Alana Arguello, DMin, MA, AMFT
Registered Associate Marriage and Family Therapist #AMFT137695
Phone: 619-858-3105 x 135
Chula Vista Office & Telehealth Sessions
Not Accepting New Clients At This Time
Education and Training:
Dr. Arguello completed her doctoral education in apologetics in 2020, Summa Cum Laude. Her current scholarship focuses on cult mentality and recovery; how worldview and religion intersect with culture and mental health; bioethics; ethics and informed consent; cultural impact on developing personality disorders.
She earned her Master of Arts in Marriage Family Therapy from Pacific Oaks College in 2007, graduating Magna Cum Laude and was the honored Thesis Symposium speaker. The MFT graduate program where she attended focused on social cultural mores and systems theory, giving her insight to consider cross-spectrum areas of life that might be collectively contributing and impacting a person’s health and thought patterns.
Arguello received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy with a concentration in East Asian studies and a minor in Political Science from Baylor University in 2000.
She was part of an internship training in 2023, under a board health and medical psychologist, studying current issues and applications in the bio-psycho-social model.
Her ongoing continuing educational pursuits are in CBT, TBI and trauma studies.
Under her current supervisor, Dr. Donald Welch, she is extending her training in couples therapy.
Clinical Background and Specialty:
Arguello finished her 3000 clinical hours mostly in Los Angeles, where she was the Lead Therapist liaison for two large LA public schools and a Department of Mental Health contracted agency, she treated high risk teens and their families.
She has worked in a day treatment high school offering individual, family and group therapy in a therapeutic milieu.
Arguello has also worked at a large public high school as an IEP therapy provider.
Her experience has been in individual, group, family, child, and crisis intervention counseling. She has collaborated between schools, county, and hospital psychiatric staff.
After several years away from the state as a military spouse, Arguello has now returned to California and is re-establishing her practice as a marriage, family and child counselor and has re-registered as an AMFT with the California Board of Behavioral Sciences.
Through an integrated approach of various theoretical orientations, she enjoys helping others navigate their struggles in a way that provides them a safe space to realize goals and solutions.
Arguello enjoys aiding people in better understanding, as well as uncovering their personal strengths.
She has gift for finding applicable illustrations and analogies to fit the needs and perspectives of individuals, strengthening their motivation toward understanding and resolve.
Via a comprehensive approach, she comes alongside individuals, couples, and families as they find clarity and discover meaning and purpose that anchors them for intentional daily living, and long-term stability goals.
Her doctorate affords her competency in faith crisis struggles, and offers a keen ability to support those struggling to bridge their mental health with faith doubts. Further, her decades of extensive education and teaching background in world religions and cultural mores allows her to meet individuals respectfully in the context of their cultural belief system.
Though varied, Arguello may typically utilize CBT, psychodynamic, motivational interviewing and Socratic questioning approaches to health. She has a history working with PTSD, Depression, Anxiety, ADHD, and ODD; multicultural, military families, grief and crisis counseling.
She enjoys working with couples, military families, women, and youth.
Affiliations:
Dr. Arguello is active in the academic arena of apologetics, world religions and worldviews, cultural anthropology and social psychology. She is published as well as acts as a peer reviewer for an academic journal.
She has served in ministries for military wives, biblical counseling, and public speaking for academic conferences, as well as for women’s conferences and retreats.
She taught collegiately for seven years in subject areas of counseling, values and ethics, world religions, adult development, and intercultural communication.
She previously sat on a board in San Diego helping change public policy for the homeless.
Dr. Arguello currently sits on an international apologetics board, and serves as a volunteer for local military family organization.
Personal:
Dr. Arguello enjoys spending time with her family and pets, and outdoor exercise. She also is an avid reader of nonfiction, and enjoys finding small used bookstores sifting through very old, dusty books. She has traveled to different parts of Asia and Central and South America, and hopes to discover more places in the future.
Relevant Memberships:
California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists, CAMFT
The International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA)
Supervisor: Dr. Donald W. Welch, Ph.D., M.S., LMFT#50129