Noah Rubinstein

About Noah

My approach

Through IFS therapy, people don't just make superficial behavioral changes. They make profound and lasting changes that lead to greater calm, connection, clarity, confidence, optimism, hope, trust, appreciation, joy, and compassion for themselves and others. For a deeper understanding of how I help people, visit my website. https://www.theawakeningheart.com/

About me

My path to becoming a therapist began with my own healing. I experienced childhood neglect and abandonment and struggled with attachment wounds. Eventually, in my early twenties, I began healing through therapy and energy work. Therapy saved my life, opened my heart, and changed the direction of my life.

More background

What was your path to becoming a therapist? What inspired you to choose this profession?

My path to becoming a therapist began with my own healing. I experienced childhood neglect and abandonment and struggled with attachment wounds. Eventually, in my early twenties, I began healing through therapy and energy work. Therapy saved my life, opened my heart, and changed the direction of my life. As I began to heal, I felt called to help others find their way through suffering, too. That experience is what inspired me to become a therapist.

What would be important for someone to know about working with you?

All feelings are welcome and I work with my own parts so that I may hold a compassionate, accepting space

Work history

I have worked in the mental health, counseling, and human services fields for more than three decades. I began my career in the early 1990s as a residential counselor with the Los Angeles Unified School District and as a volunteer organizer with Hospice of Hollywood. I later worked as a youth and family crisis counselor with Interface Children and Family Services in Camarillo, California, while also student teaching in the psychology program at California Lutheran University. After relocating to Northern California for graduate school, I worked with Hospice of Humboldt as a bereavement counselor and adolescent group facilitator, and with Redwood Community Action Agency Youth Services as a counselor. I also worked as a counselor in the Davis House Clinic at Humboldt State University during this period. From 1999 to 2001, I worked in Anchorage, Alaska as a clinical therapist at Anchorage Center for Families and Charter Northstar Behavioral Health System Residential Treatment Center. I have been in private practice since 1999 and have provided therapy through Awakening Hearts Therapy since 2001. My work is deeply informed by Internal Family Systems, also known as IFS, and focuses on helping people transform the parts of themselves that stand in the way of compassion, connection, calm, optimism, trust, playfulness, gratitude and many other beautiful qualities. In 2006, I founded GoodTherapy.org, an international therapist directory and mental health education platform created to help people find ethical, compassionate therapists and reduce stigma around seeking therapy. During that time GoodTherapy.org grew into one of the most recognized therapy directories in the field, serving therapists and therapy seekers around the world. After over a decade as it's CEO, I sold the company in 2018, in repones to my mom being diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. Alongside my clinical and entrepreneurial work, I am also a singer and songwriter with Elevator Operator, an Olympia based indie pop band focused on uplifting, high energy original music.

Meet Noah

A short hello from Noah

Specialties

Types of therapy

Who Noah works with

Ages

Adults, Elders (65+)

Communities

LGBTQ+, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Non-Binary, BIPOC, Black / African American, Latino / Hispanic, Asian American, Indigenous / Native American, Immigrant, Veterans, First Responders, Faith-Based, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Neurodivergent, People with Disabilities, Sex Worker Allied, Body Positive, Open Relationships / Non-Monogamy, Single Parents

Languages

English

Education and training

Bachelor of Arts in Philiosophy, California Lutheran University, 1994

Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology, Cal Poly Humboldt, 1999

Certifications

Completed two years of Basic and Advanced Post Graduate training in IFS 2001-2003, along with ongoing continuing education