Pilar Majors, MSW, LCSW
Practice CEO, clinical supervisor, and individual mental health clinician
How my journey began
My path to becoming a licensed clinical social worker began on a long, personal journey, perhaps resembling more of a maze or web of people and events. It started as a child in an isolated, low income, rural community with friends and family growing up with generational patterns of trauma, addiction, abuse, neglect, poverty, isolation, violence, cultural burdens, childhood substance abuse, natural disasters, homelessness, and other challenges in our way. As an adult, I explored various roles and systems in internships with equine-assisted therapy, family service agencies, and on-campus college programs for former foster and homeless students, and I participated in research programs exploring substance use and social programs to combat child abuse, homelessness, and recidivism. I received my associate’s degree in criminal justice and then a bachelor’s degree in psychology with a minor in sociology. I began to focus on learning as much as I could about the neuroscience and biology of human behavior and trauma. I received my Master of Social Work degree, and worked in family reunification services with families and transitional age youth involved in the foster system in several counties in California. While I enjoyed this work, I found my focus turning toward addressing the causes of generational patterns and family tension, abuse, and neglect. I later began my work as a clinician with a nonprofit in Calaveras County, including supporting families through the COVID pandemic and the subsequent adjustments, while piloting a new Wellness program to host outpatient mental health services on elementary, middle, and high school campuses. I then opened my private practice focusing on providing therapy to individual adolescents and adults.
Qualifications
I have obtained my professional license with the state of California (109997), and am now also dual-licensed to practice in the state of Nevada (11248-C), expanding my virtual services to residents and visiting clients who ravel there regularly. I have been certified in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), which is the focus of much of my work and a framework I believe can benefit most individuals. I am also regularly in trainings and clinical supervision to continue developing my skills with Internal Family Systems (IFS), which I find greatly compliments the acceptance work that is often insufficiently met with DBT alone. In serving my rural community, I have also begun to offer a free monthly support group for LGBTQIA+ youth and their families in partnership with the LGBTQ resource center CalPride Sierras based in Sonora, where we offer a supportive space for youth and families to talk, obtain resources, and safely explore sensitive topics like online dating and consent skills, sexual health information, gender expression and affirming care resources, etc. with safe and supportive adults in their community, rather than cope alone in all-too-often isolation, or with strangers online. I have deeply enjoyed all of this work, and I am excited to offer my services to families and individuals in need of evidence-based, practical treatment close to home.
Coming soon…
It is my hope in the coming years to add opportunities to support other locals interested in becoming therapists with internships, trainings, clinical supervision, and eventually employment or mentorships to fill gaps in service needs in our communities of Calaveras and surrounding counties including support groups, specialized treatment, couples/family therapy, and therapy with young children. Please check back for updates, or reach out if you are interested in connecting to discuss your career plans and how we can help!
What kind of therapy does Pilar specialize in?
The core of my approach to mental health treatment is IFS-informed DBT, which is a more fluid and self-acceptance focused form of Dialectical Behavior Therapy that cares less about acronyms and worksheets, than it does about how you understand and work with your inner experiences (your thoughts, feelings, memories, sensations, stressors, trauma, goals, cultural learning, generational burdens, etc.) to respond to and influence your external experiences in the form of your relationships, work, parenting, financial decisions, communication style, and visa versa by working with “parts” in conjunction with Internal Family Systems Approaches. If you have ever argued with yourself, or said “part of me feels one way, and part of me feels another”, or zoned out while safely driving home and thinking about something else entirely—you have already experienced the specialized areas of the brain working together, and sometimes how these parts of ourselves come into conflict! This approach teaches you how the different areas of your brain can work together. It accounts for your whole system, and can include and coordinate holistically with medication, homeopathic approaches, and other alternatives to traditional therapy, as well as your unique and basic human needs including family dynamics, culture, career, hobbies, experience, medical health, etc.
Depending on your needs and preferences, we can address a broad range of skills to connect, confront, apologize, and advocate for yourself and others; enhance and teach self-care, coping, and emotional regulation skills; process experiences, thoughts, emotions, and actions so you can “accept and move forward”; coordinate actions with your support system and/or legal systems; and safety plan and teach harm-reduction strategies to stabilize and improve more significant depression, self-harm, suicidal ideation, panic attacks, sleep disruption, mood swings, substance use, and other mental health symptoms. I enjoy teaching my clients about their brain development and function, take great pride in helping my clients gain skills and independence from my support, and value helping them reach a level of thriving beyond just surviving and coping with their mental health symptoms. I also work well with those who have had negative experiences with therapy in the past, including supporting clients for whom internal work like meditation brings up strong anxiety or trouble focusing.
Pilar is currently accepting clients on a waitlist for new openings
High quality therapy services, right here in your small town in the Sierra Nevada Foothills!
Experience
Respect
Humor
Flexibility
Effectiveness
Strengths-based
We are born with survival in mind—thriving is something we learn, if we are lucky, from our family and communities in childhood, but it can also be learned later on in life! Motivation comes from within — and we are here to help you find it, understand it, develop it, and activate it.
Chat with Pilar
Let’s ask eachother some questions and find out if one of our clinicians are a good fit for you!