Practitioner record · Checked 9 Oct 2026
Dr. Nima Zahedi has been in practice 19 years and is licensed in California. Dr. lists stress, Anxiety, relationship issues and trauma and abuse among 6 subjects on the BetterHelp roster.
Everything below is either quoted from Dr.'s own BetterHelp listing, taken from public licensing records, or written by Maker Therapy and labelled as such. Nothing here is an availability promise, a review, or a rating.
01 · Who Dr. works with
Dr. lists 5 specialisms and 1 further focus area. Specialisms are the subjects Dr. chose to list first, which is the closest a listing gets to “this is my actual practice”.
02 · In Dr.'s own words
Reproduced in full and unedited - not summarised, not tightened, not rewritten in a house voice.
Being mindful of OUR PART IN THE MESS will be a central theme in our work together. Most of the patients I see show up to their first appointment already sabotaging (e.g., show up last minute and/or late, have made little to no attempt to calm themselves, not prepared, driving, etc., the list goes on and on), and some patients even over-prepare which can also be problematic. Please remember to breathe.
I am Dr. Zahedi, Psy.D., LCSW. I have been licensed by the Board of Behavioral Sciences to practice in California since 2007. I have my bachelors degree in psychology (1996 CSU Fullerton; Dean's List), my master's degree in medical social work (2002 CSU Long Beach) and my doctorate in clinical psychology (2017 California Southern University; Summa cum laude).
It is very common for people to indicate that they want a behavioral health specialist to "teach me new skills". What we have found is that people already HAVE the skills , but struggle to ACCESS their skills in the moment.
Anxiety, depression, grief and trauma are all core forces that are a part of a normal and healthy life. However, it is common to misunderstand, mismanage, avoid and/or neglect these life forces. I have found that in most cases it appears to be anxiety that must first be recognized because it restricts/blocks access to the underlying emotional injuries that need attention- and it starts with the anxiety about therapy itself. Most people do not like to be evaluated, which is understandable, but evaluation is the first step in the process, and we will both be evaluating each other. A well done evaluation is very therapeutic.
My schedule is open on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. I check my messages most days, respond in a timely manner, am timely and attentive. All of our meetings and communication will be via the BetterHelp platform, and I do not engage in any sort of dual-relationships. I reserve 75 minutes for our initial meeting and 53-55 minutes for our follow-up meetings, but this does not mean that we have to use all of the time- it just means it's there if we need it. I take notes during our meetings, especially the first meeting, and I encourage you to also take notes. I do not record our meetings, but I encourage you to- just please let me know if you are recording.
For our meetings, driving is forbidden and you must be in California. Please be in a safe, private and comfortable space with strong reception. Additionally, I am on time, prepared and attentive for my meetings, with the exception of rare unforeseen events, so please let me know in advance if you generally run late and/or like to multitask during our meetings so that I may also have the option to run late and/or multitask during our meetings.
If you have been led to believe that you cannot force someone to change, you are mistaken. Of course it is preferable when the individual is motivated internally, however, there are endless cases about people who would not have started the journey unless they were leveraged/threatened/mandated/etc., by an external source (e.g., judge, employer, loved one, etc.,), then later become grateful for the external motivation, and subsequently develop their own internal motivation.
WHAT IS YOUR MOTIVATION: Not everyone who makes an appointment to see a therapist is pursuing health and wellness. Here are some common examples: some people are just window shopping because they are curious, bored and/or lonely, some because they were threatened ... "you go talk to someone or else", some are looking to recreate conflict and chaos with the therapist, some to seduce the therapist, some to turn the therapist against someone else, some to set the therapist up for failure, etc. Please take some time to reflect on what your motivation is and then ask yourself if your approach is congruent with health and wellness.
SPECIALIZATION: The school of thought I subscribe to is one that states the following: If you understand human culture and behavior deeply, the need for specialization virtually disappears (Murray Bowen, 1966). However, I can say that in my current practice, I do not specialize in psychological testing, active eating disorders and/or emotional support animal evaluations. I do specialize in children, however, in an overwhelming majority of cases I recommend that the adults be the identified patient. Additionally, although I do not specialize in any particular religious scripture/doctrine/word, I do specialize in the spirit.
COMPLAINTS PHILOSOPHY: Most people think of complaints as bad- especially the HR department. I think complaints are a critical opportunity for growth in a relationship. I ask that if you have any complaints about me, you come to me first, unless your complaint is that I either threatened you, made some sort of advance towards you, or suggested you or I do something unethical or illegal, in which case I understand why you would not want to approach me directly and would instead contact the proper authorities. If you feel uncomfortable approaching me about a complaint directly, please feel free to invite any adult you prefer or reach out to a BetterHelp success representative and ask them to join us for additional support.
*** SPECIAL NOTE*** I chose to join BetterHelp March 2026 because BetterHelp appears to provide the much needed flexibility and creativity that traditional psychotherapy models, insurance companies and/or other telehealth platforms currently do not. I am in the process of building trust with my new BetterHelp administration. In the meanwhile, the most common reason I would ever decline a referral is because I firstly anticipate the probability of a referral complaining to my administration because I proposed a hypothesis that they did not agree with, and I secondly anticipate the probability of my administration subsequently mishandling the already misguided complaint. Misguided and/or mishandled complaints impact me deeply. Mishandled complaints hurt my spirit, hurt my practice, hurt my relationship with my administration, and hurt my patients during a critical opportunity for growth and healing. Therefore, I am focused on building a healthy trust with my administration before I take the added risks I perceive in certain cases. I plan to reevaluate my partnership with BetterHelp March 2027.
Dr. Nima Zahedi, on the BetterHelp listing · read 9 Oct 2026
03 · What happens next
Dr. practises through BetterHelp, so the route in is BetterHelp's. This is that sequence, written by Maker Therapy from the platform's published process - not a description of Dr.'s own practice, and not a promise about how quickly anything happens.
BetterHelp opens with a set of questions about what you are dealing with, what you want from therapy, and any preferences on the therapist. You are not booking Dr. at this point.
BetterHelp matches algorithmically by default, so asking for Dr. is a step you have to take. There is a field for requesting a specific therapist during sign-up, and you can switch afterwards from your account. Starting from a link on this page does not by itself assign you to Dr..
You will be offered somebody else rather than put on a waitlist. Worth knowing, because it is easy to assume a match is the person you asked for.
A first session is typically history and orientation: what brought you, what has been tried, what you want to be different. It is also where the questions in the next section belong.
Changing therapist on BetterHelp does not need a reason. A first session that does not click is common and is not a verdict on therapy. That option existing is the main practical difference between a platform and a private practice.
04 · Before you commit
Built from what Dr. actually lists, so they are answerable and specific rather than generic. Maker Therapy's, not Dr.'s - Dr. has not seen them and is under no obligation to answer any of them.
“How do you decide when someone is ready to work on a traumatic memory itself?”
Pacing is the biggest safety question in trauma work. A clear, unhurried answer here matters more than any credential.
“With 19 years in, what has changed most in how you work?”
Long experience is only an advantage if it has been examined. This tends to surface whether it has.
“How do you handle the gap between sessions if something comes up?”
On BetterHelp this varies a great deal by therapist. Better to know the rhythm now than to discover it on a bad week.
05 · Practical details
06 · Provenance
Dr.'s name, credential, state, subjects, approaches and biography are read from BetterHelp's therapist roster, which Maker Therapy re-reads once a day; this page reflects the reading taken on 9 Oct 2026. The licence number and NPI are cross-checked against public registers.
The plain-English method descriptions, the first-session walkthrough and the questions are written by Maker Therapy and labelled as such wherever they appear.
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