Meet Panicha McGuire, LMFT, RPT

A note from Thrive’s founder, Dr. Erica Wollerman:
Welcome to our last blog of our Meet our Therapist Blog series! Since I am often the one writing our Thrive blogs, I wanted to make sure that our readers would be able to also get to know the amazing team I work with at Thrive. I am so grateful to work with each of these therapists and they each offer our clients something special.

My passion for the field developed first as a part of some self-exploration. I am a first generation Asian-American, and growing up with dual identities was not easy. Am I American? Or am I Asian? I discovered the field of psychology in college and learned so much about myself and my family dynamics. In the meantime, I was working as an Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) specialist serving children diagnosed with autism and other developmental disabilities.

The work was so rewarding, but I soon realized something was missing. Because of the stigma of seeking help in my family’s culture, I didn’t realize that there is an entire field of people that are there to help others struggling with mental health, family, and relationship dynamics. I wanted to do more than behavior training, which led me to the field of family therapy.

Creating relationships and witnessing my client’s growth has been the most rewarding part about being a therapist. It is amazing to see the growth in someone on the first day they step into my office compared to the day they say goodbye. And I don’t think it is all me. I believe all my clients have potential for change and growth, some just need a little nudge and guidance. My style in therapy could be best described as collaborative and authentic. Not all clients are the same as they all have walked different paths in their lives. I pride myself in helping my clients use their existing strengths or interests towards their goals. In working with children and teens, that could mean anything from academic strengths, extracurricular interests, or even video games. Some of my teenage clients have frequently heard me use certain video games as an analogy in their treatment, with different levels being an obstacle they need to overcome to reach their goals.

In addition to being a licensed psychotherapist, I am also a Registered Play Therapist (RPT). This means that I’ve completed specialized training and supervision to conduct play therapy. Play therapy is the recommended treatment choice for children in all settings. For adults, it’s easier and more natural to sit down and tell the therapist what your needs are. For children and teens, they may need a different approach to resolve their problems and play is their language. Imagine if I had taken the words “I’m angry with you” out of your mouth, you would be extremely frustrated that you are unable to express this statement. As an RPT, I use toys, games, or experiential activities to assess and teach children and teens how to express their feelings, cope with challenges, and learn new ways of relating to others.

I’ve had experience with many types of clients from court mandated therapy to private practice, and the youngest being 18 months old to the oldest at 65 years old. Although I can work with clients from any walks of life, my passion is in working with children, teens, young adults, and parents. A framework that guides my practice with all my clients is attachment, or the emotional bond between people. I believe that the emotional connections we had as children inform the way we relate to others as we develop through adolescence and adulthood. Even my adult clients benefit from an attachment-based therapy as they often recognize how their relationship with others throughout their life has affected how they currently relate to their partner, friends, colleagues, or other relationships.

Although I spend a lot of time in the therapy room, I continue to practice self-care regularly through the week with things I love. Generally, I am either doing yoga, traveling abroad, enjoying geek-related things (video games, comics, attending cons, going to Disneyland etc.), or spending time with my family. As a military wife, family time is very important to me as we often don’t have enough hours in the day or even year together. Want to know another fun fact about me? My dog’s name is Obi wan! Yes, as in the Jedi.