Tonya M. Pan-Weisz, Ph.D.
Licensed Clinical Psychologist | Owner and Founder, Turning Toward Therapy
Photo: Dr. Tonya Pan-Weisz, Owner and Founder of Turning Toward Therapy. Photo by: Bradley Pan-Weisz
Practice Philosophy: Professional Compass
Dr. Tonya M. Pan-Weisz is a licensed clinical psychologist and the founder of Turning Toward Therapy, where she helps adults and couples navigate life’s most difficult moments with clarity, courage, and compassion.
Dr. Tonya’s approach is grounded in the convergence of Buddhist psychology, behavioral medicine, cognitive neuroscience, and functional contextualism—an integrative framework that bridges ancient wisdom with contemporary science.
From Buddhist psychology, she draws principles of mindfulness, compassion, non-attachment, and the understanding of suffering as a part of the human condition. Behavioral medicine and health psychology bring a focus on the complex relationship between mind and body, emphasizing how psychological processes influence physical health and vice versa.
Modern cognitive neuroscience offers insight into how we construct our emotions and that our brains are more malleable than previously thought. Functional contextualism provides a lens for understanding that behavior and wellbeing emerge in the context of a person’s unique history, biology, socioeconomic status, culture, relationships, and environment. Rather than judging behavior as good or bad, functional contextualism rests on the principle that all behavior makes sense—and only makes sense—in context. Through this non-judgmental lens, we’ll explore what your behaviors are trying to do—and what’s helping or hindering your movement toward what truly matters to you.
As a person-centered clinician dedicated to cultural humility and client empowerment, Dr. Tonya offers a collaborative space where clients feel seen, supported, valued, and challenged as they work toward meaningful change. With advanced training in psycho-oncology, she provides compassionate, expert care to people whose lives have been touched by cancer, helping them find steadiness and meaning in the midst of profound disruption. She also has a wealth of experience working with Veterans and Veteran couples offering trauma-informed, culturally responsive care that honors the unique challenges of military life, service-related stress, and reintegration. Throughout her training and career, Dr. Tonya has remained committed to understanding how race, ethnicity, gender, age, LGBTQIA+ identity, neurodiversity, Veteran status, disability, religion, and socioeconomic background influence mental health and wellbeing. Her practice affirms all consensual relationship structures and honors the diversity each client brings. Known for her calm presence, warmth, clinical clarity, and steadfast commitment to science-based, ethical care, Dr. Tonya brings wisdom and direction to the therapeutic journey.
At the core of her work lies profound respect for human dignity and the belief that no one is broken, recovery is possible, and turning toward what truly matters is the first step toward thriving.
Top Professional Values as a Therapist
Values cards reproduced with permission from www.valuescardsort.com
Yes, you’re only supposed to select your top 5, not 6. :)
Notable Positions, Training, and Education
For a full description of Dr. Tonya’s academic, clinical, and professional experience, her Curriculum Vitae (C.V.) is available here.
Dr. Tonya M. Pan-Weisz is a licensed clinical psychologist, educator, published peer-reviewed author, researcher, and the founder and owner of Turning Toward Therapy.
Prior to founding Turning Toward Therapy, Dr. Tonya was a Staff Psychologist at the Veteran Affairs San Diego Healthcare System (VASDHS) and an Assistant Clinical Professor (non-salaried) in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine. During her tenure in these positions, Dr. Tonya served in numerous leadership roles, including serving as the inaugural Family Mental Health Community of Practice Coordinator, Evidence-Based Psychotherapy Co-Coordinator, Clinic Coordinator for the Oceanside Behavioral Health Interdisciplinary Program as well as an active member of the Diversity Action Committee.
Dr. Tonya had the pleasure and honor of supervising psychology trainees and junior staff members in couple therapy and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. Dr. Tonya also served as a co-investigator for a randomized controlled trial of brief Cognitive Behavioral Conjoint Therapy for PTSD augmented with intranasal oxytocin.
With the utmost commitment to life-long learning, Dr. Tonya completed or achieved equivalency in Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy (IBCT), Cognitive Behavioral Conjoint Therapy (CBCT) for PTSD, and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for Depression via the National VA Evidence-Based Training Program as well as thousands of hours of continuing education on mindfulness, compassion, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), common factors of successful therapy, high-conflict couples, step-families, communication, sex therapy, parenting, LGBTQIA couples, disability, consensual non-monogamy, sexual desire discrepancy, Attachment Theory, affairs/infidelity, Emotional Focused Couple Therapy, trauma, PTSD, process-based therapy, behavioral changes for sleep/insomnia, chronic-pain, military culture, ACT for Couples, suicide prevention, interpersonal violence, fun, play, joy, positive psychology, pleasure, Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), women’s mental health, men’s mental health, infertility, ethical self-reflection, and much more.
During her tenure, Dr. Tonya supported hundreds of diverse Veterans and Veteran couples in improving their mental health and relationships by turning toward what matters most, and she is honored and excited to continue this work at Turning Toward Therapy.
Dr. Tonya earned her Ph.D. from the San Diego State University/University of California San Diego Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology, which is consistently ranked as one of the best clinical psychology doctoral programs in the nation. She completed both her clinical internship and postdoctoral fellowship at the VA San Diego Healthcare System (VASDHS) and the UC San Diego School of Medicine Consortium. She holds an M.A. and M.S. from San Diego State University, and a B.A. from the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she double majored in Psychology and Business Economics and graduated with Honors and Academic Excellence.
Dr. Tonya completed three year-long clinical rotations in Psycho-Oncology, working with individuals whose lives had been touched—or more often, turned upside down—by cancer. She worked with clients who were at many different stages along the cancer continuum: from prevention and detection, to diagnosis, treatment, post-treatment survivorship, and end-of-life. She also supported caregivers navigating these challenging experiences. Always committed to finding new ways to alleviate suffering, Dr. Tonya was the first clinician to pilot cognitive rehabilitation training (CogSMART, supervised by the developer of CogSMART, Dr. Beth Twamley) for adults experiencing cancer-related cognitive impairment. She also had the opportunity to co-facilitate the delivery of Acceptance and Behavioral Changes for Insomnia and to witness the life-changing experience improving one’s sleep. Working in integrated hospital settings, Dr. Tonya met with clients where they were—both physically in infusion centers and on medical inpatient units (med-surg, hem-onc, and hospice-palliative care), and emotionally: overwhelmed, angry, scared, disconnected, confused, hopeful, and everywhere in between. As an educator, she led a monthly seminar on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) in psycho-oncology for junior trainees.
As a researcher in psycho-oncology, Dr. Tonya’s dissertation focused on the relationships between health-related quality of life and executive functioning over time in adults with brain tumors. Her M.A. thesis explored cancer disclosure experiences among young adult cancer survivors enrolled in college. She has published in peer-reviewed journals and presented at national and international conferences. (For a full list of publications and presentations, please see C.V. above.)
Dr. Tonya has also been a dedicated patient advocate and volunteer. She feels deeply honored to have walked alongside so many individuals on their cancer journeys and is both grateful and excited to continue this work at Turning Toward Therapy.