Ani Ishkhanian, LMFT

Ani Ishkhanian is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) #163436 at Avedian Counseling Center, providing therapy for individuals, couples, and families at our Sherman Oaks and Woodland Hills locations. She specializes in helping clients navigate anxiety, trauma, stress, relationship challenges, difficult life transitions, emotional regulation, and unhealthy coping patterns.

Earning a Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy from Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Education and Psychology, Ani’s clinical training and integrative therapeutic approach allow her to support clients with a wide range of emotional and relationship concerns while maintaining a strong focus on each client’s individual experiences, strengths, and goals.

Ani works with adults who may be struggling with anxiety, chronic stress, trauma, overwhelming emotions, relationship difficulties, or challenges coping with everyday life. She believes therapy should be a place where clients feel heard, understood, and supported as they develop a deeper understanding of themselves.

With a collaborative approach grounded in the belief that each person is the expert on their own life, Ani considers each client’s unique experiences, relationships, culture, family background, values, and goals. Together, clients can explore patterns that may contribute to emotional distress and develop healthier ways to respond to difficult thoughts, emotions, relationships, and stressors.

Ani also works with couples experiencing communication problems, recurring conflict, emotional disconnection, trust concerns, stress, and other relationship challenges. Couples therapy provides a structured, supportive environment to better understand relationship patterns, strengthen communication, express difficult emotions, and build healthier ways of connecting. Her relational and attachment-focused approach helps couples look beyond individual disagreements and explore patterns that influence how they communicate, respond to conflict, and experience emotional closeness.

Ms. Ishkhanian recognizes that family expectations, cultural traditions, generational differences, and community values can also influence relationships. This perspective can be especially valuable for Armenian couples and multicultural couples who are trying to balance their individual needs with family and cultural expectations.

With a therapeutic style that is warm, compassionate, collaborative, culturally responsive, and trauma-informed, Ani draws from several evidence-based and relational approaches, including:

• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)

• Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)

• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

• Relational Therapy

• Attachment-Focused Therapy

• Trauma-Informed Therapy

Ani’s integrative approach lets her tailor therapy to each individual’s or couple’s needs, experiences, and goals.  Ani aims to create an environment where clients can openly explore difficult experiences, emotions, identities, and relationship concerns, including parts of themselves that may feel complicated or difficult to discuss elsewhere. Clients do not have to choose between respecting where they come from and making meaningful changes that support their emotional well-being.

As a Western Armenian-speaking therapist, Ani is especially passionate about serving the Armenian community throughout Sherman Oaks, Woodland Hills, the San Fernando Valley, and the greater Los Angeles area. She understands that mental health, relationships, and emotional well-being are often deeply connected to culture, family dynamics, community expectations, and generational experiences. Ani provides clients with a supportive space to explore these influences with compassion and without judgment.

For clients who feel more comfortable expressing themselves in their native language, Ani offers therapy in Western Armenian and English. Her culturally responsive approach allows Armenian individuals, couples, and families to discuss concerns while honoring the values, traditions, relationships, and experiences that have shaped their lives.

Starting therapy can feel like a significant step, and you do not need to have everything figured out before reaching out. Ani’s goal is to provide a supportive space where you can slow down, understand what you have been carrying, recognize patterns that may no longer be serving you, and develop greater awareness, balance, and choice in how you move through your life and relationships.

Whether you are looking for an Armenian-speaking therapist, couples therapist, anxiety therapist, trauma-informed therapist, or LMFT in Sherman Oaks or Woodland Hills, Ani strives to help you feel supported as you work toward meaningful, sustainable change.