Language: English, Spanish.
Dr. Benavides is a licensed marriage family therapist with experience working with clients in a residential drug treatment facility, as well as in school-based and private practice settings. Previously, Amon’s focus was on applied behavioral analysis (ABA). His experience includes work as a behavioral interventionist, where he planned and implemented behavioral interventions. Amon eventually became a behavioral supervisor, where he hired and trained his own behavioral staff and implemented behavioral plans for multiple cases. Amon’s pursuit of ABA led him to work as a behavioral care manager for CenCal Health. As an ABA manager, he oversaw multiple ABA cases, where he authorized behavioral services based on psychological evaluations from multiple behavioral care agencies.
Academically, his career has been focused on the field of psychology, as is evident from his multiple degrees (AA, BA, MA, and PhD) in the field of psychology. He has completed a PhD in clinical psychology, with an emphasis on depth psychology, at Pacifica Graduate Institute. Amon also holds other interests in biology and post-structuralism. Amon’s clinical orientation and training is based on cognitive behavior therapy as well psychodynamic psychotherapy. Amon is also certified in evidence-based practices such as Trauma focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT), Seeking Safety, and Aggression Replacement Therapy.
The benefit of therapy is that one can gain self-understanding as well as a better understanding of others. When a person tends to view the world from a negative perspective, without being aware of the source of these negative views, they begin to believe that the world and the components of daily life experiences are negative. The same can be said for events that provoke anxiety and for individual experiences of trauma. Holding these types of thoughts without processing them tends to skew our views on reality and lead to errors in thinking, such as generalizations about how the world should be. As a psychotherapist, Amon’s focus is on helping clients find a sense of strength and achievement in order that they can better manage the difficulties they face in their daily lives.
