Therapists in Berkeley, CA

Self-acceptance can help you make lasting changes in your life. I offer insight, a sense of humor, and a safe and supportive place to experience yourself (and your partner) with more compassion and self understanding. Together we can explore issues of self-image, intimacy, work satisfaction, creativity, and spirituality. Couples are also welcome. My work as a psychotherapist incorporates certain guiding beliefs: 1) Our world view results from our childhood experiences; this world view greatly affects our current lifestyle, self-image and interaction with others; 2) Our ability to change largely depends on making this world view conscious, so

Entering psychotherapy is an important and courageous decision. I view therapy primarily as an opportunity for a human encounter, and believe that through the therapeutic work you can grow, heal and develop healthier and more adaptive ways to deal with ongoing and new challenges. Our work will be based on your unique needs and the difficulties you are facing. I have an empathic, collaborative and direct approach to therapy that will allow you to see improvements. I am dedicated to assisting you in overcoming difficulties in your life, and will work with you to identify goals you wish to achieve.

The question we struggle with is what's not working in my relationships, my work life, or myself? How does a person change so that you can get unstuck and pursue what is meaningful? These are the questions we'd explore and answer together. Through an appreciation of both conscious ideas and the pull of unconscious and historical forces, we would work to focus on what can be understood, what can be altered, and what must be accepted.

I work with individuals and couples who are trying to understand both their inner psychological issues and their responses to complex and stressful outer lives. I listen for the strengths each person has for meeting challenges, and listen also for the ways clients create losses for themselves. Within a warm, caring, reliable working relationship clients have the opportunity to more deeply value themselves and to grow interpersonally.

I have been licensed as an MFT working somatically, for over 25 years. I'm interested in what isn't working in your present life that brings you to therapy, what is unresolved from past relationships that you'd like to clear up, and what comes up in our relationship as we get to know one another. These facets help us create a complex experience which can transform old stuck patterns. Through the lens of my somatic training, clients can include their felt experiences in their bodies as an additional resource for exploring and understanding themselves. I also use a feminist and social justice orientation.

Hello! As a psychologist, I offer sessions for children, teens, and adults for variety of topics, including work stress, couple's issues, and depression. I hold a specialty in integrated health psychology, and have worked with individuals or families coping with mental or physical health issues. I also work with clients who are experiencing depression, anxiety, grief, life transitions, and provide gender-affirming care. I completed my MFT (Master's in family therapy) degree in 2013, and later completed my Doctorate Degree in Clinical Psychology (PsyD).

You want to feel secure in your identity, loved in your relationships, and engaged in your career. Together we will explore, imagine, and create the life you desire. You want to stop the nagging voice inside your head telling you “you’re not good enough” or “something is wrong with you” or “you don’t deserve love.” Maybe you have a good career, family and friends, but you still feel self-doubt, anxiety or emptiness. Moments of happiness are followed by dread that everything will fall apart and you will wind up alone and sad. I can help you feel present and secure in your relationships and life, instead of hiding and faking it.

Therapy is an opportunity to come home to yourself and expand your capacity for connection and vitality. My role is to be by your side as you examine parts of yourself that are difficult to face alone. I shine a warm light on experiences, emotions, and beliefs that have yet to be processed, and seek to expand upon sources of strength, expression, connection, and beauty. Whatever the areas of growth you bring to the therapeutic space, my priority is to hold an empathic, non-judgmental, inclusive space in which you feel safe and deeply seen.

I provide short-term therapy of 1 - 4 sessions. With compassion and humor I provide a safe place for adults to get help with personal situations such as relationship/work stress, break-ups, retirement, chronic/ life-threatening illness and disability, depression, anxiety, dementia, care-giving of people of all ages, and "coming out". Life transitions have a common thread - loss, grief, and opportunity. Even joyful experiences can be difficult. You may feel stuck, out-of-control or have worrisome regrets and anxiety. You may feel "at a loss", you can't just "shake it off", or feel "it's taking a toll" on you.

Clients seeking my services are looking for a safe and supportive space where they can bring their authentic whole self to explore and discuss issues centered on intersectional oppressions, identity exploration, trauma exploration, managing anxiety and stress, depression reduction, relational and attachment struggles, managing imposter syndrome, improving self-esteem and increasing communications skills. I specialize in work with adolescents (16 and up), adults and families. I am particularly interested in working with people of color and marginalized communities to destigmatize mental health and foster wellness

You really can have a life where you feel more connected, self assured, happier and at peace. You probably have been struggling for awhile and now you are ready to courageously face the difficulties that have kept you from living your best life. Your difficulties may stem from an unsatisfying relationship, unfulfilling job, history of trauma, or you may be worried about your child.

You are frustrated. You feel limited. You feel like there is something more, like parts of you are being and have been repressed. You are tired of limiting beliefs and social norms. You want more out of this life. Whether looking for support with day-to-day functioning, or going through career, familial, or other life transitions, there is time and space for you.

I once read a story about a man who would talk reassuringly to his cactus, letting it know that it was safe. The cactus learned that it no longer needed thorns. If you have had experiences that have closed off your openness to the world or your authentic self, you may have also grown thorns. Whether you have been touched by trauma, grief, loss, or simply an environment that does not understand you, I want to help you to find a way to live more fully. You have a place in the world. Let's try to find it together.

Overcoming issues can sometimes involve using strategies to change our thinking and behavior. We all have developed habits of thinking and behavior that are not serving our needs. Therapy can help by identifying these patterns, introducing strategies to reduce them, and increasing more helpful patterns.

My intention is to create a safe, compassionate space where I will listen, guide and support you to experience yourself more fully and to awaken more aliveness, creativity, and meaning in your life. Through awareness of body and mind states and habitual patterns of thinking and relating, we will work together to transform limiting beliefs that keep you from a more fulfilled experience of life. We will lay the groundwork to release the pain of old stories, and to create internal resources to allow you to experience an embodied life with more joy, aliveness and meaning.

I believe the therapeutic process is collaborative: You share your experience, I listen, respond, and together we find the way towards your goals and healing. Perhaps you have clear ideas about what you want to work on, or you might have a sense that life isn't going well, but you don't know why.  You may have experienced troubling events in the past or in the present; perhaps a family member, friend or boss has encouraged you to seek help.  I have more than 35 years of experience as a psychotherapist in the Bay Area. I welcome your call.

Working with individual adults and couples, I have 35 years experience supporting men and women who want to heal and grow. Stress, depression and anxiety often stem from relationship and workplace concerns. My couples counseling focuses on communication skills. To help heal childhood pain, I use varied modalities, including trauma work, EMDR , Adult Children (ACA) work, and parent/adult child conversations . Another specialty area is adults with addictions, family members with addicted loved ones, and codependency. I support the changes that come with each decade of life, along with retirement , aging and end-of-life issues.

My client’s issues range from anxiety, to depression, anger issues, difficulty communicating feelings, etc. I utilize behavioral therapy- Cognitive Behavioral therapy and I am certified in Trauma Focused Therapy.