Therapists in Oakland, CA

Are you unhappy in your life? Unhappy with your relationships? Are you looking for an experienced therapist who will listen to what YOU WANT and need? I am a kind compassionate seasoned professional who will help you understand yourself better. I have an engaging and collaborative style. I help clients struggling with life transitions, relationships and depression/anxiety.

I’m an interactive and solution-focused therapist seeing individual adult clients only. It is important to me that you feel heard and understood. If you are struggling with anxiety, depression, life transitions, and questions about your identity or place in the world, therapy can help. I will work with you to determine what your needs and goals are and do my best to support you in a meaningful and expeditious way.

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, and family 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

You’re fumbling, feeling clunky, ashamed, lost in transition, and searching for answers. You’ve been told you’re too much, too scattered, and too picky, when in reality, you may very well know what you want and it seems others just can’t meet you there. Together we will explore and unfold acceptance and awareness around ALL of your parts, especially the most intense ones. What you’re searching for is out there, let’s take these next steps on your journey

My framework as a psychotherapist is inspired by black feminist sci-fi writer, Octavia E. Butler who saw the possibility of many more worlds than just our own. I believe that transformative internal healing is critical to envisioning and building these worlds without the presence of imperialism, white supremacy, capitalism and cishet-patriarchy. The tools I use to support the exploration of individual, interpersonal and intergenerational trauma are shaped by abolition that rejects punitive and scarcity mindsets and disability justice which strives to value every body.

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.

I do free consultations with clients and instant online scheduling because getting help shouldn't wait for a call back. I am here for you, to walk along side you or your family through the toughest moments. We will laugh together, cry together, and heal together. Most importantly, we will grow together.

I find it effective to combine behavioral solutions with depth work. Since the unconscious ripples into all aspects of life, I have found that relational therapy addressing unconscious motives can help with most psychological difficulties. In addition to working with individuals, couples & families, I am adjunct faculty at the California Institute of Integral Studies where I teach in the Masters in Counseling Psychology Department and Psychological Services Clinic.

Therapy can help you overcome difficulties, live creatively, and feel more alive. Many people become stuck in ways of thinking and living that no longer serve them. Through a caring therapeutic relationship, you can develop the courage to live in a meaningful and fulfilling way. Over the past 25 years, I have helped people with a wide variety of issues work through significant challenges, freeing them to make better choices. In addition to my clinical work, I teach and supervise at various training programs throughout the Bay Area, and was the Director of Counseling at California College of the Arts for 15 years.

I work with Individuals and Couples developing better skills for communication, coping with stress and life transitions, and relationship building skills. I offer deeply attentive and compassionate Therapy that doesn't shy away from hard conversations and is culturally responsive. I am active in your sessions, asking thoughtful questions, observing strengths and progress, and checking in. I use an eclectic mix of Attachment Theory, Somatic Therapies, Gottman, and RLT. I help people reconnect with their inner knowing to become their best selves. I work with lots of LGBTQ Clients in Couples, who work in Security, and who are teens.

Concierge therapy offered in Palo Alto, Rockridge & SF locations. You decide on the day, time, location, in-person or online. This modality is for busy professionals/students who want to graduate psychotherapy fast. Sessions are fun and focused. Most clients can graduate from therapy within 3-6 months for life transition problems. For severe trauma and mental health cases, it can a little longer. Specializing in teens, couples and individuals struggling with trauma, abuse, substances abuse, depression, anxiety, grief, suicide, trust, abandonment, severe mental health and anger.

Therapy is one of few spaces that is dedicated to you and YOUR experiences. It is a non-judgmental space where you can explore issues that have gotten in the way of living with greater ease and comfort. Only you are the keeper of your truth and your story. I can support you in exploring how to hold difficult feelings in more helpful ways whether they be worry, shame, hurt, or pride. What would it be like to increase your emotional buoyancy as you create a path to healing and deeper self-knowledge? What kind of life might that give you?

You refuse to sleep walk. You want to do better and feel better and live life intentionally, authentically, and consciously. You might be focused on enhancing your relationships with intimate partners, thriving and loving midlife, getting fulfillment, meaning and purpose in your career, or getting relief from depression or anxiety. Or you might simply want to understand yourself better and build emotional intelligence. If you want to partner on your journey with a very (30+ years) experienced therapist who has invested in his own professional and personal development, I welcome you to contact me.

In addition to working extensively with anxiety issues, I specialize in helping clients improve their relationships with their partners/spouses. I wholeheartedly welcome both straight and LGBT clients into my practice. I often tell clients that everything makes perfect sense (ie. the problems they share and how they react), and all we need to do is find the right pieces of the puzzle to help them understand. It is from this understanding that relief and solutions arise. By truly understanding what anxiety is and isn't, we learn how to navigate it so it doesn't control our lives.

Is one or more of your kids on the Spectrum or have the ASD/ADD/OCD triad? In your relationship, is one of you on the spectrum and one not and is that causing misunderstandings and problems? Are you on the spectrum and having trouble understanding the non-spectrum people and world around you? I can help you bridge differences and deal with conflicts and meltdowns in an empathetic and constructive way. Also, I work for with LGBTQ people and couples with a variety of mental health concerns like anxiety and depression. It's hard growing up different from your peers. It can cause low self esteem, crippling self doubt and anger.

Traditional talk therapy not enough? Are you interested to access more of your spiritual, mental, emotional and physical resources? Combining Western psychology with alternative/eastern wisdom, I can help you learn how to handle the enormous stresses life often entails in a compassionate, warm and body-centered way. My specialties include: relationship patterns, deep family patterns, shamanic counseling, reclaiming lost parts of yourself, attachment theory. Creative, engaging and efficient, this work will empower you to explore your mind freely. The more we know our own mind, the more we become the driver rather than the driven.

I help individuals and couples better understand, trust, and communicate their emotions, needs, and longings. Our emotions, even the painful ones, provide us with important information about what we need and where we should be headed. At times we dismiss our own inner wisdom in an attempt to fit in, keep the peace, or protect ourselves from hurt, but we then miss out on creating the life and relationships we desire. I strongly believe that people heal and grow best in connection with others, and therapy provides the security and compassion necessary to make new discoveries about yourself that can lead to positive change.

I am a trauma-informed, sex positive psychotherapist offering Telehealth sessions to couples and individuals in California. My practice is affirming and supportive for gender, sexuality, and relationship diversity (GSRD) from early adulthood to later life. With a nurturing and non-judgmental approach, I empower people to explore their desires, overcome obstacles, and create fulfilling relationships. I aim to provide a grounded and warm space for folks to explore the parts of themselves that are challenging to sit with alone. I am kink affirming, queer affirming, and non-monogamy affirming!

I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who works with adults, adolescents, and couples. I enjoy spending quality time with friends and family, comedy, theatre, film making, creative writing, improvisation, nature, traveling, film and television, documentaries, dancing and making art of all kinds. I graduated from the High School for Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, Texas. In college I studied theatre, documentary film and creative writing. I have a BA from Columbia College Chicago.