Child & Family Therapist in san diego, CA

Meet Isabel Palmer

If you are reading this, you have probably been carrying a lot of worry about your kid, and you are tired, and you just want to find someone who understands.

So take a deep breath.

Let’s Talk About How I Can Support You

hi, i’m isabel

A Little About Me

Part of why I do this work goes back to my own experience in therapy as a teenager. I had loving, supportive parents who noticed I was struggling and found me additional support at a time when therapy was far less common. My therapist gave me a neutral space where I could sit with difficult feelings, receive guidance, and not feel any pressure to appear okay. That relationship influenced my decision to become a therapist and still shapes the way I show up for kids today.

It also taught me that a child needing therapy does not mean their parents have failed. Even kids who are deeply loved and supported can benefit from having another trusted person in their corner.

As a therapist, I’m hands-on and down to earth. Most of my days are spent on the floor of my office, playing, drawing, building, and getting to know kids in the way that actually reaches them. I don’t sit back and wait for your child to explain how they feel. I get in there with them and follow their lead. With teens, that looks like real conversation and zero pressure to perform. However your child shows up, my job is to make it feel safe enough to be honest.

I work with children, teens, and the parents walking through it with them here in San Diego. I keep parents close throughout the process, because what happens at home matters just as much as what happens in my office.

And honestly, I love this work. Watching a kid who has been struggling find their way back to themselves is the whole reason I do it.

My Qualifications

  • Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT #164447), with training in EMDR and Play Therapy and a focus on supporting children, adolescents, and families.

  • Trained in Play Therapy, which is how I reach younger kids in the language they actually speak

  • Trained in EMDR, including with young children, which not many therapists are able to do. It helps a child work through a scary or painful memory without having to retell it over and over.

  • Additional training in trauma-focused therapy for kids, support for teens with big emotions, and coaching for parents at home.

  • Trained in Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) to support kids and teens through trauma and big emotions, and certified as a Positive Discipline Parent Educator to help parents at home.

my goal is simple

I want your child to feel better, and I want your home to feel lighter

  • Help your child feel safe again

    A free consultation, just the two of us. Tell me what's been going on. We'll figure out together whether I'm the right fit, no pressure either way.

  • Help your child find their joy again

    The goal was never to just manage the hard days. It is to help your kid feel like themselves again, lighter, steadier, and more connected to you. I have watched so many kids get their joy back, and I do not take that for granted.

  • Get to the root, not just the behavior

    The meltdowns, the shutting down, the worry, those are the parts you see. Underneath is a kid carrying something they cannot put into words yet. I help them make sense of it and work through it, so it stops running the show.

  • Send them off with what they'll carry for life

    The work we do now does not stop when therapy does. Your child walks away knowing how to handle big feelings, trust themselves, and ask for help when they need it. That is what changes the whole shape of their life.

Sometimes, the kid who seems fine really is fine.
And sometimes they're falling apart and you can't get to them.

What guides my work:

  • Hope

    Kids move through hard things all the time. I have seen it happen over and over, and I hold onto that hope for your family, especially on the days you cannot.

  • Connection

    Nothing real happens until a kid feels safe with me. So the relationship always comes first, and everything else grows from there.

  • Following their lead

    With little ones that looks like play. With teens it means no pressure and no lectures. I meet your kid exactly where they are, not where anyone thinks they should be.

  • Honesty

    I will tell you the truth, gently. What I am seeing, what is helping, and what to try at home. No jargon, no runaround, just real talk.