Family Therapy in Oakland, CA

Congratulations, you found a compassionate and affirming therapist. As you're reading this I understand it maybe with some degree of ambivalence. To that end, my immediate goal is to connect and reflect with you in ways that are safe, respectful and trusting. Only then can we have a meaningful, therapeutic-relationship that's open to collaboration, exploration, and revelation. This is where we "Make the road as we walk it", and I champion your journey, where ever it leads. I value the creative and growth potential of every human being. How can I best support you?

My passion is helping anyone toward getting ‘unstuck’ and reconnecting with their lives and loved ones. I provide therapy for children, teens and adults navigating anxiety, OCD, selective mutism, mood disorders, post-traumatic stress, and peer issues, as well as ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnoses. I especially love working with teens and their families as they adapt to change; whether it’s better understanding and celebrating a teen’s gender identity, knowing how to discuss family separation, or finding healthy ways to cope with an unexpected loss.

We all struggle with emotional upheaval during times of stress and transition. Excessive worry, sadness, shame and hopelessness impact our daily lives and those who love us. Couples and families are challenged with the loss of connection and attachment that leads family conflict and a lack of mutually gratifying relationships. By defining our values and our goals we can learn to clarify what is important in our lives and how to enjoy life despite the many challenges we face.

I believe everyone deserves to find their voice, to feel seen and heard. We all long for deep, authentic connections, but we can often get stuck in old patterns with those we love. We end up sacrificing our needs, avoiding vulnerability, or "acting out" in ways we don't understand. I enjoy helping people with trusting their intuition, building self-esteem, communicating effectively, and creating meaningful boundaries and connections in relationships. I work with individuals, couples, and families of all ages, backgrounds, and identities. I offer tools for navigating anxiety, depression, stress, and bodily symptoms.

I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist that has provided psychotherapy, family therapy , and group services in English and Spanish for over nine years. I work with adults and families specializing in mental health and/or co-occurring disorders including depression, anxiety, trauma and chemical dependency. I utilize evidence-based approaches such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Solution-Focused therapy, Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and brief therapy to help you decrease symptoms while developing more meaningful life experiences.

My role as a psychotherapist is to help clients acknowledge and harness their innate strengths, to attain and sustain the well-being they are searching for. I am passionate about gently questioning unspoken norms and expectations, whether learned from family or society, that can limit our ability to connect with our most authentic selves. I empower clients to take supported risks, guiding the therapy with empathy, honesty, humor, and a belief in the transformative power of relationships.

I am a licensed clinical psychologist with 25 years of experience treating children, adolescents, families and adults. I provide highly indiviudalized therapy to each and every client. I integrate techniques from several theoretical orientations, including cognitive-behavioral therapy, solution-focused therapy, family systems theory, and psychodynamic theory, to formulate an indiviudalized treatment plan for each client. Within the session, I create a safe, compassionate and confidential setting for clients to address their core issues and to work out past and present difficulties.

Do you ever struggle with feeling like you’re not enough? Do you feel like you have to prove yourself? Do you feel stuck and triggered by childhood trauma? The symptoms of trauma include anxiety, depression, high conflict relationships, occupational impairment, addiction, and much more. I believe therapy can help you develop a more self-awareness and actionable plan to alleviate these symptoms. I specialized in working with people who are willing to explore past, present, and future challenges and to find tools for personal growth.

I am a licensed psychotherapist specializing in child and teen counseling. Families come to my practice feeling lost, worried and some at the recommendation of a school counselor, lawyer, friend or pediatrician. Many parents have read multiple books and tried various interventions at home or at school without success. This can feel frustrating and upsetting, although it is a motivating starting place. What these families all have in common is concern for a child who is struggling in some way and in need of a child counselor. I offer child counseling, family counseling, family mediation, reunification, and parent support.

Octave is a modern practice creating a new standard for mental health care that’s both high-quality and accessible. With in-person and virtual clinics in California, Connecticut, Florida, New Jersey, New York, Texas, and Washington D.C., we partner with you to develop personalized plans that can include individual, couples, family and group therapy to best suit your needs. Grounded in science, our approach enables you to experience profound change that is just as measurable as it is meaningful. Learn more at www.findoctave.com

Throughout our lives, we all have experienced feelings of depression, anxiety, and anger. These emotions leave you feeling insecure, shameful, lonely, unworthy and stuck in unhealthy patterns of behavior. Trauma can have negative emotional and physical effects and can lead to family /relationship issues. I specialize in solution-focused brief therapy, motivational interviewing, mindfulness and CBT. These approaches allow me to work with the client to decrease symptoms of anxiety and depression and other health/behavioral issues.

I offer trauma-informed psychological treatment for post-traumatic stress, addiction, grief, anxiety, depression, and related life challenges, and support for positive growth and insight building. I utilize a combination of EMDR, internal family systems (IFS), cognitive behavioral (CBT), and dialectical behavioral (DBT) therapies to provide a somatic and source-focused approach to healing. I educate my clients on the universality of traumatic and addictive experiences. I define trauma broadly as any past experience that remains charged and disturbing, and thus has value in alleviating mental health challenges in the present.

We all carry wounds that run deeper than we’d like to admit. Sometimes these wounds continue to affect us in the present, even if we hope we’ve put the past firmly behind us. Maybe you’re struggling with people-pleasing patterns, self-judgment, or perfectionism. Perhaps it’s hard to identify how you feel or what you really need. Or maybe you just have a nagging sense that something isn’t quite right. I help couples, families, & teens address anxiety, panic, trauma, and more in order to reclaim their lives and build the future they want. As a queer therapist, I also specialize in working with LGBTQIA+ couples and teens.

If you are having difficulty with relationships, at work, with parents or children, I can help you identify the issues causing discomfort and learn new strategies for coping, managing and getting more joy in life. If you need someone to talk openly with about your challenges in life, I can listen and help you gain insight so that you can choose the best ways to proceed. If you feel isolated and judged, I can help you build confidence. If you are stuck in grief, I can help you get through it. I can help you see pathways where you might be inclined to see barriers.

Relationships are big challenges. Who are we when we interact with those around us? Do we let others see us for who we really are? Can we see them? I specialize in working with individuals and couples as they try to manage their relationships: preserving them, ending them or changing them. This includes the effects of divorce and moving from a pre-divorce to a post-divorce family from deciding how to tell your children to determining how you want to define your co-parenting relationship.

Welcome! You are ready for a change. You may be overwhelmed by life, feel depressed or anxious, or have difficulty connecting in relationships. Whatever your reason for searching for a psychologist, a part of you believes in the possibility of a better life.

Over the course of life, people develop coping skills to deal with all kinds of emotional challenges. However, sometimes, individuals encounter situations for which they have no preparation or find the usually adequate coping skills are overwhelmed by the enormity of particular problem/problems. There may be patterns or behaviors that one feels stuck in or fated to repeat over-and-over. (Do you feel "stuck" but you cannot figure out how to release yourself?) In those instances a solution focused, warm, steady, and skillful therapist can assist individuals to understand the root causes of those distressing patterns.