about kyrie sankaran, ph.d.
I grew up in multicultural Singapore, in an Indian and Chinese family. My early academic path took me from a theology degree in Chicago to a Master’s in Counseling Psychology at Gonzaga University in Washington, and eventually to a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology in Los Angeles. My early training included work with college students, school-aged children, psychiatric hospital outpatients, and infants and young children with their families — experiences that shaped the breadth and depth of my clinical foundation.
Today, the focus of my private practice is working with adults seeking meaningful emotional change. In 2020, I completed a three-year core training at the Washington School of Psychiatry and became an IEDTA-certified practitioner of Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP). I have found ISTDP to be a powerful and precise approach — one that helps uncover how we unconsciously maintain patterns of emotional suffering and, through focused attention and presence, find the resolution and emotional freedom we long for.
Early in my career, I led early childhood mental health programs at the Children’s Institute in Los Angeles, where I directed clinical teams and developed parent-infant groups. One of the joys of that time was leading weekly Baby & Me bonding groups, where I played guitar and guided young, at-risk mothers in discovering the simple delight of music, movement, and emotional connection with their babies and toddlers.
As part of my leadership role there, I became a National Trainer in Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP), a trauma treatment model for young children and their caregivers. I provided training and reflective consultation to clinicians and supervisors throughout California and Kentucky in the CPP model and other attachment-based, relational approaches.
Around the same time, I completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Infant-Parent Mental Health through the University of Massachusetts, Boston, at their Napa, California satellite site. This training deepened my understanding of young children’s development, early relational patterns, and ways to support families with compassion and clinical clarity. I hold California endorsements as an Infant-Family and Early Childhood Mental Health Specialist and a Reflective Practice Mentor, and this background continues to inform my clinical lens and the consultation I’ve offered to clinicians, care providers, educators, and mental health programs over the years.
In 2020, during the shifts brought on by the pandemic, I relocated from Los Angeles to the small town of Ojai, California, where I currently maintain my private practice. Outside of work, I find joy in photographing birds and landscapes, hiking Ojai’s trails, and soaking in the restorative beauty of the natural world.