Chronic Pain Therapists in Berkeley, CA

Connecting with your inner compass does not have to be an abstract concept. When you've survived difficult circumstances - learning trust your body's messages is challenging - but also how you can cultivate clarity in relationships, jobs, and everyday decisions. Somatic therapy offers the opportunity to bring awareness and compassion to your nervous system's response to your environment and integrate a greater sense of safety. From this place, your own wisdom becomes easier to hear and follow.

Hello, I'm a psychologist with more than 20 years experience working with adults and teens. If you are suddenly depressed or anxious because of a crisis, or change in your life, I can work with you to find balance and wellness. If you have been unhappy for some time and need some help to figure out the next best step in your life, then I will be happy to listen and work with you. Whether your problems are in college, grad school, a job, a marriage, family issues, or your past, I will help you find solutions.

I have a particular expertise in working with clients who have diverse cultural backgrounds (e.g. ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation.) I also have a deep association working with artistic/creative type individuals and can address particular issues that arise being an artist confined to a conventional/mainstream worldview.

Are you feeling stuck, blocked, or living less fully than you would like? Maybe you would like to feel more embodied, alive, and confident. Whether it is fear, trauma, or stories we tell about ourselves and others, there are many obstacles that prevent us from thriving. I am here to support you on your journey toward wholeness.

I believe people are inherently oriented to heal and grow. Sometimes on the healing journey we need support to navigate difficult transitions, especially if old traumas are clouding our current vision. My role as a psychologist is to accompany you on your personal path. I welcome people with all types of concerns. I am especially experienced in treating people struggling with trauma, eating and body image issues, depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, life transitions, relationship and parenting issues.

The combination of strong anxiety and strong intellect poses special challenges for those caught in the crosshairs. I help individuals with active, analytical minds to work through anxiety-related problems such as panic, worry, avoidance, and compulsive thoughts or habits. My approach is warm, practical, and evidence-based, grounded in both mindfulness and Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT).

Do you find yourself getting stuck in old thoughts and feelings that create challenges in your relationships or career? Would you to feel present, clear and peaceful? It takes courage to go to therapy and work on issues that challenge you. Rather than giving you advice, we would look at how you're putting your experiences together, and how those create repeating patterns in your life; this is with the hope of getting enough information, willingness, and inspiration to try out new options and develop new patterns that are in greater alignment with your authentic self.

I am drawn to support clients heal the anxiety, guilt and shame from trauma. This may include trauma related to abuse, bullying, accidents, harassment, religious impositions, discrimination, and more. My clients often want to feel less anxiety, better manage their triggers, enjoy sexual intercourse with their partner(s), and redefine themselves from the trauma they experienced. Grounding techniques, challenging learned beliefs, asserting needs, and living more for self, are common themes in my practice and essential for post-traumatic growth. Integrating identities (e.g. race, ethnicity, sexuality, etc.) is common in my practice.

Therapy with me involves working with the body as much as the mind. This can be challenging for some, but leads to long-term resolution and healing in a more complete, organic nature. Through Somatic Experiencing (SE), I have been trained to work with various forms of trauma (developmental, event specific, chronic/long-term) and the way in which our survival energy becomes trapped in our bodies. We embody our lived experience.

As a long-time practitioner, my way of working has evolved from a more traditional dynamic approach to a deep interest in the bridge between mind/body spiritual traditions and contemporary psychology. I have much varied experience working with both men and women who struggle with the challenges of loneliness and living a conscious, fulfilling and spontaneous life. If you are feeling stressed, or if anxiety or depression have you wrestling with problems that never seem to resolve, perhaps it's time to turn for help to a compassionate and engaged therapist.

Is acceptance even worth it if it means showing up inauthentically? How would your life change if you didn’t abandon parts of yourself to find belonging? As a queer & trans affirming, kink aware, and trauma-informed therapist I'll invite you to explore the depths of your inner world. I’ll sit with you and be a witness to your story, no matter how beautiful or horrifying. I want to hear what’s taboo, subversive and usually unspoken. I believe once you confront the fear that's holding you back you can finally figure out how to make the most of this wild and precious life.

I welcome couples, co-parents, families & individuals with care, acceptance and curiosity about your inner world & relationships. My aim is for all your parts to feel safe, valued and heard. While somatic psychotherapy is central to our work, when in alignment and given my social work and yogic awareness, I will also at times be directive and solution oriented to actively promote your inspired transformation and life. Collaborative & consistent relationships heal trauma, decrease emotional reactivity and increase creativity, flexibility & playfulness. This is a journey we take together as we co-create a healing relationship.

I work with individuals struggling with issues of self-worth, either shame or grandiosity; couples needing help to restore their communication, dealing with codependency and navigating non monogamous life; and I specialize in working with men seeking to develop a healthier relationship to their masculinity. I am offering you supportive, non judgmental yet direct and clear feedback on what you are thinking and doing that keeps you from moving forward. Changing the way we engage with our thoughts and feelings requires self-awareness, education, and support. You don't have to do this alone!

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

Therapy is a collaborative process that can help us move through painful situations and challenging transitions, finding meaning even in darker places. As the poet May Sarton wrote, 'without darkness/nothing comes to birth/As without light/nothing flowers.' Constructing a safe and supportive container for healing allows us to explore patterns in a different light. In this renewed relational field, development and choices take root. Grounded in Somatics, an approach that builds awareness of links between mind and body, I am influenced by Jungian analytic psychology, psychodynamic, cognitive/behavioral, and family systems frameworks.

Sucks to live with thoughts, feelings and beliefs that aren’t welcoming, hopeful or kind, doesn’t it? When that inner stream is clouded with shame, negativity or apathy, therapy can be a filter to clear out the toxins and make way for the new - the braver, the steadier, the integrated; the you that has the room and gumption to flourish. Getting acquainted with your badass, authentic self deserves your full attention, intention and compassion.

I believe that fulfilling relationships are the central component of growth and healing. In couples therapy whether you are struggling with sexual issues or problems with money, mess, time, work or children, I will focus on helping you develop a closer connection and greater security which will enable you to more effectively address your concerns. In individual therapy, I will work to develop an authentic, attuned therapy relationship with you through which we can understand and develop your capacity in your relational world with partner, children, parents, work, creative and spiritual quests on a path of growth and healing.

I hold a belief that every individual I come across holds within him/herself the power to heal. My role is to help those individuals access their power when they feel they have none. I specialize in the treatment of trauma and anxiety disorders and I am passionate about bringing a sense of hope and empowerment to the individuals I serve. My hope is that individuals will learn to embrace their power, learn to be at ease in their own skin and find loving and fulfilling connection to others; bringing them closer to their personal healing and, ultimately, to the life they dream of living.

Note: I am only accepting couples at this time. The clients I work with often seek to address the root of their challenges, rather than quiet the symptoms. Through somatic and ketamine-assisted psychotherapy I support clients in getting to that root, and building a firm foundation for wellbeing. If you are coming to therapy as a couple, I will support you in paying attention to the nonverbal behaviors that may be contributing to painful dynamics of disconnection. I will also invite you to take practices you find helpful from our sessions into your daily life.