MEET OUR TEAM
The hands and hearts tending this sanctuary
A constellation of clinicians, stewards, and guides — each carrying their own thread of training, lineage, and lived experience into the shared work of healing.
Julie Anne Steiger
SEP · LCSW #76510
Founder · Somatic Psychotherapist
Clinical Supervisor
Julie Anne has dedicated her career to cultivating the tools and practices required for healing and growth after trauma — blending the science of the nervous system, the creativity of the arts, and the wisdom of nature to guide people back to their inherent wholeness.
SPECIALIZATIONS
Women and children with complex or developmental trauma; highly sensitive and neurodivergent people; those who have not found traditional talk therapy supportive, folks living with chronic somatic symptoms.
ORIENTATION TO HEALING
Earth connection, empowerment, bridging scientific understanding with ancestral wisdom, midwifing the liminal, weaving dissociative parts and soul fragmentation.
Megan Zuzevich
LMFT #108284
Co-Founder · Clinical Supervisor
Director of Operations
Megan brings an integrative, trauma-informed approach to psychotherapy, drawing on EMDR alongside the metabolic, environmental, and biological foundations of mental health. In her work, symptoms are understood as signals — invitations to listen more deeply to the body, the nervous system, and the conditions of a life. Healing is approached as restoration rather than management.
SPECIALIZATIONS
Adults navigating trauma at the root, nervous system dysregulation, and the integration of body, mind, and environment. Working with those seeking to depathologize their experience and rebuild from underlying foundations.
ORIENTATION TO HEALING
Integrative and trauma-informed; EMDR alongside metabolic, environmental, and biological foundations of mental health.
Lisa Mariano
SEP · MSW · ASW #116793
Psychotherapist · Group Facilitator
Lisa offers a warm, accepting space to unpack complicated feelings, celebrate growth, and stay present with what is unfolding. Central to her practice is the innate human capacity for compassion, humor, and wisdom — a steady ground from which to meet what brings you to the work, and what emerges once you arrive.
SPECIALIZATIONS
Hospice, grief and loss, codependency and relational trauma, neurodivergence support, children and adolescents.
ORIENTATION TO HEALING
Person-Centered, Harm Reduction, Strengths-Based; trained in Somatic Experiencing, CBT, DBT, and Motivational Interviewing.
Itzel Barakat
AMFT #159412
Psychotherapist · Associate Marriage
& Family Therapist
Itzel (they/them) is a heart-centered therapist who believes healing begins in authentic connection. Their approach weaves Narrative Therapy, Somatic Experiencing, and Internal Family Systems to help clients reconnect with their inner wisdom and restore balance between mind, body, and spirit — a place where stories can be rewritten and new possibilities for self-compassion emerge.
SPECIALIZATIONS
LGBTQIA+, highly sensitive children and adults, veterans; anxiety, depression, grief and loss, trauma and PTSD, relational challenges, coping skill development.
ORIENTATION TO HEALING
Person-Centered, Strengths-Based, Somatic Experiencing, Motivational Interviewing, Harm Reduction, CBT, DBT.
Samar Sepehri
AMFT #161074
Somatic Psychotherapist · Associate
Marriage & Family Therapist
Samar's approach integrates Somatic Experiencing, Implicit Psychology, meditation, and mindfulness. She leads with kindness, warmth, and heart — believing in the deep connection between mind and body. Together with clients, she uncovers the activation patterns that keep them stuck and helps them feel like themselves again.
SPECIALIZATIONS
Adults, teens, children, couples, and families navigating prenatal and perinatal challenges, IVF and fertility support, postpartum, birth and attachment, generational healing, and nervous system regulation.
ORIENTATION TO HEALING
Somatic Experiencing, CBT, DBT, Person-Centered, Trauma-Informed, Strengths-Based.
Sascha Breuer
Co-Founder · Nature Guide · Therapeutic Farm Manager
Land · Operations · Care
Sascha is the Co-Founder of A Human Sanctuary, where he tends to the sanctuary on two fronts: the land in which our programs and home are held, and the systems that help hold it all together. ​
As a Nature Guide and Therapeutic Farm Manager, Sascha stewards the gardens, animals, and outdoor spaces that make this place feel like a sanctuary. He supports the living rhythms of the land and accompanies clients into the natural world as part of the healing experiences in Idyllwild.
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With a background spanning over three decades in creative, relational, and service based work, Sascha brings a grounded thoughtful presence to the Sanctuary's outreach and community building efforts. His work is rooted in care, connection, and creating spaces where people feel welcomed, supported, and met with dignity.
Approved Insurance Providers
for Individual Therapy
IN-NETWORK · SLIDING SCALE AVAILABLE​
THERE ARE MANY PATHS UP THE MOUNTAIN
Start where you are.
There is no correct doorway, no required sequence. Some come first through individual sessions; some through a weekend on the land; some through self-led study from home; some simply through a question they cannot yet name.
However you arrive, you arrive whole.
One-to-one therapeutic work with our clinicians, in person or by Zoom.
