Therapists in Walnut Creek, CA

At Gonzales Family Counseling, it is our honor to develop a client centered relationship in order to promote hope, healing, and accessing one's best self. We work with children, adolescents, young adults, adults, couples, parents, and families.

We are a group of clinicians committed to providing skilled, supportive therapy and coaching to our clients. Our therapists use a strength-based approach to building relationships with clients that provide the trust needed to make big change. We specialize in seeing women in transitional stages of life, including but not limited to; pre-and postpartum struggles, anxiety, eating disorders, addictive behaviors, depression, role confusion, relationship stress, parenting dynamics and trauma. We love to see couples, children and individual adults ready to move past barriers and experience more joy in relationships and life.

Deciding to pursue psychotherapy is an important and personal decision. There are various reasons for which someone may pursue psychotherapy, whether it is to cope with current life stressors or to seek support in managing ongoing concerns. Regardless of your reason for pursuing therapy, you should not feel alone in the process and I look forward to working with you on meeting your goals. I am a bilingual (Spanish/English) licensed clinical psychologist who works with children/adolescents, families and young adults, using an integrative approach and tailoring my work to each person's unique story.

What is it that causes you so much pain? Frequently our mental health is directly related to unresolved past hurts and traumas. These struggles can be from childhood and our family of origin, or perhaps they show up in the form of shame from choices we have made or choices other's have made against us. I encourage you to begin the work to overcome your negative experiences. Seek counseling if you want support and direction in gaining a positive perspective, want insight into managing difficult circumstances, or want to improve your communication or conflict resolution skills. You deserve to find fulfillment and joy.

Having trouble changing habits or becoming your best self? Experiencing hardship in life or marriage? Talking to someone helps, and I want to be there for you. I focus on helping men find relief from addictions and emotional distress. I enjoy partnering with parents in addressing emotional/behavioral concerns in children/teens. I believe God's intervention in counseling is found in knowing our true self through Christ's perspective. No matter where you are, I'll meet you there. I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, with my MA in MFT and PCC from St. Mary's College.

What would it be like to be understood? No really?! The journey truly starts when we first seek to understand ourselves. Through personalized, identity affirming intervention and an unconditional judge-free zone, I implement healthy relationship building with each one of my clients first. As a result, trust can be established and influences you to be empowered yet vulnerable, ultimately leading to healthy behavior modification and a deeper awareness of how to thrive even through adversity.

I have dedicated over 30 years to provide an avenue for healing to survivors of trauma. As an integrative therapist I am not restricted to a particular methodology or school of thought. Instead, I can draw on different methodologies and treatment modalities. I am a therapist who gets to the heart of the matter quickly. I can assist you in finding a higher level of inner peace. In this therapeutic relationship, you are nurtured while dealing with challenges, and together, we will explore practical solutions and strategies for your journey.

My specialty is utilizing expressive arts in the therapy space, which can include a variety of art forms, such as visual arts (drawing, painting, collaging), poetry, lyric writing, music, and movement. The arts provide an outlet for freedom of expression, shed light into one’s experience and bring confidence to our presences. Whether clients prefer talk-therapy or other creative avenues to support their process, I am committed to meeting my clients wherever they are on their therapeutic journey, while remaining curious, creative, collaborative, culturally humble, and strengths-based.

There is no such thing as an ideal client other than one that takes the first steps to help better themselves. I am here to aid the process. Everyone has a purpose. Mine is to help people using different modalities catered to individual needs. I hope that every person that I assist learns self confidence, gains emotional intelligence, learns to self reflect, and builds healthy strategies to face the difficulties life can bring. We cannot always control the things in our paths but we can learn to control ourselves and how we cope with hardships. We have the ability to turn unfortunate events into beautiful testimony.

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.

Are you tired of feeling rejected, lonely, confused, anxious, depressed, or just plain stuck? If so, then I can show you how you can experience feeling connected, peaceful, empowered, energized, and feeling good. I'm not in the “symptom reduction” business – like most therapists. Whether you're a teen, adult, or couple, my focus is helping clients just like you experience MORE. Picture experiencing not just less of something but more...hope, love, self-control, happiness, fulfillment, freedom, confidence, affection, compassion, trust, acceptance, validation, and feeling understood.

Hi! I'm so glad you're here. Welcome to my profile. Many of the clients I've worked with have experienced a sense of feeling stuck in some area of their life whether it's in their relationships with themselves or with others. They desire for their life to look different, but are at a loss of how to create the change they're longing for and only end up feeling anxious, depressed, or attempting to fill the void or distract from the feelings of overwhelm that a different way of life is possible.

Beginning therapy takes courage! When we are hurting, confused, and uncertain, it can be difficult to reach out for help. It's an honor and privledge to work with couples with the goal of helping them live life to the fullest. I look forward to hearing from you, to discover if we are a good fit for one another.

Welcome! I’m so glad you’re here. Whether you’re here because you are feeling disconnected from who you are, experiencing conflict in your important relationships, generally feel down and lost, or are just plainly curious about therapy, you’ve come to the right place. No matter what intersection of our identities we hold, and our unique history of lived experiences, all of us live through times where life just feels a little bit (or a lot bit) hard. Maybe you’ve lived in that difficult space for so long, it feels like your normal. Or maybe it’s really uncommon for you, that when it does happen, it feels like a shock to your system.

One of the scariest parts of therapy is the unknown. Our fear of therapy focuses on what we will have to say, the things we will have to feel but rarely when we think of therapy do we focus on the things we may find within ourselves. Like the courage to speak power to our own voice. The reality that we are not the sum of the worst things that have happened to us. Hell, maybe that we have always been valuable and we never deserved the way we were treated, the hurt we were given or the hurt that is still present within us. It is through our therapeutic process that we are able to organize your thoughts and prioritize your voice.

Although most people are depressed or angry at times, they generally find a way to deal with the situation. There are times, however, when a person loses hope or is overwhelmed. They or others decide they might use some help. Sometimes a woman or a man decides that they would like to adjust their life style and emphasize their sense of self. If you work in Silicon Valley, I can use my experience in industry to help you unblock your potential and design effective strategies for greater satisfaction. If you seek spiritual depth, my years as a guide may help unfold meaning.

Our team of specialists is passionate about working with people whose lives have been impacted by compulsive behavior and/or sexual trauma. The team is committed to helping individuals understand their behaviors and assist them in finding recovery through developing new habits for self-care, coping and personal insight. Taking this transformational journey can help individuals and couples move from a place of chaos into a life of wholeness and new relationships of trust and intimacy. The team uses evidence-based treatments to educate, motivate and equip individuals and couples to work towards healing.

At times, life can be challenging. Children, adolescents, adults, couples, and even families may need to learn new coping skills. I believe working with a therapist can provide a pathway that allows people to reconnect with their strengths and discover new possibilities for their lives. You can be happier! As a therapist, I can facilitate your ability to understand yourself and the important people in your world. I encourage my clients to make changes that can help them live more happily. I provide a thoughtful, humanistic, solution-focused perspective and work collaboratively with my clients.

If you feel hopeless or unsupported, or you feel depressed or anxious...or if your husband or wife or partner isn't willing or able to talk about problems, I offer professional, supportive, empathic, and good-humored help. I'm a psychologist, researcher, and former clinical supervisor and professor at The Wright Institute, in Berkeley, California, who helps adults and teens facing difficulties and dilemmas, and couples with low to high conflict, including infidelity, who may want to save--or simply improve--their relationship.