Who We Are
A Life Examined
A Life Examined is a psychotherapy practice grounded in existential-humanistic therapy and informed by relational/systemic thinking. We believe therapy is not only for crisis, it’s for growth, clarity, and becoming more honest about who you are and how you want to live. Across our work, we focus on identifying patterns (internally and relationally), developing insight you can use, and building responses that hold up in real life. We take the big questions seriously (meaning, identity, responsibility, grief, mortality, connection) while staying practical about what change looks like day to day: boundaries, communication, repair, and choices aligned with your values.
Our Clinicians
The clinicians at A Life Examined bring diverse backgrounds, perspectives, and intersecting identities. What we share is a commitment to thoughtful, steady therapy that is warm, direct, and collaborative. We strive to craft a space where you don’t have to perform or translate yourself to be understood.
Affirming and Inclusive
A Life Examined is grounded in the belief that people deserve to be understood on their own terms. We work supportively with neurodivergent clients (including ADHD/autism), LGBTQIA+ identities, diverse relationship structures (including consensual non-monogamy), and the many ways sexuality and identity develop over time. We also hold culture and context as part of the clinical picture so your experience isn’t reduced to a label.
Dr. Christopher Chaffin, PsyD, LMFT
Founder | Clinical Supervisor
Grounded in existential-humanistic psychotherapy and informed by relational/systemic thinking, my work integrates philosophical reflection with practical change, helping to identify patterns, develop insight, and build responses that hold up in real life. I’m the founder of A Life Examined, and I also serve as the Clinical Supervisor for our Associate therapists. My experience as a psychotherapist includes community mental health, inpatient care, and private practice. I also hold a position as faculty and Program Chair for the MFT Division of The Chicago School in Anaheim. As someone who is half-Persian, I hold culture, family history, and social context as central to how we make meaning and understand suffering. My approach is affirming of neurodiversity, sexuality, and identity, and I aim to offer a steady relationship where you don’t have to perform or translate yourself to be understood. Therapy, to me, is a space to explore what’s true, reconnect with who you are beneath coping and expectation, and build a life and relationships that fit you more honestly.
Julia Aguirre, MA
Associate Marriage and Family Therapist
Julia brings a warm, grounded presence to patients who feel emotionally stuck, overwhelmed, or unsure how to put their experience into words. She integrates supportive exploration with skill-building, drawing from approaches like DBT, Narrative Therapy, and person-centered work to help patients strengthen emotional regulation, self-compassion, and real-life coping. Many people come to Julia carrying anxiety, grief, life transitions, or a persistent sense of heaviness and her style supports patients in slowing down, understanding what’s happening, and building steadier ways of responding to themselves and the world. She is affirming and nonjudgmental, offering a consistent therapeutic relationship where patients don’t have to perform to be taken seriously. Over time, her work helps patients develop clearer insight, kinder self-trust, and practical changes that hold up in everyday life and relationships.
Emily Allen, MA
Associate Marriage and Family Therapist
Emily works with teens and young adults who are navigating anxiety, self-esteem, and major life transitions, especially when life feels high-pressure on the outside and confusing on the inside. Her style is warm, collaborative, and practical, helping patients identify the patterns that keep repeating and build coping tools that actually fit their real lives. Many young people come to therapy feeling overwhelmed by school demands, social dynamics, family stress, or the uncertainty of “who am I becoming?” Emily helps clients slow down, put language to what they’re experiencing, and develop steadier ways of responding so confidence grows from understanding rather than performance. She offers a grounded space for patients to explore identity, emotion, and relationships with less judgment and more self-trust, and to build change that holds up in day-to-day life.
Huy Huynh, MA
Associate Marriage and Family Therapist
Huy offers a steady, reflective space for patients who feel stuck, overwhelmed, or uncertain about direction, identity, or belonging. His approach integrates meaning-making with practical change: clarifying what’s happening, identifying patterns (internally and relationally), and building responses that align with a person’s values and the life they want to live. He is especially thoughtful with patients navigating cultural adjustment stress, competing expectations, or the tension of holding more than one world at once. Huy’s work supports patients in making sense of what they’ve been carrying, strengthening self-understanding and self-worth, and moving toward relationships that feel more honest and connected. His presence in the room is calm, attuned, and collaborative, focused on helping patients find clarity that becomes real movement forward.
Adriana Villarreal, MA
Associate Marriage and Family Therapist
Adriana helps patients understand the protective patterns that can show up as guardedness, self-doubt, emotional shutdown, or repeating relationship cycles. Many people learn early to stay quiet, stay “fine,” or stay in control to remain safe or accepted, strategies that make sense at the time but can become painful later. Adrianna’s approach is compassionate and collaborative, with an emphasis on building safety, clarity, and new ways of relating both internally and with others. She helps patients name what keeps repeating, understand what it costs, and practice change that feels sustainable rather than forced. Her work is a strong fit for people who want depth without judgment and who are ready to build healthier patterns of connection, boundaries, and repair while staying grounded in who they truly are.