Darls Centola is a clinical social worker, a traveler, a storyteller, a teacher, a romantic, and a life-long learner. She lives in West Los Angeles with her live stuffed animal, Bowie.

Darls early education was focused on teaching. She learned sign language in college and became an interpreter for the deaf, and later taught high school drama, psychology, and history. Darls traversed the globe living in Santa Fe, London, Tenerife, Spain, Santorini Greece, and Maui. She worked as a European tour guide for Contiki tours, and conducted tours in French at Disneyworld and Epcot Center for Club Med. She’s traveled extensively in South America, and also in Southeast Asia, which lead to establishing a business designing and importing Balinese jewelry.

These life experiences coupled with a calling toward a helping profession, led her to continue her education at the University of Hawaii to obtain a master’s degree in Clinical Social Work. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, a Certified Addictions Treatment Counselor, an authorized provider by the Office of Problem Gambling through the UCLA Gambling Studies Program, and a certified Eye Movement and Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) therapist. She has also held several adjunct faculty positions teaching child development and sociology including a position at Mount Saint Mary’s University, and Los Angeles Trade Tech Community College.

For 20 years she’s run a thriving private practice in Mar Vista California, working with youth, adults, couples and families. She supervises interns toward licensure and consults with mental health agencies in both the public and private sector on developing programs and facilitating workshops for families in recovery. She has created supportive mental health programs for the Los Angeles dual diagnosis homeless population, and foster youth transitioning out of the foster care system. Her decades of experience have provided her a foundational understanding and ability to address the complexity of mental health issues endemic in the populations she serves including co-occurring disorders, trauma, and grief.

She has a specialization in helping individuals recovering from spiritual and religious trauma and abuse, healing from the thought distortions perpetuated in a Purity Culture.