Volney Tavarez

Volney Tavarez is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who supports infants, children, and caregivers through the natural challenges and touchpoints of each stage of development. She was a 2024 fellow of the Napa Institute for Parent and Infant Mental Health at UC Davis, and specializes in providing developmentally-informed relational interventions to support the growing bonds between parents and babies.

Volney knows, both professionally and personally, the unexpected emotional, physical, and relational challenges that parenthood can bring. She believes that parents and caregivers deserve a warm and supportive therapeutic relationship so that they can provide the best care for themselves and their families. She deeply appreciates the transformative power of warmly attuned relationships through depression and anxiety, during pregnancy or through infertility, when struggling with postpartum adjustments, dealing with parenting stress, or navigating changes in families.

Volney is a DIR-Floortime provider, and currently serves the students of Westmont College as the Clinical Director of Counseling and Psychological Services, and as an adjunct professor teaching developmental psychology. She is also a mom of three boys and lives in Santa Barbara.