Psychoanalytic Therapists in Berkeley, CA

I offer both short-term and long-term therapy with adults, young adults, and seniors. I have a good deal of experience with grief and loss, depression and anxiety, struggles unique to students (across a variety of ages), and issues particular to the creative process. I welcome individuals who desire adaptability in a therapist, deep empathy, and a collaborative attitude about what works.

You're considering therapy. It is often a complicated and difficult decision but sometimes we just know that it's time to try something new. I believe taking the courageous step to begin therapy helps individuals and families address challenges that keep us from our full potential. Whether you are suffering from anxiety or depression, relationship issues or isolation, financial preoccupations, or a desire for a new career, you know it is time to work to make things better. I am a psychologist providing flexible, relational therapy to help you to address a range of issues. My style is warm, compassionate, and down-to-earth.

Life will present us now and then with the unexpected.  This clearly is a time of major change for all of us. Not all of this is new nor is it novel. Even in the most normal of times we often do experience unwelcome events, the loss of a loved one, disability, addiction, economic insecurity, loneliness. To live is perhaps also to suffer. But we need not suffer alone. You will find me to be a compassionate, capable psychotherapist. Working together, I can help you to live a happier, more contented and fulfilling life. So then, where are you now? Where would you like to go from here? Would you like to create a new narrative? 

A licensed clinical psychologist, I provide psychodynamic psychotherapy to individuals and couples throughout California. I offer compassion, patience, and safety as we endeavor to better understand what has brought you to therapy, and how to move through to something new. My work is trauma-informed and grounded in principles of empowerment.

Sometimes life poses challenges or does not work out the way we hoped. At some point, everyone needs help during difficult times. Therapy can provide a safe and supportive space to foster growth, healing, and self-compassion. I love working with people of all ages. I am deeply committed to meeting you and/or your child wherever you/they are so that over time you can find more ease and clarity in your daily and inner life.

I have worked as a Licensed Therapist for the past 23 years providing trauma informed, culturally sensitive care to disadvantaged individuals and families in the Bay Area. Many of whom had experienced extreme trauma and loss. I have worked extensively with individuals who have suffered abuse and neglect. As well as numerous adoptive children and parents around attachment issues. I have earned the distinction of expert witness in California courts. I have the experience to accurately diagnose and treat you or your child. These are difficult times, but remember you don't need to do this alone; support is here for you and your family.

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.

I often work with patients to examine longstanding difficulties, both with others and within their own selves. Such patterns often leave people feeling misunderstood, empty, lost, unheard, unseen, taken advantage of, stuck, angry, or resentful. Feeling this way can leave you feeling disconnected from and distrusting of others; even those who you love and want to feel close to. Many times, these pieces can be extremely difficult and even can feel impossible to share. And that's okay. We will work together to address what feels important to you and at your pace.

Everyone comes to psychotherapy with unique needs, difficulties, and strengths. My focus is working with men and women experiencing traumatic stress, depression, chronic or terminal illness, and relationship problems, as well as adults who have had near-death experiences (NDE), and other exceptional experiences. My approach is holistic. Together with clients I work to ease distress, build on strengths already present, gain insights, and cultivate relating to yourself and other people in life-enhancing ways.

While your relational style helped you to navigate your childhood, you, like many people, may feel frustrated by painful life-long patterns of relating (to yourself and others) which seem to repeat. I empathize with this frustration and work with you to more deeply understand yourself so that you can enact real and lasting change. My extensive psychodynamic and Jungian training support this type of work.

Are you feeling stuck or overwhelmed in your life? Lost your sense of self and confidence? Confused by how to set boundaries and build healthy relationships? I am here for you! I can help you understand what is happening in your life and how you can heal, grow, and transform to be living the life you want. I have a trauma-informed, integrative style based on mindfulness, somatic psychology, ecotherapy, expressive arts, humanistic and transpersonal psychology, neuroscience, spirituality, and my background in holistic health, nutrition, massage, and fitness. I have a gentle yet directive, relational style.

Welcome, I work primarily with clients that are within the LGBTQIA+ and Kink/BDSM communities. I also am body positive, sex positive, poly positive, geek/nerd positive, and trauma informed. I feel that the therapy space should feel safe and build on your strengths. If you’re here, you’re probably struggling with a significant burden in your life. Whether it’s anxiety, depression, trauma, or even difficulties with relationships, I want you to know that researching your future therapist is a great first step. In fact, having a good relationship with them has been known to be a major factor in achieving progress in your therapy.

It is my belief that everyone navigates his or her way through their family of origin and early environment by developing strategies and coping techniques, essentially doing the best one can in the circumstances. Later, these ways of handling relationships and stressors can become limiting. Members of couples and families can also develop entrenched ways of relating that become partially based on assumptions. Frustration, anxiety, disappointment and resentment can result. Psychotherapy enables you to understand the evolution of these patterns and develop more choices in how you respond and relate to others.

Would you like to know yourself better and more deeply? To be able to move beyond painful and frustrating patterns in your feelings, relationships, and work? Sometimes it's clear why we feel and act how we do: ecstatic about a new romance, upset about a professional disappointment, awash with grief following the loss of a loved one. Other times feelings and behaviors may surprise you—a nagging anxiety, a lingering sadness, memories of past experiences that you thought you'd left behind, a sense that your relationship with a partner could be deeper, that work could be more fulfilling even as you have success along the way.

Psychotherapy can be a truly life changing process. It works to gradually loosen stuck patterns in one's life, leaving more room for vitality and creativity. You may be trying to heal from past wounds, experiencing anxiety, loneliness, depression, or relationship difficulties. Or perhaps you feel relatively stable but have a sense that something deeper is missing.

While we can't change painful experiences from the past, we can come to terms with them in order to better understand and resolve present challenges. We can work collaboratively to explore and change longstanding behavior patterns or negative perceptions that may be barriers to experiencing a more fulfilling, meaningful life. Whether you're looking for extra support and guidance through a challenging situation, hoping to resolve painful issues from the past, or you're ready to move in a new direction in your life, I look forward to working with you to help you define and achieve your goals.

Are you thinking about breaking a pattern that no longer serves you? Often feel like an outsider? Wanting to understand threads between past, present experiences, and possibilities ahead? Utilizing a variety of approaches, I can offer perspective and help you feel understood in order to create change in your life. I provide an affirming space for a lot of people who have had previously unsatisfactory experiences in therapy including LGBTQIA folks. I have extensive training beyond just getting licensed to practice therapy. Working with a clinically astute, sincere therapist can be life-changing.

I lived in New York City for many years as a performing artist and body worker. My background as an actor and performer gives me a certain knack for working with those who have a creative bent. I have personal experience with the longings that come with artistic striving, but the reality is that my clients have a wide variety of careers, interests, and life stressors. I work with depression, anxiety, complex trauma, PTSD and more.

I am the therapist for the working professional and their families. I am available to accept new clients. I provide Problem Solving Strategic Therapy and Solution-Focused Therapy, Somatic Psychotherapy, Career and work related Coaching and Leadership Development. I work with high functioning adults and adolescents, individuals and families; with students on performance and anxiety issues; with couples to improve communication and emotional connection/intimacy. Trying to conceive, Pregnancy, Postpartum and Parenting. I work in California for therapy; globally for coaching.