Poorang Aurasteh, M.A., LMFT is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist providing services locally to San Diego County and Orange County. He offers some distance options via Skype and phone for non-local individuals. Some of his areas of specialty are anxiety, depression, addiction, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. He provides individual, couples, family, adolescent and children psychotherapy. He is the founder of tendingsouls.com. For the past several years he was the Clinical Coordinator and Primary Therapist at Center for Discovery in the dual diagnosis and high-risk mental health residential facilities helping adolescents with drug addiction and mood disorders.   

He received his B.S. in Neuroscience from UCLA and his M.A. in Counseling Psychology with an Emphasis in Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute. He is currently a student at Pacifica Graduate Institute in their Ph.D. in Depth Psychology with an Emphasis in Psychotherapy program where he is further continuing his education and training.

After completing his studies in Neuroscience at UCLA, Mr. Aurasteh then became a researcher in the UCLA Neurosurgery Department conducting innovative studies for Parkinson’s Disease. His research was published in the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of Neurosurgery. With his true interest in neuroplasticity and the mind-brain connection, he then began working side by side with renowned UCLA psychiatrist Dr. Jeffrey M. Schwartz, author of best selling self-help books "Brain Lock" and "The Mind and the Brain". He was trained directly by Dr. Schwartz in the Four Step Method. The Four Step Method combines mindfulness and wellness with cognitive behavioral therapy to help you re-train your brain so that you can nourish the true self within you. This Four Step process works without the need for medication. 

Mr. Aurasteh has trained extensively with Dr. Schwartz and is one of only three people nationally who is a recognized expert in the Four Steps.  For the past several years, he has worked closely with Dr. Schwartz helping people understand and utilize the Four Steps to help treat Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). He is a facilitator of the Schwartz Four Step Group that meets weekly at UCLA.  Mr. Aurasteh's most recent contribution to advancing the use of the Four Steps includes assisting Dr. Schwartz and Dr. Rebecca Gladding in demonstrating that the Four Steps is not only helpful for OCD but is also successful for phobias, depression, anxiety, addiction, gambling, eating disorders and chemical dependency. His work is highlighted in Drs. Schwartz and Gladding's new book, You Are Not Your Brain.   

Mr. Aurasteh has been a practitioner and teacher of meditation and mindfulness for the past eight years. He is dedicated to the continual development of his own personal psycho-spiritual work. He is a firm believer that a psychotherapist can only take a client as far as they have gone in their own work. He is known in his field for his gentle, compassionate and holistic approach blending clinical research with eastern wisdom. As a service to the local community, he offers free monthly wellness lectures on various mental health topics. He is the founder of the Four Step Awareness Foundation, a not for profit organization dedicated to raise awareness of the Four Step Method for OCD. He supports the organization Corazon De Vida, a non-profit organization supporting the orphanages of Baja, Mexico.