Elena Balashova-Shamis, CA Psychologist PSY20104

Elena Balashova-Shamis is a California psychologist with over 23 years of experience. She holds the CA Psychologist credential PSY20104 and brings a long career in clinical practice and teaching to her work. She communicates in English and Russian and bases her practice in California.

Her background combines clinical practice with academic roles. She teaches at multiple local universities, including UCLA’s medical school and NPI. She has presented and published on clinical topics and has advised doctoral dissertations.

In sessions she aims to tailor treatment to the person sitting across from her. She uses a psychoanalytic perspective alongside other evidence-based therapeutic techniques to match each person's needs. Sessions focus on understanding patterns, exploring difficult feelings, and developing practical ways to manage stress and mood.

Elena works with common problems such as anxiety, depression, grief, trauma and relationship difficulties. She also addresses concerns like attachment and abandonment, body image, eating-related issues, caregiving stress, and gender dysphoria. Her approach balances careful listening with tools to reduce symptoms and improve daily functioning.

She speaks both English and Russian, and maintains an active role in teaching and scholarship. People who want a therapist who blends long clinical experience with an academic perspective may find her approach fits their needs.

Therapeutic approaches and online care that fit your life

Her work combines a psychoanalytic perspective with evidence-based therapeutic techniques. Psychoanalytic-informed work looks at long-standing patterns in relationships and emotions to understand why problems recur, which can help when people struggle with attachment, abandonment, or repeating relationship patterns.

She also uses practical, evidence-based methods to address symptoms like anxiety, depression, and trauma responses. These techniques focus on learning skills to reduce distress, manage strong feelings, and improve daily functioning in clear, step-by-step ways.

Finding the right approach is part of the process. The therapist collaborates with each person to decide which methods fit their needs, goals, and preferences. That conversation guides whether sessions focus more on exploring history or on learning concrete skills, and it can change over time as progress is made.

If you are considering online therapy, confirm the current session options before booking. The practical benefits of remote work include fitting sessions into a busy schedule, reducing travel time, and making shorter check-ins possible when that suits you. Therapists and licensed professionals can discuss how to structure appointments to match your daily life and therapeutic goals.