Attachment-based Therapists in Berkeley, CA

Do you feel like you’ve lost sight of who you are or what is important to you? Are you going through a transition and feel unsure about this new stage of life? Maybe you are using coping mechanisms that once helped you feel better, but now find they no longer work. When faced with life's changes, it’s easy to feel stuck and unable to take action. Therapy allows you to focus on your own growth, to develop insight about yourself, and to change behaviors that no longer serve you.

Perhaps you have felt you do not fit in somehow in your family, your community, or the larger world. Perhaps you have been navigating multiple cultural identities inside. Perhaps you have felt like your spirit is tender and the struggles of your life are too much to bare. Perhaps you have felt that other people have figured it out and you have been comparing your insides to other people's outsides. And you have felt alone, maybe scared, and confused. And now you want someone to help you be with it all. Now you want a compassionate heart and a steady presence to navigate these emotional terrains.

Stepping into therapy isn't easy. Being highly visible to another human takes courage, so I commend you for reaching out for support! I want to be a reparative, healing presence in your life and to empower you to have the life you deserve. I work with adolescents, adults and couples. Both individual, and couples, work encompasses gaining insight about early childhood attachment, and also identifying, and shifting, problematic ways of coping and communicating. My style is relational, warm and I am trauma informed. I see clients both in person, and virtually, and have flexible appointment times (Day, Evening and Weekend).

I curate therapeutic experiences that support women and couples to achieve lifestyle, intimacy/relationship, career, wellbeing, and general life goals. I thoroughly enjoy and am adept at working with people with diverse identities and from diverse backgrounds. I tailor my therapeutic approach to the unique needs of clients.I am always jazzed to support clients to experience enhanced personal wisdom, develop a deepened experience of being grounded and alive, cultivate enhanced intimacy, create alignment with desires and behavior, and develop greater alignment of mind, body, and soul. Please contact me for information on session fees.

Welcome. Are you feeling stuck or confused? Experiencing a major change or loss in your life? Wondering how you ended up in the same uncomfortable situation again or wishing you could just a handle things a little differently this time? Struggling with the uncertainty of life? Maybe you have been feeling out of sorts or unmotivated and can't figure out why. When these feelings and situations arise, therapy can help. I believe, that while it takes courage to ask for help sometimes help is exactly what we need to feel better, improve our relationships, gain clarity and experience more ease in life.

Dr. Will Barone is a licensed clinical psychologist with extensive clinical and research experience focusing on anxiety, trauma, mood disorders, relationship issues, and addiction. He uses a Humanistic approach to therapy, which emphasizes warmth, authenticity, and appreciation for the uniqueness of every individual. His collaborative, integrative approach focuses on helping clients find an individualized course of treatment and using evidence-based tools to best meet their goals.

I provide individual, couples and child psychotherapy. Trauma, anxiety, depression, self criticism, neurodivergence, relational difficulties are just some of the challenges I offer support. I work at your pace to create long lasting change for a more meaningful and embodied life. I also work with couples, helping in recognizing repeating disruptive emotional and behavioral patterns, substituting defensiveness for clear, honest and vulnerable communication, and strengthening openness and intimacy. I offer Ketamine-Assisted Therapy and integration of spiritual/shamanic experiences.

I have been licensed as an MFT working somatically, for over 30 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.

In our work together, your whole self is welcome. This may include feelings and experiences that are hard to talk about. I offer warmth, spaciousness, and sensitive listening as we approach your hardships. I support individuals who may have experienced challenging familial relationships, and have complex feelings about "home." I specialize in trauma work for adults, children and adolescents. Our work together can facilitate transformation and create new possibilities. It would be an honor to support you.

Sometimes life brings us challenges that are difficult to negotiate on our own. My clinical approach can help you find new ways of experiencing yourself and approaching life's challenges. I have over 25 years of clinical experience working with individuals and couples. My approach is gentle and effective and includes psychodynamic, somatic, cognitive-behavioral and mindfulness therapy practices. I am a trauma-informed therapist with specialized training in attachment trauma, complex trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as well as anxiety and stress reduction.

Therapy is a private space for you to get help with issues that have become overwhelming to you, out of your control, or urgent in some way. Sessions are designed to help you clarify the nature of the problem, identify clear goals, and set a course for recovery/healing. Talking together in ways which nurture curiosity and compassion, we will look at what troubles you, what brings you hope. We will be attentive to the past, but our focus will be on how the past's legacy is impacting your life now. Our work will be relieving of past pains/traumas and will bring more calm and ease, a greater sense of connectedness in present time.

I support clients to find, expand, and honor their voice in difficult circumstances. I work to assist clients who have been hurt and traumatized reclaim their feelings of safety and vitality. Whether you are ambivalent in a relationship, in pain due to trauma or hurt, struggling with a dilemma, unhappy about your own behavior, facing significant loss, or feeling stuck, together we can create a comfortable place for you to work.

I feel the theraputic experience is a rich and exciting way for someone to reach their full potential. We all have feelings at times that "something is missing". These are real feelings and will be explored through our relationship. I believe everyone is unique. I don't have a "cookie cutter" approach to treating people. We will get to know each other and deal with the issues together. I work from a psychodynamic viewpoint.I feel everything that you have gone through as a child, young adult, and adult is connected. Our job will be to put the puzzle together.

Please Note: My practice is centered on healing from childhood wounds and trauma: Childhood abuse and neglect -Exposure to violence -Absent caretakers -Bullying and peer related harm, and other adverse childhood experiences. As an adult daughter of an alcoholic mother, I hold a deep passion and connection with child survivors who have made the vulnerable choice to heal. My clients and beloved ones would describe me as a “soft place to land”. I believe my own childhood experiences, and healing, has influenced that.

Usually, a person is compelled to seek-out a therapist because of desperation: Desperation to extricate her/himself from depression, anxiety and or behaviors that contribute to conflict, or loneliness. Sometimes a person wants to be more successful in relationships or at work, A couple seeks-out a therapist because their frequent bickering has led to frustration, isolation and loneliness, and they don't know how get out of it. You may feel that your partner no longer values you. You need to be heard, valued and supported-to regain the closeness and understanding you once had.

Would you like to feel more confident and accepting of yourself and others rather than anxious, unsure, and disconnected? With a warm and relational approach, I offer deep presence and compassionate, authentic support through difficult and painful challenges. I view our work together as a sacred collaboration in bringing forth what your soul most wants for you. I welcome people from all cultural backgrounds and stages of life from late adolescence to elderhood. I love to support people in clarifying their unique identity, connecting more deeply with themselves and others, and living from their own truth to a more fulfilling life.

As I have supported youth, adults, and families as a therapist since 2007, I have found the importance of providing compassionate services to support the healing process to those seeking it. I have experience and extensive training in the area of Trauma Recovery (including working with survivors of child abuse, domestic violence, human trafficking, oppression, gang involvement, and community violence). I have also provided services in supporting individuals with improving upon their self-esteem and interpersonal relationships.

You don’t have to look like someone with an eating disorder (ED) to have one. Eating disorders not only affect: young, white, cisgender, middle-upper class women; it affects all races, genders, and socioeconomic backgrounds. As a QTPOC, you have likely been discouraged by stereotypes, lack of access to treatment, and lack of support within the ED community. If you are ready to change, but unsure how. If you feel alone, or doubt your capacity to change. You are NOT alone. I know how difficult the first step can seem. Know you are not walking this path alone. We will walk together on your journey to true transformation.

You made the first step! You have listened to that already wise part of you that knows now is a good time to reach out and be supported in a way that is tailored just for you. Are you finding yourself struggling for emotional wellbeing or balance, are you noticing that you are reacting in ways that aren’t working for you, in life, in relationships, even in the choices you are making? Are you finding yourself wrestling with anxiety, and feeling paralyzed in fear? Are you feeling as if there is no safe corner in your life where you can take in a breath and stop the daily push to produce?