Trauma and PTSD Therapists in Kentfield, CA

Welcome to my practice. Trained at the The Wright Institute in Berkeley, my approach emphasizes compassion, collaboration, and evidence-based treatment. Good psychotherapy encourages perspective on life's challenges, and can open up new possibilities.

I start with where you are. My approach is pragmatic, dynamic, and solution oriented based on client-centered goals. I truly enjoy working with elementary age children, older teens/young adults and older adults.

I am a licensed clinical psychologist who helps people address a range of concerns, including: self-esteem issues, unsatisfying relationships, work stress, self-destructive behaviors, trauma , and grief/loss. I have a special interest in working with individuals who are going through significant life transitions such as launching a career after college, reentering the workforce, navigating new relationships, and transition to parenthood.

Whether your decision to make changes involves freedom from painful limiting beliefs, release from repetitive relationship patterns, or transformation through sincere self-examination, I help people to fully realize the person they are destined to become. I work with adults, couples, teens, and families, helping them to successfully attain short-term goals and craft long-range solutions by utilizing a variety of approaches matched to their specific needs or expressed desires as they learn new ways to address life's challenges. As a level 3 Gottman couples therapist, I work with couples utilizing John Gottman's evidence-based theory.

Personal issues often show up in relationships where we get caught in freeze, fight, or flight reactions. Friendships, colleagues, family, and intimate partners are our best mirrors leading to effective personal work in therapy. My experiential three-fold model of problem solving integrates mind, body, and emotions. We begin with the description of a problem or struggle, identify associated emotions, and locate the way the issue is held somatically. This may develop into a visual or symbolic representation with which one can dialogue, apply insight, antidote and release, or reveal deeper targets that need to be reprocessed.

Have you ever taken the risk of opening up to someone and they just get it? Those moments can be so rare, but when it happens, it feels so right. This experience is how I approach therapy. My goal is for you to feel seen, understood, and heard - to have a genuine connection with someone who gets it. I practice with a compassionate and direct approach, always with the intention of bringing you back to your authentic self. We will have to wade through the murky waters of pain and trauma , but once the mud settles and we can see, we are left with the beautiful blue waters of who you really are.

Therapy provides an opportunity to better understand ourselves and our experiences. You may be feeling stuck in old patterns, ready for a change, but unsure where to start. You may be struggling with new symptoms after a recent life transition or traumatic event. You may just need a space to be yourself and be heard. As a therapist I am direct, compassionate, and practical. My goal is to help clients gain a sense of balance and fulfillment in their lives. I work collaboratively with clients to explore areas of change, gain insight into patterns, develop practical strategies, and improve relationships with self and others.

Welcome! Are you looking for support for yourself or someone you care about? I'm hoping to help. I find it particularly rewarding to work with people during transitions in their lives such as a career change/s, reconstructing life after a divorce, high school to college transition, newly married, grief support, new parents, or empty nesters, just to name a few. I value the process of helping my clients prioritize themselves and their needs as they navigate difficult and often inspiring times in life. Developing coping skills and self compassion will lead you to make decisions in your life that support your sense of wellbeing.

People come to therapy for all sorts of reasons: Relief from sadness or anxiety, to break patterns that cause pain, to get clarity when you just don't know why life feels like an uphill battle or to simply get an "emotional tune-up." With compassion, emotional safety, and a clear, candid therapeutic style, I help people work through life's challenges using effective, evidence-based treatments that target the underlying causes for painful feelings. I believe healing happens holistically; Mind-Body-Spirit are aligned when people feel "right" within themselves.

My aim is to help you connect with your authentic self, to facilitate the natural expression of peace and happiness, and to honor your deepest nature. Together we will bring gentle attention to the mind, body, and spirit, and in so doing, begin to unwind old beliefs and patterns that no longer serve your highest good. I integrate somatic awareness, self-inquiry, imagination, mindfulness, EMDR, Internal Family Systems theory, and attention to the therapeutic relationship, with the goal of helping you move towards greater happiness and well being.

Somatic Experiencing (SE) takes healing to a deeper level. Combined with 'top-down' approaches, SE helps identify strengths and intentions beneath painful survival patterns. Shame, fear and anger transform into vital life energy. Surviving becomes thriving. As a private practice psychotherapist based in SF & Marin, I primarily work with adults, but also love to assist children in the healing process.

There are times when we can feel overwhelmed in our life and our usual coping skills are not enough. We may be struggling in our relationships, work, with addictive behaviors or just a general sense of unhappiness or anxiety. Individual or couples therapy can help. I have a warm, collaborative and interactive approach to help you uncover the roots of the issue and help you heal and change the patterns that are blocking you from feeling a sense of connection and joy in your life, work and relationships.

Specializing in women's mental health across the lifespan, with a focus on the reproductive years, relationships, and trauma . Focus areas include infertility & loss; single women childless not by choice; LGBT family building; pregnancy & postpartum. I also work with clients who are experiencing depression, anxiety and healing from trauma . While I specialize in women's mental health, I welcome clients who identify throughout the gender identity spectrum.

I provide compassionate and caring evidence based treatment using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). I treat problems including generalized anxiety disorder, depression, panic, PTSD and OCD, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia. I work primarily with adults, older adults, adolescents (ages 16+) and their families. Cognitive therapy is active, directive, and structured- each session focuses on a specific set of problems. I am especially interested in helping young adults who are experiencing more complex and serious mental illnesses (such as bipolar disorder, psychotic disorders) and their families.

We all want to be happy, or at least free from emotional pain. If you're here, something in your life is causing emotional discomfort--and some part of you senses an invitation to explore your inner and relational worlds with understanding and compassion. I help adults and adolescents deal with obstacles to their preferred lives--unwanted symptoms, relationship challenges, difficulty adjusting to change and loss. My goal is to reinforce your strengths, while co-discovering with you new solutions to the issues blocking growth. I offer a creative and practical style, drawing on approaches specifically tailored to your needs.

I believe that feeling safe is the most necessary factor for us to create change in our lives. Each of us deserves to feel valued for who we are. Often our life experiences, beginning in childhood, have convinced us we are undeserving of happiness and good things. How can we create the life we long for if we don't believe we deserve it? Sometimes it is necessary to unlearn some of the distorted messages that came out of childhood. I can help you uncover what is in your way and help you to heal.

I provide culturally sensitive, empirically validated psychotherapy services to individuals, couples and families, ranging from adolescents to seniors. I am committed to the therapeutic process as a collaborative journey and consider it a great privilege to be entrusted with my clients' most deeply-held thoughts and feelings. I am actively engaged with those who are grappling with issues of anxiety, depression, bereavement, relationship problems, life transitions, trauma , interpersonal difficulties and creative blocks, addressing my client's concerns in a humanistic and holistic manner that transcends preoccupation with pathology to work toward a life of deep meaning, creativity and interpersonal fulfillment.