Therapists in San Francisco, CA

Hello! I am a licensed MFT with over a decade of clinical experience supporting both individuals and couples. Much of my work has focused on supporting a few specific populations including gay men and the broader LGBTQIA+ community, people with ADHD, and founders and other organization leaders in the Bay Area. I specialize in ACT, an evidence-based methodology rooted in mindfulness that, at its core, is about helping people get unstuck. In my work with couples, I also specialized in The Gottman Method, an evidence-based approach backed by more than 50 years of research.

Do you find yourself struggling with anxiety, depression, grief, self-esteem, identity, and difficult life transitions? Do you find yourself feeling stuck and can’t seem to focus or move forward? There are many ways to get unstuck, and this is the work I love to do to help you heal, grow and live a more fulfilling life. I use an integrative approach including attachment-based work, DBT, CBT, IFS, and mindfulness, bringing in each as needed. Above all, I strive to hold space and empathy for your life experience.

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.

My style works best with individuals or couples that are interested in a solution focused approach. I enjoy working with individual clients that are working through anxiety, mood, or relationship issues. When working with couples I focus on making practical communication changes that increase closeness and intimacy. I also specialize in working with the LGBTQ community.

Are you experiencing: relationship issues, feeling overwhelmed, or stuck? Perhaps you are in a Neuro-Diverse relationship (you're wired differently) and stuggle to understand each other and get your needs met? Do you want to learn better commuication and problem-solving skills? Maybe you want a more fulfilling sex life - solo, or with your partner. There are many things that affect us and our sexuality over time - stress, age, life events, hormone changes... I can help you navigate these areas to find the answers you're looking for and get you to a better place!

Are you struggling with relationships? Are you having the same fight with your partner over and over? Have you lost the emotional connection you used to have? Intimate relationships touch our deepest relational wounds. That's why we can be overwhelmed with the pain they bring and often, at points, feel like giving up. We can heal those wounds and help each other in that process. The kind of couples therapy/marriage counseling and individual therapy that I provide combines deep experiential work with teaching, coaching and practicing many specific relational skills that will set you up for success in all your relationships.

The people who come to me are curious to get to know themselves in a deeper way. I support my clients with improving connection and conflict resolution in their relationships, embracing authenticity, managing perfectionism, setting healthy boundaries, interrupting unhelpful patterns, mindfully managing anxiety, and healing from trauma. Together, we can work toward both short-term and long-term change.

Warm greetings! I appreciate the challenge of finding the "right" therapist for you. If you are concerned about your relationship issues, I am glad you are here. My approach is interactive with a focus of finding practical solutions for your concerns. I can teach you a variety of evidence-based communication tools. If you are a couple who desires more intimacy and better ways to resolve differences, I can assist you. I have completed Level 2 Training in Gottman Method Couples Therapy and provide a comprehensive online assessment for each couple, including a written summary for the couple.

My clinical approach is multi-disciplinary and rooted in psychodynamic theory, existential psychology, mindfulness, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT). I also have a background in integrative health and wellness, which can contribute to a more in-depth perspective on treatment. My style is collaborative, intuitive, direct, and non-judgemental, and I encourage clients to be true to themselves and transparent. Although treatment is based on an individual's needs and goals, principle themes in all treatment are to help one regain one’s confidence and strength and to reinforce one’s resiliency.

It is through our relationship with others and our relationship with ourselves that we can learn who we are. I work with families, couples and individuals as they navigate loneliness within and between relationships, manage life transitions, navigate grief, and learn to better understand their mental and physical health. I am passionate about the work that I do and have seen how therapy can be a place to find self-acceptance, resilience, forgiveness, and healing.

Couple's counseling and sexual health is my passion. Infidelity, cheating, and emotional affairs. Lack of sexual desire. Communication, loss of connection, and healing old hurts and resentments are common issues addressed in my practice. I'd love to meet you (I do see individuals), or you and your partner (same-sex couples, heterosexual couples, polyamorous couples). You can schedule with me directly online from my webpage: micheleomara.com

Welcome! I'm so glad you're here. As a therpaist, I'm here to support you in navigating life's challenges - especially relationships. Relationship issues are my speciality, and I know from seeing hundreds of clients that when our relationships are out of whack, we are more likely to experience depression, anxiety and other mental health disorders. I also have specialized experience and training for parents of traumatized children, whether that child is still a kid, or is an adult. Whatever relationship you find yourself in (couple, family, peer, work) or whatever relationship you would like to manifest, I can help.

Do you struggle with anxiety and depression due to your childhood trauma? Are you having problems with your partner or family members due to life transition issues? Are you experiencing increased stress, fears, and doubts around the future? I believe that we all have the capacity to heal our emotional wounds and create meaningful changes. My goal as a therapist is to offer you a safe place in which you can process insights, concerns, and emotions associated with trauma.

Frustrated? Feel you are getting nowhere in your efforts to fix some emotional snag? Feel you are caught in a loop that has left you depressed or anxious? Maybe both? I help individuals and couples work through their rough patches. By using proven methods based on research I have helped resolve many issues without lengthy treatment. Being empathically present with clients to ensure their safety and comfort is a core value for me. All lifestyles and cultural backgrounds are welcomed in my practice. In addition to California clients, I am also licensed for televideo sessions in New Mexico and Florida.

The Couples Enrichment Center is specifically designed for couples. We specialize in adults who were raised in dysfunctional families who want to have healthy adult relationships. We start with The Gottman Method which is the most empirically validated couples therapy used today. The Gottman's found that couples who stayed together all shared similar traits and behaviors; while couples who separated also shared similar traits and behaviors. Thanks to the thousands of the couples who came before, we now have specific interventions that can help you build a long lasting relationship and stay together.

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?

I specialize in treating adults with: Relationship & Couples Issues, Trauma and PTSD, and Mood & Generalized Anxiety Disorders, Our emotions and feelings take a toll when they go unaddressed, affecting our relationships, self-worth and general life satisfaction. So often, these emotional problems stem from our family-of-origin and intergenerational traumas & wounds. While we can feel that something is wrong, the path to healing, recovery and health can feel messy and out-of-reach. Our feelings are not a reflection of reality because we can experience freedom from the dysfunctional patterns in our lives.

I help couples create more loving, connected, and healthy relationships, recognizing that intimate relationships often expose our deepest wounds as well as our greatest chance for growth and healing. I specialize in supporting couples in exploring communication challenges, intimacy issues, emotional distance, and the impact that significant life events (pregnancy, post-partum, parenting, grief, chronic illness, financial stressors) can have on a relationship.

As humans, it is natural to experience periods of intense difficulty, particularly when feeling overwhelmed by competing demands or relationship patterns that are no longer effective. Therapy can be a resource to help navigate healthy and authentic relationships, restore life balance, calm anxious thoughts, and regain overall wellbeing. I believe that we teach others how to treat us, and that setting effective and graceful boundaries is an attainable goal. When emotions become overpowering, our tendency is to avoid them, yet they provide important information that can be used to inform and move toward the life you want to live.