Our Staff
We Care
Phone
Tsega Worku, MFT
Director of Counseling Ministries
He was born and raised in Ethiopia and immigrated to the US in 1986. He graduated from Fuller Theological Seminary with a Masters Degree in Marital and Family Therapy. As a christian therapist, his passion is to come along side others to promote the restoration of relationships with God and each other.
Tsega is married to Kidest Babi and is a proud father of two daughters, Grace and Meron.
Lucinda Guarino, MS-MCFC
Associate Professional Clinical Counselor
Counseling Ministries Coordinator
Lucinda Guarino has over 30 years of experience in helping others navigate their way to creating better choices that lead to greater success. To say she is passionate about personal empowerment would be an understatement. Her unique approach to problem-transformation and conflict-resolution assists others in overcoming perceived limitations to become secure in their strengths. Lucinda’s overarching purpose is to see others empowered spiritually, mentally, and emotionally, and prepared with tools that promote successful career and personal development.
Lucinda has earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Services and a Master of Science degree in Marriage Couple and Family Counseling with a specialization in Trauma and Crisis. She is a Professional Clinical Counselor currently earning hours for licensure. Lucinda has training in the specialty areas of sexual assault and domestic violence. She provides individual healing for survivors from the perspectives of spiritual and mental health, in addition to promoting awareness for interpersonal violence both nationally and internationally.
Lucinda maintains that with care, intentionality and attention to effective choices, that stressful situations become manageable. Her goal is to provide a safe, nurturing, and supportive environment that is both challenging and rewarding. She has received recognition from local organizations and government agencies for her work in prevention, intervention, and recovery in the area of interpersonal violence.
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Our MFT Associate Therapists
Phone
Jo-Ann Capili
Associate Marriage and Family Therapist (#135702)
I welcome couples and individuals:
- Pre-teens and Adolescents
- Emerging Adults
- Couples (Premarital Preparation, healing and restoration in relationships)
- Life Transitions with ages ranging from pre-teens to retirement.
The human spirit is amazingly resilient. It would be my privilege to walk alongside you to find the resilience, goodness, and beauty within you. Do you believe that it is already within you?
In addition to nurturing a strong marital relationship and raising two precious human beings, my background includes a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy, level 2 training in restoration therapy with emphasis on medical family therapy, certification in Prepare Enrich for couples, more than 25 years of active leadership in marriage ministry, growing up with non-binary and addictive relatives and siblings, and 30-plus years in corporate human resources.
Marriage and Family Therapy Trainees
Grace Kim
MFT Trainee
Hi, I'm Grace, and currently an MFT Trainee/Intern finishing my program at Fuller Theological Seminary. As a Pastor's kid, I gained experience serving in youth ministry for several years and finished my MDiv at Talbot Theological Seminary before starting this program.
I have a heart for working with church leaders, pastor's kids, and members in the church, as well as working with Asian/Asian-American clients and teens/adolescents. I also desire to walk with people journeying through grief/loss and other difficult seasons in their lives.
Elise Cook
MFT Trainee
Hi, my name is Elise and I am currently studying at Azusa Pacific University for my Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy. My goal as a therapist is to create a safe space for us to work collaboratively towards your goals. Life can be overwhelming at times and it’s important to create positive habits and coping skills to manage your feelings.
We will work together to practice building healthier relationships with those in your life and with yourself. Therapy is such a rewarding journey and I am happy you are here!
Amanda Hajj
MFT Trainee
My conviction is that connectedness is an essential ingredient to our health as relational beings and that relationships hold a profound ability in shaping how we move in this life. I’m an MFT student in my third and final year at Fuller Theological Seminary with a passion for using therapy to help bring about positive change.
I provide a warm and gentle collaborative approach with the hope that the therapeutic relationship can empower others in the overwhelm and toughness of some seasons. Whether you're experiencing a major life change or feel stuck where you are, therapy is an opportunity to grow, heal, and connect to self and others.
Brooke Forest
MFT Trainee
My name is Brooke, and it’s a joy to be a therapist in training at LACCC as I complete my third and final year of Fuller Theological Seminary’s Marriage and Family Therapy program. Walking alongside people with vastly varying stories and backgrounds is an honor. I aim to cultivate a space that is marked by compassionate understanding and strategic exploration so that we can journey through your "stuckness" and pain into a renewed, fuller life. I believe there is hope for wholeness in you and your relationships. I’m here to support you in the process!
In my non-therapy life, I love the simple pleasures of game nights, laughing with friends, singing, driving down the PCH, checking out the endless amount of coffee shops, baking sweets, The Office Ladies Podcast, playing with my neighbors’ dogs, and listening to multiple audiobooks at once.
Esther Dharmaraj
MFT Trainee
My name is Esther Dharmaraj. I am a Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) Trainee pursuing an MS in MFT at Fuller Theological Seminary. I am learning that each of us is called to be peacemakers who not only experience peace and rest but also help facilitate peace and rest in whatever vocations we might find ourselves; and I feel it a privilege and honor to hold this space as an MFT for those longing to experience peace and rest and for those hoping to be channels of peace and rest.
Do our stories - individual and collective - hold meaning? Does the arc of our stories bend toward wholeness? As one whose own story is shaped by the experiences of life with its myriad joys and griefs, I see healing in exploring our stories and finding narrative coherence. I hope to walk alongside others as they explore the various plot points of their story and rescript their stories to the motifs of restoration and redemption.
