Trauma and PTSD Therapists in San Francisco, CA
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Arielle Dualan
Marriage & Family Therapist Associate
Verified
1 Endorsed
Verified
1 Endorsed
I am passionate about helping adolescents and emerging adults address developmental
trauma
(e.g., abuse, neglect, immigration) and traumas of oppression (e.g., racism, sexism, transphobia) that manifest in symptoms of anxiety and/or mood disorders. My ideal client is someone who needs a safe space to confront fears that have been holding them back from tapping into their strengths. They may have adopted a narrative that is self-critical and disempowering, but are now choosing to courageously heal from feelings of pain and distress in order to become a better version of themselves - for themselves and for the people they love.
Susana Scotti
Psychologist, PhD
Verified
Verified
Welcome to my practice, I’m so glad you are here! I am a Licensed Psychologist with more than 10 years of experience, specializing in recovery from
trauma
, anxiety, depression, and addictions. I feel that change is possible once you have felt understood and seen. I believe suffering is a normal response to abnormal situations and work with you to understand and change coping responses that no longer work for you. I believe there is an internal wisdom that allowed you to survive detrimental and traumatic environments, which can be tapped into through talking with a compassionate witness.
Silver Lake Psychology--San Francisco location
Psychologist, PsyD
Verified
Verified
Relationship and sexual concerns, couples therapy, anxiety, addiction,
trauma
, eating disorders, stress management, insomnia, women's issues, creativity, LGBTQ- welcome.
Learn how to feel more connected to yourself, others and the world around you. Therapy provides all the elements of intimacy: honest communication, vulnerability and trust. Good therapy is challenging yet warm, providing both structure and empathy for your unique experience. We are a collective of therapists with a wide range of specialties. Our intake professionals will help connect you with the right therapist for your needs. We make appointments easy, offering evenings and weekends and flexibility for creative professionals who can't make the same time each week.
Ken Gladstone
Psychologist
Verified
6 Endorsed
Verified
6 Endorsed
In my practice, I enjoy meeting with a range of people in terms of age, demographics, and psychological needs. In addition to extensive training, I have many years of experience providing care for those in need here in the Bay Area. I also have specific expertise in the areas of
trauma
, substance abuse, anxiety, and relationship difficulties. I incorporate the well-researched areas of psychodynamic, family systems, and cognitive-behavioral therapies into my work. As each person is different, I carefully tailor our work to your needs and your goals.
Kate Dubé
Clinical Social Work/Therapist, LCSW
Verified
Verified
Using a
trauma
-informed approach and an evidence-based practice called acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), we’ll work together to get some breathing room from your problems so you can live a rich and fulfilling life even when difficulties arise.
I can’t change the world around you, but I can help you find your footing. Whether you’re wanting to feel comfortable in your own skin, struggling in your life, or seeking meaning and connection – therapy is a place to listen deeply to your inner wisdom and experience. Together, we can discover how to make the changes you’ve been wanting to make.
Samuel Khanukayev
Marriage & Family Therapist, MFT
Verified
Verified
Most of my clinical experience focused on treating: complex
trauma
,
post-traumatic stress
disorder, personality disorders, anxiety, and depression.
I strive to facilitate a reflective and explorative environment where the unbearable can be held and truth can be spoken. Multicultural and bilingual elements of my identity, and a history of enduring ethnic discrimination and immigration, significantly inform how I listen to my clients, think through
trauma
and fragmentation with them. Unconscious repetitions of aversion, clinging, and reenactments of familiar/familial ways of being bind us in suffering. Through psychotherapy, rigid frames of being can be deconstructed and psychological space can be reclaimed for creativity, desire and becoming.
Laura Picard
Marriage & Family Therapist, LMFT, 135100
Verified
Verified
Specializing in anxiety, depression,
trauma
and personality disorders, my range of experience will help you become the best version of yourself.
With a kind heart and open mind, I strive to make therapy a comfortable place where you can explore the deepest insights about yourself with compassion and empathy. Therapy is a place to reinstill hope and better navigate life. Using a three prong approach that integrates past, present and future we can create a full picture to heal, solve problems and reach your goals. Together we will build on your strengths, find helpful coping skills with evidence based tools and help you learn about yourself.
Erika Shershun
Marriage & Family Therapist, MA, LMFT, EMDR
Verified
5 Endorsed
Verified
5 Endorsed
Is your inner critic working overtime, are you feeling overwhelmed, depressed, or struggling with a relationship? It has been said that our essence, our soul, is ever present like the sun, yet like the sun, it can become obscured by clouds. These clouds represent the wounds and
trauma
you've experienced throughout your life, along with the defenses that have helped you survive, yet these defenses (people pleasing, dissociation, rage...) may no longer serve you. Together we can bring awareness and begin to relax these defenses allowing more of your gifts, your ever-present essence to shine through.
Jose Luna
Associate Clinical Social Worker, ASW, EMDR
Verified
Verified
My therapeutic approach mainly focuses on helping my clients identify their strengths to help alleviate anxiety, depression, and
trauma
. I am a firm believer that our childhood experiences contribute to our beliefs, behavioral patterns, and selecting a romantic partner. Therapy is a process! To allow ourselves to be intimate and vulnerable with someone about our experiences and
trauma
can be daunting. As a therapist, it is my goal to help validate, create a safe environment and help understand aspects of lived experiences.
Iliyana Gesheva
Marriage & Family Therapist, LMFT
Verified
Verified
I specialize in working with children, teens, and young adults with
trauma
histories, anxiety, depression, relationship difficulties, grief and loss, body and self-esteem issues, life and family transitions. I also work with clients who are dealing with immigration and acculturation issues and support them with exploring and resolving intergenerational conflicts and cultural differences within their families and communities. I strive to create a safe space that includes collaboration, reflective curiosity, opportunities for change, creativity and humor.
Laura DeSantis
Counselor, LPCC
Verified
1 Endorsed
Verified
1 Endorsed
My specialties include
trauma
, dissociation, and anxiety, but I work with my clients on a variety of challenges.
People, life, and work are complex. It can be hard to find your way and define who you are. As a therapist, my goal is to foster a space for you to explore what you want for yourself and your life through introspection, healing, and acceptance of self. I offer an interactive style of therapy that emphasizes personal insight and self-compassion in order to identify harmful thought patterns and behaviors. Together, we will find an approach that helps you achieve your goals, whether you’re looking to heal from past experiences or cope with present challenges.
Cristina Wood
Marriage & Family Therapist, LMFT
Verified
Verified
I am passionate about my work and guide my patients through their journey of self-discovery and healing, assisting them to identify their own inner resources to transform their current challenges into bridges for success. I am specialized in issues like life transition, stress, anxiety,
trauma
, and depression. I will be on your side every step of the way to help you to respond to everyday life experiences with confidence, resilience, and power.
Liana Huang
Clinical Social Work/Therapist, ASW
Verified
Verified
When we are exposed to
trauma
at an early age, it can seriously impact how we feel about ourselves and our relationships with others.
Trauma
can also profoundly affect whether we feel this is a safe world and can contribute to depression, anxiety, and relational/familial issues. My practice is from a strengths-based,
trauma
-informed perspective with a non-judgmental framework. I aim to understand clients’ internal responses and to provide more options for emotional regulation and problem-solving.
Leigh Ann Hoover
Clinical Social Work/Therapist, LCSW
Verified
Verified
I am a formally trained EMDR therapist and well- versed in the use of evidence based practice to treat
PTSD
, anxiety, depression, substance abuse, sexual
trauma
, combat
trauma
, marital discord, and family issues.
I primarily treat clients who are experiencing high levels of stress, people experiencing
trauma
, and anyone dealing with anxiety or depression. I try to help clients achieve a sense of work/life balance and a sense of fulfillment in their lives and relationships. I am currently only allowing telehealth and video appointments. I am offering flexible office hours for working professionals who require sessions after 5 PM.
Rodrigo Caldera - Brown Therapy Center
Marriage & Family Therapist, LMFT
Verified
Verified
I enjoy applying my vast expertise working with individuals, couples, and families from diverse communities in finding ways to reduce suffering and increase wellbeing. I draw from a wide array of techniques and theories including the arts, the body, family of origin history and attachment style, parts work and the unconscious, dreams, spirituality, psychodynamics, and some Evidence Based Practices like CBT and DBT, Harm Reduction, and Motivational Interviewing. I am also trained in EMDR and work from a
trauma
informed lens, providing psychoeducation about the natural bodily responses to stress and
trauma
.
German Cheung
Psychologist, PsyD
Verified
Verified
Everyone is unique. Your thoughts, feelings and needs are shaped by your own background, family history, past interpersonal encounters and other significant events, including early child
trauma
. Psychotherapy is an emotional process. As we discuss your concerns, it will surface unexamined parts of your life of which you may not be aware or want to experience. My central role as your therapist is to help you talk about and understand more fully these unexamined thoughts, feelings, and needs in the context of your past, develop greater understanding, tolerance and acceptance, and to bring changes to your current situation.
Kristin Fialko
Marriage & Family Therapist, LMFT, MA
Verified
3 Endorsed
Verified
3 Endorsed
We often find ourselves and bodies, on the path towards health after overwhelming experiences,
trauma
, grief or loss. Re-igniting our inner-fire and natural emotional balance can understandably be a challenge.
Trauma
-informed somatic psychotherapy can help! I take my role as a therapist, one who supports the client On their journey, as a facilitator of a sacred collaboration. I conduct therapy with an intention to process and move
trauma
(anxiety, depression and grief accompanying it) in order to restore balance between the mind, body, and spirit and reignite the internal fire.
San Francisco, CA 94117
& Online
Bahar Yaghoubian
Clinical Social Work/Therapist, LCSW, EMDR
Verified
Verified
Whether you are dealing with anxiety in your relationships, work, past or any
trauma
and are tired of feeling on edge, I can help you feel calm, grounded, and in charge of your life.
Before your day starts, your heart and mind are already racing, your back and neck feel tense, and your stomach feels queasy. You have this feeling that you are stuck and not sure how to get out of this situation. You think to yourself, “What is happening to my life? Why do I feel this way?” Worry, fear, avoidance, racing heart and negative thoughts. In other words, Anxiety!!! It’s taking up all your energy and controlling your thoughts, emotions, and body. It feels like the anxiety is running your life.
Luke (Frank Luke) Adams
Marriage & Family Therapist, LMFT, CS-ABS, RDDP, CTS, CHT
Verified
2 Endorsed
Verified
2 Endorsed
We'll form a deep therapeutic alliance to discover, encounter, address, & surpass distressing obstacles/
trauma
recapitulations.
Do other therapists seem judgmental? Don't understand? Won't listen to you? If you need to talk about anything and everything, clients tell me I have a strong capacity for compassion, empathy, and care. At the same time, I’m forthright and candid. I see you and hear you—a whole person (body, mind, spirit) living in an interactive and interconnected world. I believe you're the expert in you - even if you're not yet aware of it. My role is to help you find that, and bring my own holistic vision, experience, training, expertise, and tools to the table, so you can work to be the best possible version of you.
Loryn Hicks
Marriage & Family Therapist Associate, MA, LMFT
1 Endorsed
1 Endorsed
I offer warmth and love created by a safe and welcoming environment. I have a passion for working with those who have been told they are “too much”. From working with teens and families to those struggling through
trauma
or grief, I am here. I work with intersectionality and identity, cultural explorations and difficulties, as well as difference and sensitivity. I have worked extensively with those with eating struggles. I have worked in restorative justice and enjoy working with the formerly incarcerated, Please ask me anything
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Trauma and PTSD Therapists
When should I seek treatment for trauma?
Not everyone who undergoes trauma needs therapy to heal, but many do. If, after experiencing a traumatic event, you find yourself struggling with symptoms such as nightmares, dissociation, irritability, or emotional numbness—especially if these symptoms last more than a month and are severe enough to interfere with your daily functioning—you may benefit from seeking out therapy with a trauma-informed provider.
How long does trauma therapy take?
Different types of therapy for trauma unfold on different timelines. Prolonged exposure therapy and cognitive processing therapy, for example, each take about three months, while trauma-informed CBT may last anywhere from 8 to 25 sessions. Other approaches, especially those that are less structured or that incorporate elements from multiple modalities, may be more open-ended, though many patients report feeling better within the first few months of treatment.
What happens if trauma is left untreated?
Unaddressed trauma can have serious—even devastating—effects on relationships, career, and day-to-day functioning. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can lead people to distrust or lash out at others, making it difficult to maintain intimate relationships; it can also trigger symptoms such as flashbacks or hyperreactivity that can interfere with a person’s ability to function effectively, personally and/or professionally. Some sufferers turn to drugs to find relief. Symptoms may lessen on their own with time, but there is no guarantee that PTSD will resolve on its own.
Can PTSD come back after treatment?
It is possible for PTSD symptoms to recur months or years after successful treatment. This is because, like most mental health disorders, it is not possible to “cure” PTSD, and stressful life events may cause symptoms to recur in even the most resilient individuals. There is no shame in re-experiencing PTSD symptoms nor in returning to therapy when such relapses occur; indeed, many forms of trauma therapy explicitly encourage periodic “maintenance sessions” to reinforce coping skills and ensure that symptoms stay manageable.