Family Therapy in Walnut Creek, CA

We could all use someone in our corner. I believe a collaborative, nurturing therapeutic relationship can transform pain into healing. I am a marriage and family therapist supporting individual adults and adolescents. Together we can address day to day anxieties and any unhealthy patterns that impede overall wellbeing. I empower clients to navigate whatever they are facing, from depression, anxiety, sexuality, self-esteem issues, trauma, grief/loss, and life transitions.

Children are not mini-adults, despite their best efforts to convince us otherwise! Children are ever-changing, efficiently growing into their next phase of development every-single-day. Imagine, tripling in size and skills in just a year! To make things more complicated, children learn, grow, and communicate through play. No wonder it can be tough to fully know how to help our children through life's surprises. These fast changes can also impact our relationship with our partner, as keeping up with kids is tough!

I believe therapy offers opportunity for self discovery, healing, and growth. As an emphatic and supportive therapist, I am passionate about helping my clients heal and be heard because we all have unique voices and stories to share. I work with children, adolescents, adults, parents, and families to minimize conflict, support personal growth, make changes, and strengthen a sense of connectedness and well-being. Using an integrative approach that is holistic and friendly, I support personal and relational development, as well as healing.

Taking care of yourself can be exhausting, especially when you are taking care of others. Personal and professional relationships take effort and have a new meaning in this current time of social unrest and a global pandemic. You might be an overwhelmed parent. Or perhaps you are burnt out from working-from-home. You may be in a challenging relationship. Or maybe you are simply feeling out of sorts and trying to make sense of it all. When we're stressed we often forget who we are and what is important to us. By looking for help, you've taken the first step in regaining balance in your life, and finding yourself.

As a practitioner, I am passionate about helping individuals cultivate greater awareness of their emotional, physical, and spiritual experiences. My work helps people understand the ways in which the unconscious shapes their present day reality. Sometimes, this involves a compassionate inquiry into a a person’s family of origin, relational dynamics, trauma, and habituated beliefs. I am committed to helping my clients live purposefully, joyfully, and with greater awareness and self-acceptance.

I got my Master degree in Psychology at CAU in Miami, FL. as a Marriage and Family Therapist . I'm also a highly qualified and trained by the most notable Neurofeedback Institutions in America, certified by leader companies in the field, such as EEG Spectrum, The Learning Curve, Natural Therapies Certification Board, among others. With more than 15,000 Brain Training sessions for the past 17 years, thousands of persons have been trained successfully. I'm a certified Hypnotherapist by the International Association of Counselors and Therapist since 2001.

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.

As a cognitive-behavioral and solution-focused therapist, my goal is to help children, teens and young adults uncover their true potential and lead lives that are more enjoyable, peaceful and worth celebrating. Although I see a range of issues in my practice, I specialize in treating anxious children and teens who have intense difficulty managing strong or dangerous feelings. I offer parenting support to help improve the often strained relationships within the family . In addition, I work with young adults to help negotiate the challenges that present during this transitional time such as independence, personal identity and life goals.

It is my belief that everyone navigates his or her way through their family of origin and early environment by developing strategies and coping techniques, essentially doing the best one can in the circumstances. Later, these ways of handling relationships and stressors can become limiting. Members of couples and families can also develop entrenched ways of relating that become partially based on assumptions. Frustration, anxiety, disappointment and resentment can result. Psychotherapy enables you to understand the evolution of these patterns and develop more choices in how you respond and relate to others.

Becoming a parent is a unique and transformative experience. From the moment of conception through the journey of parenting there is an array of unknown rewards, challenges and experiences. At times parents have no idea how they will feel or react to these challenges and realize that they need help and support through their own journey as parents. Research proves the way we were parented, the environment in which we developed, and the situations around us influence the way we feel and behave as parents.

Are you, your teenager or your family struggling with depression, anxiety, trauma, substance use, mood dysregulation, risky behaviors or barriers to communication? Are you feeling stuck, overwhelmed, hopeless and unable to create change? Are you looking for ways to cope, manage or shift how you think, feel and respond to these circumstances? With therapeutic support, you will gain understanding and increased insight, and learn tools to support stabilization, regulation, resiliency, and communication. Through this process, you will develop a stronger sense of self, build healthier relationships, find purpose & create lasting change.

I specialize in helping couples and individuals (especially men) heal from bad relationship experiences and build better ones with those around them, whether those relationships are with peers, family or romantic partners. I have a great breadth of experience working with children, teens and young adults in various capacities, and thus have something special to offer struggling parents, and young adults going through major life transitions.

Things that may have felt difficult prior to the pandemic carry a very different load now, as we learn to navigate life with Covid. While the idea of therapy may have felt radical before, it can now offer us a roadmap to developing greater internal strength to steer through the uncertainty. It is deep within our unconscious that we meet our true selves and can then begin the profound work of developing mechanisms for the lives we are seeking. I view it as a great privilege to bear witness to the strength that emerges from the courage of confronting the vulnerability of our own psychology.

I love this work. We all need help from time to time, and we don't have to do it alone. If you are serious about getting the support you need, I can and want to help you. As a teacher, parent, and former psychotherapist, I bring over 40 years of experience working with adults, couples, young adults, and teens as well as with parents of teens. My greatest joy is supporting emotional healing and loving connections - with self, partners, family , and with friends. I provide coaching support online via video platforms, for Parenting, Relationship, Individual and Spiritual concerns. (Please visit JWHolley.com for details).

I have 18 plus years of experience working with children, families and individuals. I specialize working with children (5 to 11), and teens. I work with children and teens who may face many challenges such as depression, anxiety, and low self-esteem. I offer parenting support and guidance. I also work with adults experiencing life transitions, divorce or separation. I offer my knowledge, experience and unconditional acceptance. I also offer all clients a comfortable space to explore their emotions, learn new skills, and overcome challenging situations.

I have been a licensed Marriage & Family Therapist for over 20 years. My clients and I work together to carefully and compassionately identify and unravel the issues that are causing emotional pain or relational conflict. Together, we identify patterns of thinking and behavior that are intended to be protective but in fact cause depression or anxiety or inadvertantly undermine important relationships.