Adults Therapists in 94620

Everyone experiences challenges in life that are too much to bear alone. Trauma can occur as a result of neglect, abuse, loss, betrayal, relationship challenges, sudden changes, natural disasters, war, and really any emotionally overwhelming experience. I work with people who have experienced trauma, who have gone through these types of difficult experiences and seek to heal in an embodied way. I offer many tools including yoga, breath work and EMDR, and will help you find your unique path of healing. If you're facing serious challenges, therapy can truly help. I'm happy to connect to explore if we are a good fit to work together.

I work with adults, teens, couples, and families who are struggling in their own lives or in their relationships (with children, partners, themselves) in an empathic, non-judgmental, directive and engaged manner. I can help you identify where you are stuck and give you the opportunity to practice trying things a different way in order to feel better. I am experienced in working with mood disorders, anxiety disorders, family/relationship conflict and life transitions. I obtain regular feedback from my clients to ensure we stay focused on client-defined treatment goals.

I enjoy working with children and adults to help them find grounded ways of being with and moving through the struggles they face. I believe that strong relationships, with the self, the body, and with others, are central to a healthy lifestyle. Painful life experiences, transitions, trauma, anxiety, and depression are opportunities for growth, and helping people move through these challenges is incredibly rewarding. I love working with people of diverse sociocultural backgrounds and exploring how culture shapes experience. A deep understanding of development allows me to connect with people of all ages and help them move through difficult stages.

I am a warm, collaborative therapist who enjoys working with children, adults and families. My hope is to build an alliance with each person that will facilitate personal growth and increased satisfaction in relationships. With both children and adults I employ an eclectic mixture of: Attachment Theory, EMDR, FLASH, positive psychology, CBT, solution oriented, social stories, play therapy, and lots of listening. When things seem difficult I can help brainstorm practical strategies for getting through hard times. I have a strong belief that we all know what is best for ourselves, sometimes it's just hard to envision.

Psychotherapy is a uniquely effective way to address and process deeply rooted issues that manifest in ways that are painful, confusing, and make people feel out of control. I work with children, adolescents, and adults in individual therapy, using a collaborative approach that centers on empathy, understanding, and exploration. My orientation is predominantly psychodynamic, and I tailor my approach to each individual to address unique circumstances and complexities. I strive to create a safe, warm, and validating environment that enables people to share and be vulnerable without fear of judgment.

With over 25 years as a licensed therapist, I am a skilled and compassionate guide in helping people feel better, function better, and have more fulfilling relationships. I am able to understand people from multiple perspectives, how their family system has shaped them, how their attachment style impacts them, how their connections with others cause them joy and pain. I am very present in sessions and have an interactive style, giving direct feedback. You won't find me just listening and nodding, I am there to understand you and collaborate on a plan with you for meeting your goals.

My therapy practice will provide you with a safe environment to examine thoughts and behaviors that may be holding you back from the happiness, peace, and success that you want. I specialize in working with adults in the treatment of anxiety, depression, and relationship problems. Additionally, I am a certified anger management facilitator.

I am a clinical psychologist specializing Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for mood and anxiety disorders. I treat adults with depression, anxiety (panic, worry, phobias), social anxiety, ADHD, insomnia, and life stress. In addition to my practice at the San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy, I am an Assistant Clinical Professor at UC Berkeley. I believe in a collaborative approach that emphasizes symptom relief, skill building and self-exploration.

As a psychoanalyst and clinical psychologist, I work with a variety of issues ranging from depression, sadness and anxiety to more severe issues such as schizophrenia and personality disorders. I work best with those clients who are interested in making lasting changes in their inner lives and circumstances. In my practice, I provide you with a place to speak freely, so that through this singular experience of speaking you can articulate your desire and assume responsibility for your life.

If you could change one thing about your life, what would make you happier? Maybe it would be making your relationships with others more satisfying or reducing your anxiety or depression. In individual therapy I help create a safe space to step back and observe your own emotions, beliefs, and patterns of relating to others. My approach is supportive, understanding, non-judgmental but also practical, honest and helpful in finding new solutions and ways to work through difficulties and problems.

I believe in each person’s capacity for growth and healing and that we are all shaped by our past experiences and intersectional identities. Many of us have learned tools and patterns to get through difficult experiences, however, those patterns may no longer serve us or create barriers to our current growth and relationships. Through a trusting relationship with a therapist, we can create a safe environment to identify and explore these patterns.

Seeking support can feel vulnerable – especially when the culture around us glorifies “self-made” success stories and aspires to a seemingly effortless, perfectly curated social media existence. The reality of course is that life is messy, and that we all benefit from support. We are impacted by world events, our environments, relationships, the histories of our people (our families, ancestors, communities), and our own unique collection of lived experiences. As a therapist I view my role as that of an ally, confidant, collaborator - and very occasionally a guide.

Want to feel more connected in your relationship? I focus on creating a safe and non-blaming space for partners to talk about things that feel difficult. Therapy may not be easy, but I’ll offer guidance and support to help you recognize and break patterns that keep couples “stuck” in a negative cycle. Together we'll explore how past experiences, temperament, values, and culture affect relationships. We’ll discuss tools to help calm intense emotions so that couples can communicate with intention and disagreements can be resolved more effectively.

You may be experiencing acute emotional pain due to an unexpected change in your life, or you may feel that the suffering has been there for a long time and coping on your own is no longer enough. You may find yourself feeling stuck, overwhelmed, disconnected, or lonely, repeating the same patterns without being able to find your way out. You may be wishing for deeper relationships, a more satisfying and creative job, or relief from inner turmoil. If you continue to feel insecure, anxious, or depressed, no matter what you try, therapy can help.

Early experiences result in our developing defensive structures that are meant to protect our vulnerability, but also create restrictions in our capacity to feel or perceive what is happening in the moment. This patterning shapes our perception of others, and also of ourselves. Although traditional insight-oriented talk therapy allows for an understanding which can harmonize our awareness with our everyday life, we embody early experience in ways that limit the power of insight to undo, and restrict our emotional intelligence. My orientation to psychotherapy is to work through emotional and experiential patterning, without bypassing the power of understanding.

My approach is friendly and collaborative; working with you to explore reactions, emotional patterns, and thought processes. I encourage honest exchange at your own pace while providing tangible techniques to take into your life. I incorporate mindfulness practices from my training as a yoga teacher. My professional background includes two decades of experience in the conflict resolution field with a focus on assisting individuals and teams who have workplace and academic concerns. I work with people from a variety of backgrounds including executives, university faculty, medical professionals, engineers, and people who work in tech and startups.

I greatly enjoy working with the process of self-discovery and meaning making. This involves a passion for helping those who feel stuck to identify and remove the barriers toward change so that they can live a more fulfilling life. I take a relational approach to psychotherapy in which I believe it is the therapeutic relationship that heals. Through an exploration of your life, I enjoy learning about the relationship you have with your struggles, the purpose to be had within them, and the agency you have in the process.

My approach balances compassion with being direct. My clients experience care, acceptance and belonging, while also feeling challenged the right amount to grow, change and decrease suffering. I offer empathy while actively engaging my clients by setting weekly treatment goals, building coping tools/resources, and providing skills/knowledge to build self-awareness and integration. We are deeply influenced by our cultural identity and heritage. I am committed to the values of respecting and celebrating diversity, and supporting social/political policies of equal rights and opportunities.

I am a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist working in the San Francisco Bay Area. I have broad professional experience as a mediator, conflict management consultant, educator, and trainer. I bring the skills I've acquired in these roles to my therapy work. We humans are adaptive beings. When we adopt behaviors and mindsets that do not serve us, we may feel stuck, fearful, or intensely unhappy. Thankfully, we can modify our thinking and behaviors to promote a life of growth, happiness and healthy relationships. I provide skilled support to help repair troubled relationships and re-route unproductive thinking and behavior patterns.