The new wave of mental wellness care is here.
WE ARE TOPANGA RIDGE GROUP.
Discreet, referral-driven, independent, integrative care in Topanga and virtually worldwide.
Traditional Care Vs. Integrative Care
Elsewhere
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Labels disorders and prioritizes DSM/ICD categories.
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Goal is to eliminate or suppress symptoms as quickly as possible.
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Clinician seen as expert who directs treatment.
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Pharmacological intervention emphasized as the primary solution.
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Reliance on evidence-based, one-size-fits-all methods.
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Substance use framed as a disease requiring total abstinence (often 12-step or medical detox).
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Clients usually enter during acute breakdowns.
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Client identity tied to diagnosis; struggles defined as 'disorders.'
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Less focus on trauma, environment, relationships, or culture.
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Aim is to manage crises and return to 'baseline functioning.'
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Care is limited by licensure, excluding effective modalities outside formal systems.
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Where included, psychedelic work is typically confined to legally available treatments such as ketamine, without broader preparation or integration.
Topanga Ridge Group
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Focuses on lived experience, meaning, and values rather than labels.
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Symptoms understood as signals of deeper needs; healing aims at transformation and integration.
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Therapist and client work as partners; trust and autonomy are central.
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Medication is one tool among many (nutrition, movement, mindfulness, community, ceremony).
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Tailored to the individual’s history, culture, and goals.
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Emphasizes safety, dignity, and gradual change—even if abstinence isn’t immediate.
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Supports people before crises emerge; attends to long-term flourishing.
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Clients seen as resourceful, creative, and capable of growth.
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Considers trauma, relationships, ecology, spirituality, and systemic factors.
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Integration, self-understanding, and sustainable well-being are the goals.
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Care draws from clinical and alternative modalities to support a more individualized path.
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Preparation, referral, and integration across a range of psychedelic experiences, including coordination with legal, regulated providers where applicable.
Services
INTEGRATIVE THERAPY
Individuals, couples, families, children, business teams.
CONCIERGE CARE
24/7, real time, high-touch guidance when its needed most
INTENSIVES
Custom, transformational retreats, day intensives, & 12- week programs for
Relationships
Addiction
Crisis Points
Transformation
Meet the Team
Rigorously trained, radically compassionate.
Becca Braren, PhD-C
Founder & Integrative Therapist
Becca Braren has spent more than twenty-five years guiding people through crisis, addiction, grief, and major life change.
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Becca Braren’s work brings together clinical training, ceremonial practice, and decades of direct experience guiding people through periods of crisis and transformation. She trained at CIIS, Antioch, and Pacifica, and is completing her dissertation on alternative healing practices worldwide. Her education has taken place both within academic institutions and in long-term relationship with elders and ceremonial teachers.
For over twenty-five years, her work has taken place in therapy offices, recovery settings, and ceremonial environments. For the past fifteen years, this has included ibogaine, 5-MeO-DMT, and other medicines where legally administered.
She has worked with individuals and families navigating addiction, trauma, grief, and major life change. Her clients include clinicians, artists, actors, directors, founders, and public figures.
Though qualified within the traditional licensure path, Becca works outside the conventional licensure system and its limitations. Her work reflects the belief that healing cannot be standardized, and that change begins when a person is fully seen and understood.
Her approach draws from humanistic psychology, harm reduction, and ceremonial traditions. She works with people to interrupt patterns, repair relationships, and find their way forward.
Becca is a founding board member of the Guild of Guides. She lives and works in Topanga Canyon.
Becca works outside the licensure system in principled protest of its limits because real healing can’t be standardized; it asks to be met person to person, moment to moment.
Hannah Saltzman PhD
Clinical Psychologist & Program Director
Hannah was born in Paris and trained as a clinical psychologist in California. She works especially well with people who have spent much of their lives feeling different.
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She earned her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Palo Alto University in California, focusing on abnormal psychology, sex and gender identities, geriatric psychology, and neuropsychology. Her dissertation explored the concept of intolerance of uncertainty and its impact on mental health.
During her training with LA County, she worked with a wide range of individuals and witnessed the limitations of traditional mental health systems. After completing her PhD, she chose not to pursue licensure, turning instead toward alternative paths for healing—honoring Eastern philosophies, nature-based therapies, and creative approaches that reconnect the spirit with body, community, and change.
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Jessica Cousens
Retreat Program Director & Somatic Practitioner
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Tisha Marina
Andean Pampamesayoq & Mexican Curandera
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Marcos Mourkakos
Plant Medicine/Ibogaine Advisor & Aftercare Provider
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Wilson Moreno
Clinical Coordinator & Director of Operations
Work With Us
Reach Out
Complete the contact form and our Clinical Coordinator will connect with you to schedule a no-cost consultation with our founder.
Connect
Meet with us for a 30-minute call to explore what’s bringing you here, and to determine whether this work feels aligned for you.
Welcome
Begin with a 75-minute intake conversation where we take the time to understand your history, your needs, and what has and hasn’t helped.
Plan
Receive a personalized care plan designed around you. Most clients begin with integrative therapy before other modalities are considered.
Heal
Engage in steady, relational work that supports meaningful change, helping you move toward greater clarity, stability, and peace.
Our Clients
Familes: Parents, Children, Teens
Individuals, Couples, & Teams
Clinicians & Healers
Influential Individuals
Psychedelic Curious Individuals
Our Specialites
Hopelessness & Psychic Paralysis
Chaos, Confusion & Overwhelm
Existential Ambivalence
Traditional Diagnoses
(Holistic Approaches)
Addiction & Trauma
(Post-Conventional Approaches)
"Dramatic, poignant & needed. It's a great project you've initiated."
Dr. Gabor Mate - advisor and collaborator
WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY
Let’s explore where you are, what you need, and how we may be able to help.
Submit your information and our coordinator - Wilson Moreno - will reach out to schedule a complimentary call to explore alignment and possibilities.