Therapists in Oakland, CA

Although most people are depressed or angry at times, they generally find a way to deal with the situation. There are times, however, when a person loses hope or is overwhelmed. They or others decide they might use some help. Sometimes a woman or a man decides that they would like to adjust their life style and emphasize their sense of self. If you work in Silicon Valley, I can use my experience in industry to help you unblock your potential and design effective strategies for greater satisfaction. If you seek spiritual depth, my years as a guide may help unfold meaning.

We are Bay Area Gestalt Institute (BAGI), a non-profit collective of highly trained marriage and family therapists and associates, providing affordable psychotherapy throughout the Bay Area. We offer counseling to individuals, couples, families, and children. Our work is active, creative and holistic. Our therapists work with a variety of issues including: * Relationship Issues * Anxiety * Depression * LGBTQI Concerns * Trauma * Substance Use / Abuse * Eating Disorders * Spiritual * Personal Growth * Integration of Non-Ordinary States

Are you anxious, depressed and tired? Are you feeling emotional for no reason? Feeling disoriented and lonely? Questioning everything in your life? I help people to deeply listen inside and let their choices be based on what is true for them. While pain and emotions are part of being human, suffering can be minimized by allowing what is inside of us to be expressed and find acceptance in our experiences. I support you to move through trauma, anxiety, anger and depression to empowerment. Stress-management is part of the work and looking at communication with ourselves and others to have fulfilling relationships.

Feeling restless or easily distracted? Lacking energy, motivation, focus, or direction in life? Spinning your wheels in your career or relationships? Prone to pleasing others at all costs, yet feeling unhappy and misunderstood? Always too busy to stop and smell the flowers? I'd like to help you become more empowered, confident, and satisfied through facing and letting go of your fears, irritating beliefs, guilt, and suffering, so you can learn to communicate more effectively and have healthy relationships. For more than twenty-five years I have provided time-limited and in-depth psychotherapy to individuals, couples and groups.

Over 15+ years, working with diverse and high risk populations to help overcome challenges arising from (severe) mental illness, co-occurring disorders, domestic violence, and trauma. Extensive training and experience in working with individuals in crisis and teaching others about Suicide Prevention. In addition to conducting crisis-related risk assessments and crisis-related interventions, I utilize other therapeutic approaches, CBT, D-CBT, and Solution-Focused treatment modalities. Providing individual therapy, adults and adolescents, Family/Couples therapy, group therapy.

I am a licensed clinical psychotherapist providing individual and group therapy in English, and Persian/Farsi. My clinical areas of interest and areas of expertise include codependency, trauma and complex trauma, substance use, narcissistic abuse, mood & anxiety disorders.

What I bring to my work in over 25 years of working with people is clarity, competence, personal warmth and an ability to draw from a wide range of effective approaches. I have had particular success with couples, teenage girls and individuals in recovery. My approach is both personable and effective.

Therapy is a unique and highly vulnerable environment that can be intimidating to navigate. I believe in the power and importance of first establishing a safe space for each client to create a solid foundation. I utilize a trauma-informed approach and empower clients to be the expert of their own experiences. My role is to provide the tools and support needed to reach collaboratively set goals. I am committed to guiding each client to a space in which they can thrive in their lives.

Since 1992, I have counseled families, adults and children. I am an EMDR Institute consultant and facilitator, and use EMDR therapy's adaptive information processing to help clients master the challenges encountered in their lives. I received my PhD in international psychology with trauma focus. My specialties include Trauma, Acculturation and Attachment Disorders in clients of all ages. My immigration experience from Germany has prompted the exploration of the crucial part played by our cultural roots in our decision making process and in our lifestyle choices. I speak English, Spanish and German.

My ideal client is someone who wants solutions to current life issues, but also to explore and let go of limiting beliefs and patterns. Many of them deal with depression, anxiety, stress, trauma, relationship issues, and blocked creativity. Uncovering and releasing unresolved emotions opens up space for lasting change. My Mind/Body approach integrates relational talk therapy, somatics, and expressive arts. Through these processes of self-discovery and healing, clients may feel more empowered and connected with their innate vitality and creativity.

Clients who benefit most from my practices struggle with anxiety, depression, panic, somatic symptoms, feeling overwhelmed, not knowing who they are or what they want, feeling isolated, passionless, existentially challenged, lack of motivation, difficulty with boundaries, trauma, problems in relationships or at work, or who have a hard time sticking to a plan. It can be hard to identify exactly why a person feels like they need therapy, but getting started and showing up is the hardest part!

Relationships are our speciality - We work with couples, families, and individuals on attachment issues, relationships, connection, and emotional safety. We are 'Emotionally Focused Couples Therapists' (ICEEFT) as well as sex-informed therapists. Our approach involves turning around patterns that feel out of control and repetitive while increasing bonding and closeness. We also work with individuals on connecting with others in a positive way while understanding and changing patterns that are hard to shift.

We believe that the value of your health goes beyond just your physical health. Emotional, psychological and social health are important in creating overall health and well being. It is our goal at Honeycomb Group to help you become the person, couple or family you want to be, and uncover your full potential.

Never have life challenges been as great as now for you and your future. For we must improve relations with each other and our planet or perish. As a man you may feel frustrated in either work or intimate relationships or both. Yet the personal skills needed for work are usually opposite from those for intimacy. There may seem to be no way to the success you yearn for. As a woman you may cope with anxiety or depression and succeed best at friendship. Yet coupling has meant losing track of yourself, and good men are hard to find. The way forward involves increasing our emotional skills and love for ourselves, others and our planet.

Regardless of your suffering, there is a way through it and because we each have our own way of processing emotional wounds, I take an individualized approach to help you transform pain into healing. I specialize in addressing trauma and grief. This includes the loss of a loved one, traumatic loss (event-related, developmental), as well as psychological symptoms associated with chronic and terminal illness. Through an integrated approach, my work is about healing the soul and finding light in the darkness despite facing life-threatening conditions afflicting the body, mind, heart, and spirit.

I specialize in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). I find this type of trauma therapy to be helpful in treating depression, anxiety, and past painful experiences that have resulted in negative thoughts and beliefs about ourselves. My goal is to help you look at yourself and your pain differently, in a way that will create hope for you and help you to reach your goals and your "best self."