Lisa Izadpanah LCSW
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
#7239
Biography
I was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. At the age of 3, I began my dance career with Virginia Tanner's Dance Company. I preformed throughout the United States with my company until I was 18. At that time, I auditioned and was granted a scholarship in Modern Dance at the University of Utah.
Soon after that, I decided to make a drastic change. I packed up all I owned and moved to Southern California. I changed my major to Psychology and attended California State University Fullerton. While working full time and going to school full time, I was able to graduate with a BA in Psychology in 1990. During my undergraduate degree, I worked at a locked adolescent dual diagnosis psychiatric hospital. This continued through my undergraduate degree and part of my Master's Degree at California State University Long Beach of which I graduated with a Master of Social Work in 1994.
In 1993, I worked at California Youth Authority. It was a prison for underage violent and repeat offenders. I would write individual psycho socials and then in the court report recommend sentencing for each minor I interviewed. From there, I worked in the School Districts offering therapy to special education children that have psychological issues that impeded their ability to learn. I engaged in individual, group, and family therapy with these clients. I then had the opportunity to work at a County Orphanage where children were removed from their home due to extreme abuse; physical, sexual, emotional, neglect, and abandonment. I was involved with the social services, juvenile court system, police departments, foster care, group homes, and county health care system. I was responsible to provide crisis intervention, individual and group therapy, staff education, transition of treatment to other systems once the child was placed with either family, foster care or group home placement. I was then asked to be a part of a pilot program for repeat violent offenders that were gang affiliated and drug addicted. This is where I found my passion for pit bulls. I was faced with a dyer situation with a pit bull that was being tortured in order to 'train' them to fight. I took her from her home. This ignited my passion for pit bulls and rescuing them from fighting breeding rings. My husband and I have been rescuing, rehabilitating, and then creating a family with each pit bull we have rescued for the last 20 years.
I continued to work with younger gang members in middle school at the same time I started my private practice. I specialized in working with young children, trauma, high custody court cases, teens, adults, couples and parents.
In January 2018, I made another drastic change. My family and I left Southern California and moved to our new paradise, Ashland, Oregon. I currently have my private practice here in Ashland.
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Today is the day you begin the journey of letting go of all that no longer serves you.