You’re everyone’s go to person.
Except your own.
Let’s change that. Specialized therapy for relationship anxiety, people pleasers, and women’s health.
Hi, I’m Dr. Kayla Sykes
I'm a California licensed psychologist offering specialized therapy to help anxious women navigate relationship anxiety, people-pleasing, and women’s mental health.
Most of my clients are women who look like they have it all together. They're thoughtful, caring, self-aware. But underneath, they're exhausted from overgiving in their relationship and keeping score, or they want connection but keep avoiding dating because opening up feels terrifying.
You're not broken. You're just protecting yourself. And that protection isn't serving you anymore.
I bring warmth, honesty, and humor to therapy and I won't let you people-please your way through our sessions. I'd love to hear what brings you here.
What I Offer
Individual Therapy
I provide online individual therapy for women throughout California, focusing on anxious attachment, dating anxiety, tech burnout, and women's mental health across the lifespan.
Couples Therapy
I work with couples throughout California using the Gottman Method and Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFCT) to help you break out of painful cycles and rebuild real connection.
Does this sound familiar?
You're exhausted from overgiving in your relationships
You give more than you receive and resent it silently
You need constant reassurance but never feel reassured
You keep score because asking feels impossible
You want connection but avoid dating
You're convinced something is wrong with you
Opening up feels more terrifying than staying lonely
You feel like your partner's mother, not their equal
You're not broken. You're protecting yourself.
And that protection isn't serving you anymore.
Specialties.
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You're exhausted from overgiving in your relationship. You keep score because asking for help feels impossible. You feel like your partner's mother, not their equal. Or maybe you're single and want connection, but keep avoiding dating even though you crave it. You're convinced something is wrong with you.
The common thread: you struggle to be vulnerable.
We'll work on the underlying patterns (anxious attachment, fear of vulnerability, difficulty asking for what you need) so you can stop overgiving, set boundaries without guilt, and build the intimacy you're craving.
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You might look like you have it all together, but underneath there's constant worry. Racing thoughts at night. Overanalyzing your partner's words and relationship anxiety. Needing reassurance but never feeling reassured. Anxiety about whether you're "enough" or if they'll leave.
Therapy can help you understand what's driving the anxiety and build a different relationship with it, so it stops running the show.
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Women's lives are shaped by experiences that deserve thoughtful, informed support. That might mean navigating body image, fertility struggles, pregnancy loss, the emotional weight of IVF, or the adjustment to becoming a mother when it doesn't feel the way you expected.
It could also be the ongoing pressures: balancing career and caregiving, relationship strain, burnout, and the tendency to put everyone else's needs before your own. If you can relate to the weight of the mental load that women carry, I've written more about that experience.
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You got into tech because you were excited about it. But somewhere along the way, the pace, the pressure, and the always-on culture started to wear you down. Maybe you're dreading work you used to love, running on fumes between sprints, or feeling like your entire identity has collapsed into your job title. Burnout in tech isn't a sign that you're not cut out for it. It's what happens when sustained pressure meets a person who keeps pushing through. Therapy can help you figure out what needs to change and how to move forward in a way that actually feels sustainable. If you're wondering whether what you're feeling is actually burnout or just a rough patch, I've written more about what to look for.
What we can work on.
Relationship Challenges
Fear of Vulnerability
Over-Giving in Relationships
Communication
Life Transitions
Parenting (Young and Adult Children)
Father Wounds & Partner Selection
Difficulties with Parents
Connect & Follow Along
Follow along on Instagram where I share what I see in my practice every day: the anxious attachment, dating anxiety, and boundary struggles that so many women live with quietly, explained without the jargon.
From the Blog
