Bernadine Fried
Co-Founder and Lead Psychotherapist
Bernadine Fried, LMFT, is the Co-Founder, Lead Psychotherapist, Family Therapist, and Clinical Director at Red Door Life. She is a licensed marriage and family therapist with many decades of experience working in the intersectional realms of substance abuse, addictive disorders, chronic relapse disorders, mental health issues such as trauma, depression, TRD/ treatment-resistant depression, and complex PTSD.
She has spent decades working with high-acuity and high-profile cases, tailoring nuanced care and building multidisciplinary treatment teams to suit each individual's special needs.
Along with Alex Shohet, she co-created the innovative, cutting-edge model of care at Red Door Life, the 12 Dimensions of Human Health and Wellness, which seeks to improve treatment and recovery outcomes. This proprietary model of care is the trauma-informed-attachment-focused lens through which Red Door Life operates, allowing greater compassion and insight into that which underlies the surface symptoms clients often present with. Berni believes in “unpathologizing”- looking beyond diagnoses and labels, to discover that which is creating dysregulation in one’s system- often deep attachment wounds or nervous system conditioning due to trauma. She believes in collaboration with her clients, meeting them where they are at in their journey, and creating an environment where one’s innate inner healer can begin to feel safe and have agency over the healing process.
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Berni understands the complexity of healing trauma, and that addiction is a complex disease. She is passionate about resolving the roots of trauma and helping clients heal their deeper attachment wounds and nervous system dysregulation. She believes in transformation. She champions integration as she knows that therapy happens not only in session but also in one’s life as they integrate into a sense of connection and community. A huge part of the ethos at Red Door Life is fostering community, as both Alex Shohet & Berni Fried believe it is part of the medicine that heals, and “undoing the aloneness” of mental health and substance abuse struggles is critical to healing.
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This is just one of the many ways Bernadine Fried and Red Door Life take the conversation further- from sobriety to life transformation. The Red Door life methodology relies on continuous learning, engaging activities, the power of support and community, fostering entrepreneurship, harm reduction and adaptable care to support sustainable recovery and mental well-being.
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In addition to running many topical groups- both online and in person and seeing clients in residential substance abuse care at Red Door Life, Bernadine Fried maintains a private practice in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles, California, where she practices individual therapy, family therapy, and couples therapy sessions. She has had decades of high-profile success stories.
Bernadine Fried, LMFT, is trained in EMDR, Attachment-Based Therapy, and PSIP- Psychedelic Somatic Interactional Psychotherapy. Her lifelong commitment to education, seeking out the newest thought leaders as mentors, and continued cutting-edge advanced trainings are critical to helping her and Red Door Life stay at the forefront of clinical excellence.
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​​CONNECT WITH BERNI FRIED:
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