Therapists in San Mateo, CA

Helping to uncover the root cause of distress by addressing painful mental states such as avoidance, isolation, people-pleasing, low self-esteem, confusion, worry, stress, and anxiety while working together to come up with a customized plan to manage the situation to feel more in control and live a happier more fulfilling life. Our approach is direct, positive & uplifting using a customized therapeutic approach in a supportive and accepting manner. We believe that through education along with a focused therapeutic approach yields the most successful results and I am there every step of the way.

I am passionate about helping through assessment. Assessments are designed to understand learning profiles, as well as to differentiate between issues (such as anxiety and inattention) and document eligibility to accommodations on standardized testing and in school. I can help with full assessments for attention, learning differences, autism, and psychological concerns. Boutique and a-la-carte testing is also available and often indicated for giftedness or as a screening to determine whether further assessment is needed. I have over 25 years of experience and can apply that expertise to devising a battery tailored to your needs.

Olivos is a welcoming strengths-based treatment program that focuses on empowerment and collaborative goal setting. Mental health, substance use, and trauma-related issues are addressed on the journey to recovery, wellness, and reaching each person's full potential. Problems range from depression, anxiety, job stress, and relationship issues to hearing voices, difficulty managing money, compulsive behaviors and addiction. Our multidisciplinary team provides services in our offices, community settings, and client homes. Olivos also coordinates services with acute care (such as hospitals) and community residential programs and can provide services similar to a transitional residential program in the client's home if needed.

I'm an active, involved therapist, and no BS. If you are ready to feel good again, I'm ready to help you. Anxiety can be lonely, uncomfortable and scary. It seems like everyone else handles life's bumps perfectly, but for some reason, despite how intelligent you are, you can't get it together. I get it. Anxiety makes us play small. You don't have to give it that power any more. Let's find the place where the anxiety stops and you come through: Strong. Clear. Happy. Confident. Yourself. Because the life you were meant for is on the other side of this anxiety.

Most of us lug around a suitcase full of our thoughts, feelings, family history and past experiences and have no idea what's in there. Our current responses to and experience of life come from the contents of that suitcase. Together in therapy we gently unpack it. We will see what is working for you, what needs more support and what has served it's purpose but no longer works. I work collaboratively and am curious about all the things that make you who you are. I am particularly interested in working with people who feel misunderstood or unimportant.

I believe that one of the most important factors for successful therapy is the "fit" between therapist and client. I have been told by some of my clients that they like my direct style, interactive manner, and the feeling of being heard and seen. They like my Russian proverbs and humor. In both individual and couples therapy, I strive to bring out the best, wisest, kindest, flexible, most functioning adult parts of my clients to the surface. Through therapy, my clients get insight, make better choices and enjoy feeling more in charge of their lives.

Kristy combines her professional history in education and academia, and her experience as a spouse and mother, in her approach to psychotherapy. She likes to work with clients to bring compassion and self-compassion into their lives, as well as to identify and change destructive or unhelpful relationship patterns. Kristy engages in play and art therapy with her younger clients, and draws on Family Systems, Internal Family Systems, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy skills, and Compassion-based therapy for her individual adult clients.

As a veteran mental health provider and life strategist, I offer many holistic counseling modalities in various settings: home, workplace, school, university, community. Behavior modification and other treatment approaches have been highly successful for those suffering from depression, anxiety, anger, emotional regulation, weight management challenges. Together we explore underlying issues fueling your irrational thoughts and dysfunctional behaviors- keeping you stuck. When applicable, I provide Solution-Focused Therapy by negotiating goals for sustainability; both short and long-term. As an EAP provider I offer organizational consultation in numerous areas: individual, group behavior, leadership, conflict, communication, emotional intelligence, time, stress, anger management, etc. Psychological Testing and Evaluation.

I am a culturally sensitive licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in psychotherapy and psychological testing. I provide a safe, non-judgmental, and supportive space to help you and/or your child discuss and explore your current and previous stressors and work towards your own personal goals. I have a patient-centered, collaborative and strengths-based approach to treatment and I tailor each session based on your unique goals for treatment. I utilize a blend of relational, psychodynamic, and cognitive-behavioral therapy approaches to treatment. I specialize in both individual (with children, adolescents and adults) and family therapy.

I am a licensed clinical psychologist with over thirty years of experience. I have helped people navigate a variety of different life transitions such as divorce and separation, job loss, leaving home, starting a family or new career or both, as well as end-of-life issues. I have helped children deal with school and peer issues as well as parental loss and separation. My therapy style is interactive and psychodynamic and may entail short or long-term therapy, individual psychotherapy or couples work.

I offer a safe and compassionate space for individuals and couples in their healing process. Life can get difficult sometimes as we try to juggle the demands of the external world while finding internal balance and harmony. We can carry the pain inflicted on us due to circumstances, or by others. And sometimes it is just a feeling of wanting something more from life than what seems feasible. These experiences can leave us feeling isolated and disconnected from our sense of aliveness, joy and creativity. I support my clients on their journey towards creating a more satisfying life that feels wholesome both internally and externally.

At the heart of our struggles and pains are relationships. At the heart of our hopes and dreams are relationships. Whether it is your relationship with anxiety and depression, with your career, with your partner, sister, son, daughter, boss, or parent-everything is about relationships. Therapy helps you tackle some of the most challenging questions we all face. How do we repair what needs to be fixed in our relationships, including the relationship with ourselves? What needs attention, a new perspective, a better skill, or emotional resolve to enable you to become more authentic and improve your connection to self and others?

When our children's hearts have been broken, our hearts break, too. Parents often struggle with knowing how to care for a hurting child. The child's behaviors can be challenging. A parent's own unhealed wounds get triggered. Then, there's the parenting guilt! It can be overwhelming. We understand and we are here to help.

Anyone who has ever experienced trauma cannot overlook the excruciating pain and fear it instills in the body and mind. Such pain, if left unattended may morph into depression, anxiety, chronic physical pain, and profound sense of loss and continuous grief. It can mask our identity and destroy our lifestyle. We turn out to be disoriented, stuck, and confined. Our lives become foreign to us. We find ourselves witnessing its broadcast, as opposed to fully experiencing it in the moment. Hence, we turn to our defenses in the form of compensatory behaviors, such as addiction and compulsions or lose the meaning of life.