Founder · Laguna Beach

Dr. Courtney TracyThe Truth Doctor.

USC-trained licensed psychotherapist and certified trauma and personality-disorder expert.

Call (949) 670-9345
Dr. Courtney Tracy, founder and Chief Clinical Officer of Exist Centers.
Chief Clinical Officer
Role
Founder and CCO
License
LCSW · PsyD
Clinic
Joint Commission PHP / IOP

In her words

Me and my team help you go from feeling out of control, deeply misunderstood, and isolated to feeling in control of a life worth living.

— Dr. Courtney, aka ‘The Truth Doctor’

Alias
The Truth Doctor
Role
Chief Clinical Officer
Place
Laguna Beach, CA

USC, then the PsyD.

Magna cum laude at USC, then summa cum laude on the doctorate.

  1. 2016

    Master of Social Work

    University of Southern California

    She completed her Master of Social Work at USC, magna cum laude, between 2014 and 2016.

  2. 2019

    Doctorate in Clinical Psychology

    California Southern University

    She completed her doctorate in clinical psychology, summa cum laude, between 2016 and 2019.

The credentials she practices under.

She is USC-trained, C-PD and CCTP certified. The clinic is Joint Commission accredited PHP and IOP in Laguna Beach, not a hospital admission.

  • LCSW
  • PsyD
  • RPA
  • C-DBT
  • C-PD
  • CCTP

She has been featured in these outlets.

  • The New York Times
  • Good Morning America
  • NBC
  • Business Insider
  • The Washington Post

Body, mind, and brain — in the same week.

Courtney's three-part model. Not a 12-step hallway. Therapy, the whole day.

Therapist-founded, expert-led. Courtney built Exist for people who need trauma, personality-disorder, and dual-diagnosis care — and refuse to be treated as a chart first.

  1. Somatic care

    Body

    Exist in it again.

    Yoga, breath, nutrition, and pain — how the body and the mind move each other. The work starts here when the nervous system will not stand down.

  2. Cognitive analysis

    Mind

    The thought that runs the day.

    Automatic thoughts, decisions, the story you tell yourself. We change the reaction before we ask you to change the life.

  3. Psychoanalytic

    Brain

    What sits under the pattern.

    A safe room for the unconscious — why you feel and act the way you do. Trauma, personality, and use, read as one history.

Talk to the clinic she built.

Call Exist at (949) 670-9345. The team will say whether PHP, IOP, 1:1, or a referral is the honest next step.

Clinically reviewed by Dr. Courtney Tracy, LCSW, PsyD · Reviewed September 2026

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