Downtown Santa Ana at dusk, near Dr. Votaw's Orange County office

Hey, I'm Corinne.

Clinical Psychologist & Therapist

I help people break the old patterns shaping how they think, act, and see themselves. In therapy, we work through what's weighing you down and uncover the strengths it's been hiding. My approach is holistic and rooted in the present moment. It's less about dissecting problems one by one, more about how the pieces of your life fit together. I tailor the work to you, drawing on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Self-Determination Theory, and trauma-focused methods, in a space that's safe and affirming for who you are.

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Latest Articles

The FAA substance abuse evaluation: what a pilot should expect cover image

The FAA substance abuse evaluation: what a pilot should expect

After a DUI, a positive test, or an honest answer on the medical application, the FAA usually asks for a substance abuse evaluation. It is normally two evaluations by two disciplines, written to a published specification. Here is who performs them, what the reports have to contain, and what the FAA is deciding when it reads them.
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How to find a therapist who understands pilots cover image

How to find a therapist who understands pilots

Deciding to go is the easy part. Finding a therapist for pilots who has read the FAA's rules is where most aviators stall out. Here is what the credentials mean, which questions to ask on the first call, and the answers that should end it.
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Sleep paralysis: why you wake up frozen, and why someone is in the room cover image

Sleep paralysis: why you wake up frozen, and why someone is in the room

You wake up, you are awake enough to know where you are, and your body will not move. Often there is a presence in the room. Sleep paralysis is a well-documented glitch at the border of REM sleep, it is common, and the things that make it more frequent are mostly things you can change. Here is the mechanism, who gets it most, and what helps.
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The problem with spoon theory: your energy is not a fixed budget cover image

The problem with spoon theory: your energy is not a fixed budget

Spoon theory gave people with invisible illness a way to say "I look fine and I am not fine," and it still does that job well. Then it left the diner. Here is what the metaphor gets right, where the internet version does harm, and who should keep counting anyway.
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Which FAA evaluation is it: psychiatric, psychological, or neuropsychological? cover image

Which FAA evaluation is it: psychiatric, psy­cho­log­i­cal, or neu­ropsy­cho­log­i­cal?

FAA psychiatric evaluations, psychological evaluations, and neuropsychological evaluations are three different credentials with three different specification documents behind them. Booking the wrong one is one of the most common and most expensive mistakes a deferred pilot makes. An aviation psychologist explains how to tell from your letter which one the FAA is asking for.
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Why I rarely diagnose borderline personality disorder, even when it fits cover image

Why I rarely diagnose borderline personality disorder, even when it fits

Some of the people I see would meet the criteria for borderline personality disorder, and I still do my best not to write it down. The label describes a recognizable kind of pain, but it explains very little of it, follows people for years, and outlasts the symptoms it names. This is what I do instead.
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