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

Hey, I'm Corinne.

Clinical Psychologist & Therapist in Orange County, CA

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.

Online in 45+ States · In Person in Orange County, CA · Most Major Insurances Accepted

Latest Articles

Therapist burnout: your fluency in the field is not a treatment plan cover image

Therapist burnout: your fluency in the field is not a treatment plan

Clinicians who call me about burnout can usually define it, stage it, and name the research. What they have not done is get treated for it. Here is what the evidence says about how common this is, which part of burnout reaches your clients, and why supervision and self-care were never going to cover it.
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High-functioning depression: fine at work, falling apart everywhere else cover image

High-functioning depression: fine at work, falling apart everywhere else

The people who ask me about this have good performance reviews and an apology ready. Work is the last part of a life to go, which makes it a poor place to look for evidence. Here is what high-functioning depression turns out to be on examination, and what changes treatment when someone is still holding everything up.
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What a gender dysphoria assessment involves, and why mine takes six months cover image

What a gender dysphoria assessment involves, and why mine takes six months

A gender dysphoria assessment done well takes about six months, not one to six appointments. A licensed psychologist explains what the time is for, what gets ruled out, how capacity to consent is weighed, and what the findings can and cannot settle.
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How to forgive yourself when the mistake was yours cover image

How to forgive yourself when the mistake was yours

Most of the guilt people bring me is noise. Then there is the other kind, where you let something slide that mattered and you know it. Forgiving yourself for that kind follows a sequence, and skipping to the end does not work. Here is the order I use.
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Why your friendships thinned out in your thirties, and how to rebuild cover image

Why your friendships thinned out in your thirties, and how to rebuild

People in their thirties and forties tell me they have a good life and nobody to tell about it. The friendships didn't fail. The structures that used to do most of the work of friendship quietly went away, and nothing replaced them. Here is what that costs and what rebuilding takes.
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Checkride anxiety: why prepared pilots freeze, and what fixes it cover image

Checkride anxiety: why prepared pilots freeze, and what fixes it

Pilots who freeze on a checkride are rarely the ones who skipped the studying. They are usually the ones whose flying had become automatic and then got interrupted by the sound of their own supervision. Here is what the research shows, what the ACS counts as a bust, and what the work to fix it looks like.
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