- Relationship Therapy at Angeles Psychology Group for Silver Lake is depth-oriented: it works beneath the recurring conflict to the underlying patterns.
- Affirming across relationship configurations — partners, polycules, throuples, chosen families — as a named specialty across the clinical team, not a disclaimer.
- Clinicians integrate EFT, IFS, depth psychology, and Orgonomic somatic work — matched to the specific relationship rather than defaulted to a single protocol.
- Delivered in person at our Mid-Wilshire office (6363 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 520) or by secure HIPAA-compliant telehealth across California.
- Care begins with a free, 20-minute consultation, with no obligation and no diagnosis required to start.
01 — OverviewWhen ‘LGBTQ-friendly’ isn’t enough for real queer partnership work
Queer relationship work in Silver Lake catches the intersection of two things that don’t always share vocabulary — the Eastside’s queer density and the creative-industry rhythms that shape household logistics here. Chosen family functions as primary relationship for many of the couples arriving at therapy, and standard couples work built for a two-person nuclear household doesn’t quite fit the actual structure.
How the practice operates: reach the pattern below the surface, not repeat the vocabulary above it. Chosen family constellations, queer partnerships, and creative-professional couples all get met at the level of their actual clinical material rather than being sorted into a taxonomy first.
Chosen family. Chosen family refers to committed, family-functioning relationships built by choice rather than biology — common in LGBTQ+ communities and treated in APG’s clinical work as real family, with the same developmental and attachment weight as family of origin.
Research from the National Institute of Mental Health suggests that psychotherapy is effective for the range of relational and emotional difficulties couples and partners bring to therapy, and the American Psychological Association notes that the fit between client and clinician is one of the strongest predictors of outcomes. That is the reason matching — modality, clinician, format — is the first piece of clinical work at Angeles Psychology Group.
02 — ApproachAdapting couples therapy for chosen family and creative-industry rhythms
The therapeutic model integrates depth psychology, IFS, and EFT as one framework rather than three stacked. Queer partnerships and chosen-family constellations move through recognizable relational dynamics, but the specific container each configuration needs is different, and the framework adapts to that.
The specific separator here: one clinical team, coordinated care, no case handed off to outside providers. The clinician matches to the person and configuration rather than the reverse, which is a small phrase and a large clinical distinction. Depth work adapts to the actual household in the room. You can read more about the practice on our our depth-oriented relationship therapy page.
All configurations
Affirming care for monogamous, non-monogamous, queer, and chosen-family relationships alike.
Beneath the conflict
Depth-oriented work with the patterns and unmet needs underneath — not just the recurring argument.
Coordinated care
Individual, couples, and group work inside one practice, coordinated with consent.
Whatever you’re carrying, there’s a place to begin. Book a free, 20-minute consultation.
Start a free consultation03 — In Silver LakeSilver Lake’s queer creative catchment
Silver Lake and the Eastside queer corridor also carry the specific stresses of creative-industry livelihood — schedules that shift weekly, income that arrives irregularly, and a working identity built on visible creative output that then has to come home to a partnership that needs the opposite. Those factors are structural realities the therapy has to hold, not obstacles to work around.
For in-person work, the practice’s office at 6363 Wilshire, Suite 520 is the primary container; telehealth is available for continuity. The clinician stays constant through the format shifts, which matters more for creative-schedule work than for standard weekly cadence.
04 — Getting startedGetting started with affirming couples work
Starting Queer Couples & Chosen-Family Therapy in Silver Lake begins with a 20-minute call where the clinician already understands the household structure you’re describing — chosen-family primary relationships, queer partnerships, creative-industry rhythms — and the intake time isn’t spent educating anyone. That first call determines two things: whether depth-oriented affirming work is what you’re actually looking for, and which clinician on the team fits the specific configuration and creative-schedule reality.
The clinical framework combines EFT for the attachment layer, IFS for the parts each person built to survive less-affirming environments, and depth work for the character-level patterns underneath. Affirmation across queer configurations, ENM, kink-aware work, and creative-industry livelihood is specialty rather than disclaimer — published clinical content on the practice site shows the framework in operation. For a broader comparison across practices, the APA’s page on choosing a psychologist covers the questions to ask any first-call clinician.
Sessions run in person at Mid-Wilshire (6363 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 520) or by secure telehealth across California, which fits the irregular schedules many creative-professional clients from Silver Lake work around. The practice is private-pay with superbills provided. Book online or call (310) 866-0440; the intake team is straightforward about wait times and clinician availability.
Office hours are Monday–Friday, 8:00 AM–5:00 PM (additional times available as needed), with additional times arranged when the standard availability doesn’t quite fit. For Silver Lake clients specifically, the intake team can advise on current wait times, clinician availability, and whether the format that fits your schedule is in-person, telehealth, or a mix. The consultation is free, no diagnosis is required to start, and you can pause or end the work at any point without penalty.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Relationship Therapy at Angeles Psychology Group for Silver Lake?
Relationship therapy at Angeles Psychology Group for Silver Lake is affirming, depth-oriented care for queer partners, creative-industry couples, and chosen-family configurations — sessions shaped around the people in the room rather than a standard-couple template. The clinical work draws on EFT, IFS, and depth psychology, adapted for the specific attachment patterns queer clients often carry from early environments.
Who provides the care?
Care is provided by a multi-clinician team including licensed psychologists, licensed marriage and family therapists, and associate (pre-licensed) clinicians working under doctoral-level clinical supervision. The practice is founded and clinically directed by Dr. Neil Schierholz, PsyD (PSY25154), a licensed clinical psychologist. Angeles Psychology Group is a psychology practice and does not prescribe medication — where medication is relevant, care is coordinated with the client’s own prescriber. All clinicians hold current California licensure or are registered associates working under supervision.
Do you work with chosen family as a primary relationship structure?
Yes. The practice treats chosen family as real family with the same developmental and attachment weight as family of origin, and adapts the clinical work accordingly. This includes queerplatonic partnerships, chosen-family constellations, and configurations that do not map to a legal or nuclear family structure. The affirming stance is a named specialty across the clinical team, not a disclaimer, and the practice publishes clinical content on queer relationship developmental patterns.
Is telehealth available for clients in Silver Lake?
Yes. Sessions are available in person at our Mid-Wilshire office (6363 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 520, Los Angeles, CA 90048) or by secure, HIPAA-compliant telehealth across California. Telehealth removes the commute barrier for clients in Silver Lake and is delivered with the same clinical depth as in-person work — the practice’s stated position is that depth-oriented care translates to the virtual format when the container is held accordingly. Clients often split between formats based on schedule and preference, keeping continuity with the same clinician.
How do we get started?
Begin with a free, 20-minute consultation — a conversation about fit before any commitment. A clinician helps you decide who should be involved (individual, couple, family, or group), what modality is likely to fit, and what the work might look like, with no obligation. You can book online or call (310) 866-0440. Office hours are Monday–Friday, 8:00 AM–5:00 PM (additional times available as needed), and additional times can be arranged by request.
About this page
This page reflects the practice of Angeles Psychology Group, a depth-oriented, affirming psychology practice in Los Angeles founded by Dr. Neil Schierholz, PsyD (PSY25154). Angeles Psychology Group provides psychotherapy and does not prescribe medication; where medication is relevant, care is coordinated with a client’s own prescriber. Claims about psychotherapy are framed as research suggests and cited to primary sources below.
Reviewed by Dr. Neil Schierholz, PsyD. Last updated September 2026.
Sources & Further Reading
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