Palo Alto Therapy, a therapy provider with offices in Palo Alto and San Jose, has opened a new office in downtown Menlo Park. The new offices are located at 800 Menlo Ave., between Crane and Evelyn streets.

In general, Palo Alto Therapy specializes in what Schmidt calls "evidence-based therapy," or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Schmidt says that learning about evidence-based therapy techniques is what made him want to start Palo Alto Therapy. He also said that all of the therapists at Palo Alto Therapy all receive continuous training on the therapy techniques that are backed by the newest research.

"Palo Alto Therapy is teaching these skills to the people I hired ... and so that was why we started the larger company," he said. "A lot of therapists, once they get their own practice, they don't do a lot of ongoing training ... We're continually trying to keep our expertise sharp."

Though Palo Alto Therapy serves adults, couples and more, founder Ernest Schmidt says he hopes that the Menlo Park location will specialize in helping kids, teens and families.

"All of our therapists are trained in anxiety, depression. ... Those are what we call the 'common colds' of mental health," he said. "But this location will probably have a heavier focus on the children and teens, plus family therapy and parenting skills."

Schmidt said that the new clinic location in Menlo Park was chosen in part to make accessing therapy more convenient for parents, kids and teens. "There's M-A, Sacred Heart (Schools), Menlo School. ... There's just tons of schools (in the area) that make it super convenient for all of the kids and teens to come to the clinic."

He also says that kids and teens are often underserved in the therapy world, and Palo Alto Therapy is trying to meet some of that high demand with this new location in Menlo Park.

"It's often really hard to find therapists for children and teens," said Schmidt. "For the longest time, we've had a massive wait list because it's hard to find therapists that have the training for that age group. But we've been working hard on getting that area shored up, and our clinic director has been hiring a lot (of therapists) for children, teens and families to meet that need."

Schmidt says the Menlo Park clinic currently has approximately 20 therapists that work there, and they are in the process of hiring more.