Therapists in Walnut Creek, CA

Christina Dughman
Psychologist, PsyD
Verified
5 Endorsed
Verified
5 Endorsed
I believe that we are all intrinsically motivated to move towards health--physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Whether I am working with children, teens, or adults, I partner with my clients to better understand them as cultural beings and how their uniqueness is impacted by their experiences in the world. I offer a warm, nurturing, and accepting style and show deep interest in an authentic therapeutic relationship. My goal is to support my clients towards insight and overall balance.

Gina Vance
CMHT, CCHT, RBT, CLC
If you've been journeying into self discovery and growth and are ready for a gentle quantum leap into your unique power, beauty and ability to express and collaborate with your multi-dimensional self, consider the potential rewards of learning to quickly and easily journey into your mind and body to explore, encounter and understand ways you can heal the pain of your despair and serve your highest purpose in fulfilling ways.
Our work together will honor all aspects of you and all experiences you have endured and survived, as you successfully close completed chapters and author new satisfying successes.
Outpatient Treatment Services
JD
Our Mission is to provide outpatient therapeutic, vocational, social skill-training and benefit services for persons with disabilities and those suffering from mental health related issues. We offer additional support services to families including interventions, so loved ones may help those whom they care about. Our goal is to facilitate care and ensure those who need it are able to receive it. Furthermore, we strive to provide resources and support to those who are leaving treatment. It can be overwhelming to seek care while ill. It can also be challenging to leave treatment with one's affairs in order- we are here to help.

Gertrudes Aquino Hernandez
Psychologist, PhD
Verified
Verified
With more than 20 years experience as a psychologist in diverse settings, I gained valuable clinical work experience and improved my mastery of psychotherapy. I continue to enhance my skills on a variety of evidence-based therapy techniques. Working with a diverse group of clientele brings me a sense of fulfillment and reward. I believe that active listening, understanding, providing empathy and showing genuine compassion, walking with someone in their path to recovery/healing are ways that one can achieve a sense of awareness and clarity, then eventually find a balance between change and acceptance.
Not accepting new clients

Cristina Freeman
Marriage & Family Therapist, MA, LMFT
Verified
Verified
I offer affordable counseling and consultation for individuals, adolescents, and couples. I am bilingual in Tagalog. My main areas of focus are grief counseling, dating and relationships, adolescents, and late adulthood. In working with clients, I lean towards a humanistic school of thought where a positive therapist-client relationship is emphasized. I also use a supportive, compassionate, accepting, dialogical, increased kindness, challenging, and empathic style of therapy. And, depending on the needs of my clients, I interject appropriate techniques from other counseling theories such as the psychoanalytic and cognitive behavior therapies.

Howard L Sattler
Marriage & Family Therapist, MS, MA, MFT, NCC, DCC
Verified
Verified
I have over 30 years' experience as a clinician, published researcher and educator. I hold a Masters Degree in Clinical Psychology and a Masters in Health Psychology. I have developed programs including Stress Management, Insomnia control and Meditation for programs such as Kaiser Permanente. This diversity of experience, allows me to help people understand their thinking processes, identify patterns of behavior and make sustainable changes. I strive to empower people to change both their behaviors and beliefs to allow them to achieve overall well-being and happiness. My philosophy stresses personal insight and responsibility, - integrating the physical, intellectual and spiritual.
Waitlist for new clients

Katie Connolly
Marriage & Family Therapist Associate, AMFT, APCC
Verified
1 Endorsed
Verified
1 Endorsed
I hold that therapy can be different from person to person, from day to day. There is no “right” way to do this. My hope is that together, we’ll create a space that supports you in deepening your self-awareness, self-acceptance, and self-empowerment. I will meet you where you are, holding that you are the expert on your own experience, and that you have within you everything you need to heal.

Jo Ann A Depetro
Marriage & Family Therapist, MA, MFT
Verified
Verified
I enjoy working with any client who is seeking relief from a problem(s). I have worked with a variety of people, including corporate consulting, towards co creating solutions in a collaborative and effective manner.
Waitlist for new clients

Barbara Peterson
Psychologist, PhD
Verified
Verified
I enjoy working with adolescents and adults with a wide range of presenting concerns. I provide both individual and family psychotherapy, as well as conduct psychological testing. I work within a collaborative model, integrating treatment techniques to develop individualized interventions. I develop specific goals together with clients and their families, and work closely with physicians and other referring professionals to coordinate treatment. I have particular expertise in treating sexual abuse and trauma, depression and bipolar disorders, and adolescent behavioral and emotional disturbances.

Ryan LaPlant
Marriage & Family Therapist Associate, AMFT
Verified
Verified
This is your time. How would you like to use it? People want to make the most of their lives and their time, and therapy can help by its dedication to encouraging the discovery of your own truths and expanding your innate resources for change and insight. The therapeutic relationship is the most essential part of any counseling design, and that relationship itself is a window into understanding the unique difficulties that bring us to therapy.

Katherine Hughes
Psychologist, PhD
Verified
Verified
I am a clinical psychologist based in Walnut Creek, CA. My graduate and postgraduate training included most major approaches to psychotherapy. When I begin psychotherapy with someone, my intent is to work in partnership with you. My style is one of active collaboration. Only with both of us involved, sharing our thoughts and ideas, can a safe and effective working environment develop. Change isn't easy. If it was, you might not be thinking about therapy.

Kira Torre
Marriage & Family Therapist, MS, MFT
Verified
2 Endorsed
Verified
2 Endorsed
Welcome! You are one step closer to the next steps in a healthier, more successful life! Practicing as a goal oriented and solution-focused therapist, I work to help identify the barriers in your way and resolve challenges that keep you from living your best and most celebrated life. By applying therapeutic approaches tailored to you and your specific needs, we find the most expedient path for healing and the road to recovery. Together we will work on unearthing your long-standing thoughts and behavior patterns that could be holding you back from moving forward in more meaningful and fulfilling relationships.

Michelle Pair
Marriage & Family Therapist, MA, LMFT
Verified
Verified
Many are unsure if they have an addiction, or if they really are an alcoholic. Sometimes you drink too much, have regrets the next day, feel embarrassed about losing control and worry about your health. Drinking and using to numb the pain leaves you feeling very alone. You are sick of hiding, of keeping secrets. Should you stop altogether or figure out how to moderate? I can help this exploration in a non-judgmental way to find answers. Many people in recovery are often disappointed their ‘problems’ are not fixed; they feel stuck, depressed and anxious and relationship challenges persist.

Patricia E. Zurita Ona 'dr. Z.'
Psychologist, PsyD
Verified
Verified
Understanding "why or how" a problem has become a problem is not enough; "doing something about it" is what matters. If we work together, we'll come up with a treatment plan to tap into the drivers of your struggles and start making a shift. I encourage behavioral-change processes based on your personal values and what's keeping you stuck. If you're not ready to make a change, let's help you move from stuckness to readiness. I specialize in Exposure Response Prevention (ERP), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). www.eastbaybehaviortherapycenter.com

Lee Embrey
Marriage & Family Therapist, PhD, LMFT
Verified
Verified
I work with individuals and couples who are going through life transitions. I am an interactive therapist, honest and direct. I help people develop their emotional readiness to continue on their life journey. Psychotherapy is about change and development. I have an empathetic approach that helps release feelings, and develop thoughtful understanding.

Victor Leonard Bernstein
Psychologist, PhD
Verified
Verified
Hi, I've been in practice since 1980, I work best with adults and adolescents. My areas of interest are individual and couple therapy. Specific areas are stress disorders, eating disorders, sexual problems, substance abuse, anger, relationship problems, depression and anxiety disorders and coaching. I look at where you are emotionally, nutritionally, your physical fitness level and medical status.I do an evaluation and design a treatment plan to reach your goals.

Gabriella Ruzin
Psychologist, PsyD
Verified
Verified
Dr. Ruzin specializes in assessing children when there are questions about a possible Autism Spectrum Disorder (previously known as Autistic Disorder, Asperger’s Disorder or Pervasive Developmental Disorder), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD or ADD), thinking, problem solving or learning challenges, or behavioral difficulties.

Valerie Hodgskiss
Marriage & Family Therapist, MA, LMFT
Verified
Verified
It's all about relationships, starting with your relationship to yourself, your family of origin, your partner, children, friends. And then there's the relationship to your problems: things like depression, anxiety, ADHD, post-partum and parenting stress, body-image problems. How do you work with the set of challenges that life hands you? I work with clients to understand themselves and their own story, and then apply that understanding, in the form of coping and problem-solving skills, to their relationships, to get through life's pain and into a life worth living.

Ann Pagliaro
Clinical Social Work/Therapist, LCSW
Verified
Verified
I offer many treatment modalities, and specialize in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), an information processing approach which integrates elements of many effective psychotherapies: psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral, interpersonal, experiential, and body-centered therapies in a phase structured protocol.
For over three decades,I have been helping adults of all ages deal with emotional difficulties including anxiety, depression, phobias, health concerns, grief, stress, and issues of aging.

Diana Cheryl Methfessel
Marriage & Family Therapist, MA LMFT
Verified
Verified
Do you work from home, home school your children, care for a homebound relative or are just too busy traveling to work to schedule therapy appointments across town? Are you someone who works late evenings or works a “night shift” schedule and cannot see a therapist under the normal operative hours that most therapists offer? My private practice offers a solution to your dilemma. I only provide secure video therapy from the comfort and convenience of your home. I provide services to adults, couples, and families based in California only.
See more therapy options for Walnut Creek
What type of Walnut Creek mental health professional is right for me?
While most types of therapy have a lot in common, they also fall into clusters that share core features, such as cognitive therapies or psychodynamic approaches. It is important to seek someone who practices evidence-based therapy, meaning one or more forms of treatment that have been scientifically evaluated and tested, and demonstrate consistent improvement for a majority of patients.
If you are unsure about choosing the right therapist or psychologist, it might be useful to first learn more about therapy types and modalities.
If you are unsure about choosing the right therapist or psychologist, it might be useful to first learn more about therapy types and modalities.
How to find a therapist or counselor in Walnut Creek?
When looking to find a therapist, start by considering training and credentials. Studies also indicate that the therapeutic alliance, or the relationship the client develops with the therapist, is an important factor in their ability to work together to achieve the client’s goals.
What method of therapy is right for me?
When it comes to treatment methods, there's no 'right way.’ Each method of therapy can be beneficial for a variety of issues. Finding a psychologist or therapist who is a good fit for you is the most important step to discovering what type of therapy, or combination of therapeutic approaches, will meet your individual needs. Learn what to expect from different types of therapy and how they work.
How to use my insurance?
Understanding cost and insurance coverage is an important concern for many people. With some basic research and conversations with prospective therapists, you should be able to have a good understanding of the best way to afford therapy.