OLIVER DRAKEFORD, LMFT, CGP. 
Family Therapy, Couples Counseling and Individual Therapist- West Hollywood
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist

I've had the privilege of working as a therapist for two years at Beverly Hills High School and am constantly amazed by the teens I worked with. There exists within most teenagers a resilience and resourcefulness that astounds us. The compassion and care that some of the students I work with goes beyond their years. Here are some of my favorite things I've discovered in working in our conseling center:

"Good Morning Gorgeous: 1) I left you some coffee in the pot - just hit 'start'. 2) I made our reservation for dinner tonight for 8pm. 3) Did I tell you recently that you are my everything? .... " When was the last time you wrote a note like that to your partner? When was the last time you received one from them?Bringing back the love letter would be a terrific thing.... but in a world of frenzied social media connections, I fear they have completely gone out of fashion.

The word 'success' is used a lot, particularly with the adolescents I see in my practice. I often start by getting curious about what the word success means to them... and perhaps we should all take a moment to think about what 'success' means to us. Do we assume it's financial success or success in terms of recognition, fame and status as society is telling us? I have worked with actors and singers some of whom might assume that it is only about this type of success. If we s

Psychology and travel. Psychology and destination.

There is a certain charm to be found behind the apparent ugliness of an airport that has to be actively searched for. Peer beyond the vast caverns of glass and steels, and look closely at the passengers on the the over-crowded tubes of metal that hurtle through the air. If you take the time to do so, I think you'll find that there are gorgeous glimpses of humanity: the speed at which the couple next to me held hands when we hit some turbulence, or the parent who kissed his ki

When we just KNOW that we are right, and someone has wronged us, it's particularly hard to forgive. Especially when the offending party has acted in a selfish, foolish or hurtful way. ⠀⠀ There's two things to consider that help us with forgiveness: ⠀⠀ 1) The person that needs forgiving arrived in this position to hurt us through their own personal journey that delivered them into our lives like this. The journey they've been on has probably been incredibly hard, riddled with

The simplest journey, no matter where we go, can assist us in our self-discovery. We learn through different cultures and places and grow as a result of being open to new experiences and the people we meet on them. Travel can also give us a well-earned pause from the nature of our every day life, and provide us a break from monotony. We don't have to leave the town, city or even country we are in to travel through - we are all on a psychological journey of sorts. The question