What We Treat
Evidence-based, individualized treatment for codependency from licensed clinicians, in person in San Pedro or online.
Codependency is a way of relating where your sense of okay-ness depends on someone else being okay. You tune in to other people so closely that your own needs fade into the background. You may over-give, over-apologize, and feel anxious when someone is upset with you. Saying no can feel dangerous, and being needed can feel like the safest way to be loved. These patterns often start early, in homes where caretaking, walking on eggshells, or managing a parent felt like survival.
Feeling responsible for other people's feelings and problems.
Difficulty setting limits or asking for what you need.
Remaining in relationships that drain you because leaving feels like abandonment.
Self-worth that rises and falls with someone else's approval.
Losing track of your own wants, opinions, and goals.
Trying to fix, rescue, or control a loved one, often someone who is struggling.
Codependent patterns rarely travel alone, and they often sit alongside the conditions that shaped them. Our clinicians treat the whole picture rather than a single label. Each area below has a page that explains how we approach it.
The communication ruts and imbalances that codependent patterns tend to create and repeat.
The chronic worry and unease that often drive over-functioning and people-pleasing.
Low self-worth and depletion that can build when your needs stay at the bottom of the list.
Early experiences where caretaking or keeping the peace felt like the safest way to be loved.
The lasting effects of growing up in a stressful, unpredictable, or addicted household.
Support when the person you over-function for lives with a personality disorder.
We help you see where these patterns began, then build the concrete skills to relate differently. Because codependency so often shows up inside a specific relationship, we may also draw on work for relationship issues to change the pattern where you actually live it.
See where these patterns began and how they get passed down, so you can understand your role without blaming yourself, then step out of the old role.
Concrete skills for the hardest moments: tolerating the discomfort of disappointing someone, regulating the anxiety that comes with boundaries, and asking for what you need.
When the pattern lives inside a specific relationship, we work on it where it actually happens.
| Approach | Best suited for | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| Family systems work | Understanding where the pattern began | Traces how caretaking roles get passed down so you can step out of the old role. |
| DBT | The hard moments of setting a boundary | Builds skills to tolerate disappointing someone and regulate the anxiety that follows. |
| Relationship work | A pattern that lives inside a specific relationship | Changes the dynamic where it actually happens, with or without the other person present. |
Starting therapy should feel clear, not overwhelming. Here is how it works at Coastwise.
We start with a short, private conversation to understand the patterns you are noticing and what you want from therapy.
We pair you with a licensed clinician who treats codependency and boundary work, not whoever happens to be free.
Your clinician builds a plan with you and works at a pace you can manage, so change feels steady and sustainable.
We work with adults and teens who recognize themselves in these patterns, including people who grew up with a parent who struggled with addiction or mental illness, partners of someone in active relationship difficulty, and chronic caretakers who are quietly running on empty. Codependent patterns often come with anxiety and low self-worth, and we treat the whole picture rather than one piece of it.
See us in person at our San Pedro office or work with a clinician securely online anywhere in California. Boundary and relationship work translates well to telehealth, and many people find it easier to practice new patterns from their own space.
Codependency is a pattern of putting other people's needs, moods, and approval ahead of your own to the point that it costs you. You may feel responsible for fixing or managing someone else, struggle to say no, and lose track of what you actually want. It often grows out of family relationships where caretaking or keeping the peace felt necessary.
No, codependency is not a formal diagnosis. It is a relational pattern that therapy treats very effectively. It frequently overlaps with anxiety, low self-worth, and the effects of growing up in a stressful or addicted household, and we address those alongside the pattern itself.
No. The goal is healthier connection, not less of it. You learn to set boundaries, ask for what you need, and care for others without losing yourself. Many people find their relationships improve once they stop over-functioning for someone else.
Not necessarily. A lot of codependency work happens in individual therapy. When it helps, we can bring in a partner or relative through couples or family work, but you can make real change on your own.
Yes. This work translates well to secure video. We see clients in person in San Pedro and virtually across California.
Codependent patterns can change. Call us for a free, confidential consultation and we will match you to a clinician who treats them.
Call (424) 536-3002 Get Started