If you're feeling stuck and hopeless, your world can be an unhappy place, affecting your health, your work, your loved ones and your quality of life. For thirty years, as a Counselor and Psychotherapist, I've been helping people understand themselves and their power to work through problems that can seem insurmountable. If that's how you're feeling and you're ready for change, let's work together, in safety and kindness, to get you moving again.

*Preferred Pronouns: She/Her* I congratulate you on taking this first step towards personal growth and transformation. I'm here to provide a supportive, safe space for you to try new ways of being in the world. I have a grounded, compassionate, playful, and creative personality as well as an abundant therapeutic toolbox to support you in your healing journey. In addition to being a psychotherapist, I specialize in Expressive Arts Therapy which uses a wide range of artistic methods (visual arts, music, movement, writing, and drama).

My approach to practicing psychology is transparent and collaborative in nature. Clients report that I am grounding, honest, and easy to talk to. I approach the evaluation process grounded in the philosophy and techniques of collaborative/therapeutic assessment. A profound respect for the intentions of all parties that intersect in the life of a child is essential. My goal is to involve all stakeholders in the evaluation process, from deciding its goals, sharing test results, preparing written reports, and communicating results.

Your relationship with yourself is key to how happy you are at home, at work, and beyond. I collaborate one-on-one with clients to cultivate self-compassion and heal from old wounds so they can move from surviving to thriving. I act as a guide and sounding board, with a commitment to respecting each individual as the expert on their own experience. As a queer, genderfluid therapist and activist, I support partners in monogamous and consensual nonmonogamous relationships, and I’m committed to honoring and uplifting the lived experiences of people from underrepresented racial backgrounds, abilities, genders, and sexualities.

I listen deeply, with compassion and without judgment, to give you a place where you feel safe to express thoughts and feelings, My strength is how I work, using minimal interpretations but instead allowing your inner core to experience the genuineness of your own truth when it surfaces. I thus avoid diagnostic labels and preconceptions. Love and work is how we express ourselves. I hope you will let me help you with relationship issues, both in love and at work. My goal is to help you discover your inner creativity and resilience.

My story started in Belarus where I lived as a child until I moved to Israel following the Cherbobyl nuclear disaster. It was in Israel that I discovered my passion for psychology and mindfulness. In 2013, I started my first private practice after completing a two-year training in Hakomi Mindfulness-Centered Somatic Psychotherapy. After 3 years of private practice, I moved to the US where I pursued my Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies. During my practicum, I worked and received training at the Integral Counseling Center at Church Street which specializes in Gestalt therapy.

Is an important relationship causing you pain? Do you want to make changes, but aren't sure how to begin? Call me. From our first session, I will listen carefully to you, ask timely questions and support you to find the tools you need and the motivation to use them. You don't have to do it all alone! Call me to day to see if we might work well together. Just the act of picking up the phone or sending an email can change the way you feel.

I provide a down-to-earth approach to self-exploration and personal development, recognizing the universality of both human suffering and human potential. I take a non-pathological approach to therapy, coming from a core orientation that each person is inherently valuable and has an innate capacity for wisdom and wholeness. My approach is dynamic and relational, being informed by a lifetime of psychological and spiritual inquiry.

I believe that no matter how difficult of a time you're having, I can help you find your balance and power. I know that rage; shame, confusion and helplessness can make you feel stuck, lost and hopeless. I also know that there is a way out. In my therapy office you will feel safe and supported to unravel your feelings and thoughts, identify patterns, themes, get clear on what brought you to the place you are currently in and make intelligent new choices.

Sometimes, when we hear the call of fate, we listen with an inner ear for quiet whispers of the soul. This call arrives in many forms. My consultation practice brings together Jungian analysis with expressive arts therapy. I offer a safe place for you to recognize your unique identity. In our work together, we will follow the varied threads of your story so you can weave and shape your own destiny. My approach uses verbal and non-verbal methods, encouraging spontaneity and the healing influence of the imagination. These sensorial processes lead to an aesthetic and spiritual understanding of soul.

My practice emphasizes integral, psychodynamic psychotherapy and consultation for a variety of psychological, relational, medical, cultural, and spiritual issues. I specialize in working with adults who grapple with anxiety, depression, loss, stress, health, disability, identity, sexuality, relationships, transitions, trauma, creativity, spirituality, life path/purpose/meaning and fulfillment. I also enjoy providing consultation to colleagues. Building on my fifteen years of private practice experience during my twenty years as a licensed clinician, it is my joy to combine private practice in Oakland with my teaching at CIIS.

I offer humor, warmth and unconditional acceptance of whatever you bring into session. I've worked with many different issues across many different age groups including: depression, anxiety, existential and relationship issues and trauma. Many clients come in wanting to unpack their past- others need to focus on the present. I can meet you wherever you are and help you develop a healthy relationship to yourself and others. Children's psychological needs often represent themselves a little differently, but ultimately require the same safe space to explore, unpack and process.

Do you struggles with your relationship? Do you want a more intimate connection? I believe we are driven to grow and we choose our partner to help us grow. Going through conflicts and resolving them is what help us to know ourselves and our loved one better. The last 11 years, in a safe, trusting, and warm environment, I successfully helped couples, as well as individual, to learn from these conflicts and help them to build more harmonious relationship and better life.

I believe that a supportive therapeutic relationship can be the springboard from which many life issues can be addressed and healed. I am warm and gentle, yet firm when appropriate. I am encouraging, nurturing and have a deep capacity for empathy. I am committed to your growth and the changes you want to make in your life. Issues I treat include anxiety, depression, trauma recovery, and relationships. I treat children, adolescents, adults, couples, and families. I have special expertise in working with personal and collective trauma, deepening intimacy in couples, cross-cultural relationships, grief and mourning and healing friendships.

I specialize in critical therapeutic services for children & adults. I provide strength-based, collaborative & non-diagnostic psychotherapy which focuses on cultivating resilience & insight. The cornerstone of my practice was built on exploring embedded issues of loss & shame that impact identity and are exacerbated by race, class, gender, learning differences & socio/cultural conditions. I work with people of all ages, backgrounds, orientations & ethnicities. My practice was refined through my work serving persons harmed through the provisions of systems: educational, criminal justice, foster-care and/or military systems.

I work with people who are in need of a safe and supportive environment to figure out and pursue their life goals. They want to understand how to bring movement to the stuck and repeating aspects of their lives.

Have you been feeling depressed, anxious, overwhelmed and lonely? Do you find yourself wishing that things were better than this, and are ready to do something about it? Do you struggle with feelings of insecurity and self-doubt, and want to be more connected to yourself? I work with people who suffer with these symptoms, and I can help you find relief and insight. From a space of non judgment and warmth, we gently explore the inner resources, limiting beliefs, relationships, history and challenges that will help you regain a sense of well being and connection.

I am a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (MFC 85537) in Oakland, California. As a feminist therapist, I find that those who come to me yearn to un-yoke themselves from trauma, desire creative freedom, as well as those who have a desire transform relationships and institutions. I believe that therapy can be an integration point for your journey toward getting closer to your truth. The more you are able to be self-aware and accept yourself, the more you can live fully and authentically. Therapy, and life for that matter, is a beautiful, painful and mysterious process of becoming.

Does it feel like nothing is ever good enough and neither are you? You don’t have to feel this way - therapy helps. We can work together to overcome crises, learn to calm yourself down, build confidence, feel more hopeful, communicate more effectively, build and have better relationships, feel comfortable in your own skin, feel whole, and much more! Send me a message today.

Hello I'm Julia Mendoza, a therapist providing therapy throughout the state of California. I have experience working with children and adults, in the areas of depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, LGBT+ issues, OCD, personality disorders, family problems, relationship and partner conflict, and traumas. I truly enjoy helping others and I have been told that I am funny, genuine, open-minded, and a good listener. Se habla Español!