Rachel Pluard is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist.  She has over 20 years of experience in the human services field, 19 of those years alongside medical and law enforcement personnel.  She loves helping clients see their “normal”. She believes in and practices Carl Rogers idea of Unconditional Positive Regard; in being a client’s #1 fan.  She also believes in empowering clients with tools to care for themselves and see their own potential. She specializes in family and domestic violence, trauma, healthy relationships, and substance abuse. She believes in bringing light to the dark, or at least showing others that the dark is nothing to be afraid of.

Rachel holds a Master’s degree in Psychology, with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy, a Bachelor’s degree is in Sociology, with an emphasis in Socio-legal Studies and a minor in Criminal Justice. During her undergraduate work, she focused on childhood trauma and family violence, interning with Orange County Juvenile Probation and Social Services. She also worked at a Los Angeles County group home for juvenile females on probation and intake at Orange County’s emergency shelter/group home.

Rachel worked as a therapist intern at a community clinic and interned at a coed residential drug rehab, where county probation and state parole placed clients. She was at the rehab when AB109 rolled out and worked with many of the first “early release” parolees.

Currently, Rachel is a clinician inside Orange County Jail with Correctional Mental Health. She deals with varied situations, such as trauma, family loss, Severely Persistently Mentally Ill (SPMI), developmentally delayed adults, psychosis, mood disorders, substance abuse, suicide, physical violence, and gang and prison politics. She teaches Mental Health at the Jail Academy and presents Suicide Prevention to OCSD Jail Deputies and staff twice a year.

Rachel is a member of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT), the National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC), and the Forensic Mental Health Association of California (FMHAC).