Leilani's integrative approach to therapeutic work draws from a diverse range of psychodynamic trainings, workshops, and educational experiences, including trauma-informed therapy, adolescent self-image and empowerment, parental alienation and estrangement, EMDR, mentalization, sex and pornography addiction, substance abuse addiction, and grief and loss.

Leilani has received extensive training in working with children and parents to navigate difficult times such as divorce, custody disputes, and family crises. She also works with adults seeking to heal from childhood experiences involving parental conflict and divorce. In August 2018, Leilani presented her master’s thesis at a conference in London—Moving Upstream: Family Separation Clinic and European Association of Parental Alienation Practitioners. Her thesis, titled “Therapy Contraindicated: The Treatment Challenges of Working with Severely Alienated Children,” highlighted the negative impact children face during high-conflict parental divorce and provided practical recommendations for therapists based on the latest evidence-based research.

Additionally, she is completing a rigorous training program as a Certified Sexual Addiction Therapist (CSAT) through the International Institute for Trauma and Addiction Professionals (IITAP). This program was developed by the field’s pioneer, Robert Carnes, for the treatment of individuals seeking to heal from sexual abuse, addiction, compulsion, pornography use, or ineffective sexual patterns. Leilani has also been trained to work with partners of sex addicts who have been traumatized by the discovery of their partner’s infidelity.

She has earned a basic-level Mentalization certification, jointly offered by the Anna Freud Center in London and the Menninger Clinic at Harvard Medical Center, for the treatment of individuals with borderline personality traits. Mentalization, a psychodynamic approach to strengthening insight and cognition, has been shown to be effective in treating clients with borderline characteristics, emotional dysregulation, and epistemic distrust.

Leilani works with individuals and couples of all gender identities and sexual orientations, including heterosexual and LGBTQIA clients.

Leilani began her clinical work in 2016 as a trainee at Counseling West, an affordable nonprofit counseling center in Sherman Oaks. She earned her master’s degree (M.A.) in Counseling Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute and her B.A. in History from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).