Dr. Jesi Sasaki, PsyD

Dr. Sasaki is a licensed psychologist in the state of California and certified Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) therapist working in private practice. Dr. Sasaki specializes in working with children, adolescents, adults, and families who are struggling to manage behavioral and emotional problems. She utilizes evidenced-based practices to help clients with behavioral difficulties, emotional dysregulation, depression, anger, anxiety, specific phobias, OCD and PTSD. She also specializes in parent training and support to help parents manage their own anxiety and stress as it relates to their parenting style. Dr. Sasaki is passionate about preventative care through educating children about mind-body wellness and teaching kids about socio-emotional growth through movement.

Dr. Sasaki began her work in psychology as an undergraduate student at Occidental College where she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a minor in Japanese. It was here, playing soccer at the collegiate level, that Dr. Sasaki realized the importance that team sports and physical activity played in harnessing essential life skills for success. That’s why, in addition to her license as a clinical psychologist, she went on to become a certified personal trainer and certified nutrition specialist to pursue her passions of promoting whole body wellness.

Dr. Sasaki completed her dual master’s degree and doctorate degree in Clinical Psychology from Hawaii School of Professional Psychology (HSPP) in 2011-2017. She then completed her pre-doctoral internship at San Mateo Medical Center in San Mateo, California from 2016-2017. Dr. Sasaki decided to move back to Los Angeles to complete her post-doctoral residency.

Although her training and academic background allowed her to be at the forefront of evidenced-based treatments, she felt the traditional approach to child therapy was lacking in its ability to apply the changes outside of the office. This is when Dr. Sasaki decided to create a separate business aside from the safety of her traditional therapy practice and venture out to pursue her passion of pioneering a new field of preventative care and education for kids.

That’s why she and Dr. Shannon McHugh developed the YouTube educational program, The Learn & Burn Explorers! Dr. McHugh and Dr. Sasaki provide fun, free-to-access education about mental health to all kids on this platform using physical activity and escape room style challenges to keep them interested and engaged.

They also offer a subscription package where kids can delve deeper into the topics with fun bonus content like extra videos, experiments and games! Check out their website for more information (coming soon!)