Therapists in Oakland, CA

In session, I will provide you with a safe and supportive environment focused on your healing. I incorporate different techniques and approaches, based on your needs as well as my assessment of what can be of true help to you. I believe it is important that I hold the space for you to incorporate your own healing practices if that is what you desire.

Traditional talk therapy not enough? Are you interested to access more of your spiritual, mental, emotional and physical resources? Combining Western psychology with alternative/eastern wisdom, I can help you learn how to handle the enormous stresses life often entails in a compassionate, warm and body-centered way. My specialties include: relationship patterns, deep family patterns, shamanic counseling, reclaiming lost parts of yourself, attachment theory. Creative, engaging and efficient, this work will empower you to explore your mind freely. The more we know our own mind, the more we become the driver rather than the driven.

Are you feeling disconnected, frustrated or overwhelmed? Do you find it challenging to build close, intimate relationships? If you are looking to improve the quality of your most important relationships or to feel more skillful at building new relationships, I would look forward to working with you.

Hello! I have an eclectic array of modalities, including cognitive-behavioral, systems, narrative, and psychodynamic, but my primary goal is to work with you to meet your wants and needs. I have experience with individuals, couples, adolescents, families, and older adults.

I take a holistic, somatic and transpersonal/spiritual approach to therapy, looking deeply into the interplay between mind, body and spirit and working at the root level of our physical experience: the nervous system. I work collaboratively with clients to explore socio-cultural considerations, how we fit or don't fit in that context and our opportunities for growth. We'll sort through to find and examine unconscious patterns and get creative to generate alternatives that put you more in line with your goals and life purpose. If you don't know what those are, we'll figure that out too.

I believe that we all deserve a safe space to process our experiences, and my primary goal is to provide you that space. I offer safe and affirming couples and individual therapy for adults, teens and couples of all identities, with a specialty in working with LGBTQ+, Trans, and Non Binary communities. I work with clients who struggle with self-identity, self-worth, anxiety, codependency, relationships, and trauma. I pull from my training in gestalt, mindfulness, emotion-focused, IFS and attachment theory to create an environment that allows you to develop a greater understanding of what’s holding you back from the life you want.

We live in powerful times, filled with much opportunity and yet so much pressure to succeed that it can be difficult to navigate our personal challenges amidst the demands that come with it. We want to feel connected, whole, and in our purpose, but often feel separate, isolated, and fragmented instead. In order to heal, awareness, compassion and courage are needed to meet the painful spaces and shed light on our shadows, transforming them into opportunities for more presence, fulfillment and joy. I aim to empower the healer within you. As we heal, we serve ourselves and the world around us for the better.

I offer a space for you to find, voice, and consider your most honest feelings. Connecting to your true self can help with a wide variety of issues, including difficulty in relationships, conflicts with others, or simply the feeling that your life isn't going the direction you want. I will help you take a clear look at the issues, the feelings you're having, and how you want to respond. My style is straightforward, active, and warm, and I encourage our thinking creatively together about your situation. I will openly share my thoughts and ideas with you, and I will focus on making sure our collaboration is working for you.

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.

Do you feel stuck, hopeless, or alone? Is it difficult for you to get your needs met? Does it feel like you give more than you get? For over 20 years, I have had the opportunity to work alongside individuals, families, and couples in a variety of mental health settings targeting symptoms of anxiety, relationship challenges, life transitions and depression. We will take a look at what lies underneath your pain points as this kind of exploration can be a catalyst towards healing. Together, we will find practical tools that you can integrate immediately so that you can continue to thrive and live a life that feels in balance.

With twenty plus years of experience, I have had the pleasure of working with many clients from various cultural contexts. As a Latina, I am very familiar with the psycho social contexts and cultural considerations needed for culturally competent therapy. Since my practice is very close to U.C. Berkeley, I have also enjoyed working with many graduate and undergraduate students as well as adolescents in both school and private practice settings.

I am a psychotherapist in private practice in the East Bay since 1996. I offer a non-judgmental therapeutic relationship where individuals, couples or families can find self acceptance, safety, access insight and intuition, and cultivate an attitude of kindness toward the self and others. Recovery from trauma, working on communication and relationships, overcoming addiction, spiritual self-development and healing, and coping with depression/stress from major life transitions are common themes. I have taught and supervised therapists in training at various local agencies. I also have a background in holistic and shamanic healing.

Life can be hard. Sometimes we feel stuck. It may be that recent events, difficult feelings or relationship challenges are making it clear that some things are not working. It could be that stress, worry or confusion have felt overwhelming and lead to unhelpful patterns with yourself and the others you care most about. Within the frameworks of relational psychodynamic and somatic psychotherapy I offer a warm, supportive presence so you can explore whats difficult, hone your strengths and become more fully yourself.

Are you interested in growing and looking at your patterns and the wisdom behind them? Are you struggling with anxiety or depression in a relationship or with the anxiety of not being in a relationship? Are you willing to risk making changes in your life? Together we will understand the intelligence behind your patterns and help you shift into more conscious life choices. I am active, direct and passionate about supporting you as you mature into a healthier, happier and more fulfilled you.

With over 35 years of experience as an individual and family therapist in many types of settings, I view therapy as a co-created, compassionate and courageous journey into the discovery of the self. I work with individuals and couples, and particularly enjoy helping people find their true passion, gifts and sense of self. I also work with individuals who are in life transition, struggling with depression, anxiety, work stress, spiritual crisis, relationship issues, parenting issues, or any issue that is interfering with living life fully.

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 therapist for over thirty years, the focus of my work is helping people to create and sustain healthy relationships, and to learn how to thrive in their lives. I listen carefully to the nuances of what you say and don't say, and help you to become more aware of your unconscious beliefs and the energy that you hold in your body that may be an obstacle to your creating the life and relationships that you yearn for. Together, we take the journey of understanding and resolving what is in your way, so that you can discover new pathways to live your life with more joy, ease and connection.

I provide a safe place to address what's not working for you in your life. We will explore your life journey while bringing issues to light, encourage better life choices to be made in the present. I've worked with a spectrum of issues that leads someone to seek psychotherapy. We will recognize how you came to behaviors that may impact your ability to function and discover what will work better for you to live more comfortably. By creating a healing relationship within therapy we can work together to shed light on issues, developing your motivation to make adjustments.

The most important journey you may make in your life is the journey of building an honest and compassionate relationship with yourself. From shame, pride, trauma, and introjected "shoulds" there are so many reasons that we often operate from a partial and compassionless understanding of ourselves. These blind spots can cause us anxiety, depression, addictions and a multitude of other symptoms that we mistake to be "who we are". I have faith in the human condition and the ability our heal into our own fullness. Therapy is the place to make this journey.