Joanna Gates, M.A.

Joanna Gates is a mental health practitioner, licensed marriage and family therapist, and certified life coach based in Los Angeles, California, with over 30 years of experience spanning human services, education, and the expressive healing arts. As founder and owner of The Mindful Mind, she has spent nearly twelve years building an integrative practice that blends depth psychology, mindfulness, somatic movement, and creative expression to help individuals, couples, and families move through personal transformation. Rather than relying on a one-size-fits-all clinical model, she designs personalized programs that meet each client where they are, drawing on her academic training and certifications in art therapy, yoga, special needs work, and professional coaching.

Joanna's path into this work was shaped as much by personal experience as by education. A childhood cancer survivor who was treated at Children's Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles, she channeled that early hardship, along with the strong work ethic modeled by her parents and the later loss of her stepfather, into a lifelong mission to support others through healing and growth. She holds a bachelor's degree in human services and mental health from California State University, Fullerton, and a master's degree in depth psychology and clinical practice from Pacifica Graduate Institute. Over the course of her career she has worked as an art teacher at the McGroarty Arts Center, delivered behavioral therapy for children on the autism spectrum through the Center for Autism and Related Disorders, and ultimately built her own practice centered on psychoeducation, self-empowerment, and expressive art as tools for lasting change.

Beyond her clinical and coaching work, Joanna is an active advocate for the arts and her local community, serving on the board of directors for Parks and Recreation in the Arts District and volunteering on neighborhood initiatives such as a community art wall, garden project, and dog park rehabilitation effort. Her guiding values center on mindfulness, authenticity, compassion, and self-trust, and she remains committed to helping others build resilience and self-awareness in an era increasingly shaped by technology and digital overstimulation.