
Kara Kohnen
Welcome David Hernandez, ASW
David is accepting new patients in our Murrieta locate and via Telehealth! David has a passion for patient care, helping individuals and families find peace in their lives.
He combines experiences from a variety of educational backgrounds: medicine, biology,
chemistry, computer science, business, and clinical social work. He has transitioned through
work in fields of chemistry and infectious diseases as a former researcher focusing on
pathways, cycles and understanding mechanisms for discovery of interventions. He continued
to study medicine for four years with a focus on psychiatry and family medicine, developing a
passion for understanding and treating trauma, depression, anxiety, complex PTSD, and grief.
He left medicine to focus on helping patients understand trauma and mood disorders, to help
individuals achieve balance in life. David combines experiences and passion for understanding
pathways, mechanisms, learning and memory to assist patients through their journey to
recovery. Graduating from USC with a master’s in social work, and continued master’s
education in Artificial Intelligence through Johns Hopkins University, he continues to expand
knowledge. David has worked in both medical and psychiatric inpatient settings, as well as
Intensive Outpatient (IOP) and Partial Hospitalization (PHP) levels of care with focuses on mood
disorders and trauma through group therapy and medical education. David utilizes a person-
centered approach, utilizing therapeutic elements from Rapid Resolution Therapy (RRT),
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Internal Family Systems (IFS) and is supervised by Esther De La Cruz, LMFT, RPT.
