Internet Addiction Therapists in Berkeley, CA

I specialize in serving GIFTED PROFESSIONAL AND CREATIVE ADULTS AND COUPLES. Being gifted is a minority experience, which is hard to own or talk about due to cultural (mis)attributions of elitism and arrogance, so many gifted people have not explored this aspect of their identity and how this may be related to difficulties in their life. You may feel out of step with the world or misunderstood, and not know why, or that you have to hide aspects of yourself. Or have trouble making friends, be told you’re "too intense", feel socially awkward, not understand why others seem to respond negatively to your ideas, or feel deeply disappointed with the world’s imperfections. IN MY OFFICE, YOU CAN BE UNRESERVEDLY YOURSELF. Talking frankly about being gifted can improve your self-esteem and offer relief from self-doubt, loneliness, anxiety, or depression, as you develop strategies to meet the majority culture more effectively. Before becoming a psychologist, I worked for 25 years in startups, nonprofits, academia, and F500 companies. I hold a Stanford MBA and Berkeley MSEE, and have special training in assisting gifted clients. I've also published research on the creative process.

For 25 years, I have assisted people with a variety of addictions, from the exogenous abuse of drugs and alcohol, to the ones that stem from the chemicals already inside the brain, such as sex and love addiction, abandonment patterns, sexual compulsions, gambling, internet, and workaholism. Unlike most psychotherapists, I’m a Board Certified Addiction Specialist, well versed in both abstinence and harm reduction strategies. Unlike most addiction professionals, I am also psychotherapist who also treats the anxiety, depression, and other psychological issues that often manifest after being uncovered through recovery.

It can seem impossible to figure things out, to feel loved, secure, less lonely, frightened or sad. Work, family and social demands can cause stress and/or burn-out. People get caught in cycles of porn/sexual addiction, video games or online surfing that derails them. I'm seasoned and adept at providing safety to think things through. I see many types of people from widely diverse cultural backgrounds and with different sexual orientations. My approach is engaging, warm and exploratory. I provide help at times of crisis, or when life feels unsatisfying, frozen, boring, numb or sad.

If your sexual behavior is out of control and destructive. We have helped more than 2,000 sex addicts and their partners. We are the oldest,since 1985,and largest sex addiction treatment center in N. California. Don't let your shame keep you stuck. This is our specialty.

I have over ten years experience working with clients in their teens or twenties who have: attachment issues; ADHD, Anxiety, and Depression. They suffer relational trauma for a variety of reasons, such as: emotional abuse and neglect; physical or sexual abuse; and sexual assault. I help my clients resolve past trauma; heal attachment wounds; replace unhealthy habits with healthy ones; and to progress towards their life goals. This results in them having healthier and more satisfying relationships; a greater sense of connection and belonging; and higher functioning in every day life.

Therapy is an opportunity for getting support when we recognize that the old ways of coping with challenging life situations are no longer working. You may feel that seeking professional help is the last resort. In fact, it is the most important step. In my practice, I provide a warm and collaborative environment to support clients in making positive changes to live healthier, happier, and more productive lives. I see adults, adolescents, and couples with a wide variety of issues and concerns including depression, anxiety, PTSD, childhood trauma, relationship difficulties, sexual issues, anger management, and substance abuse.

Is your child having difficulty at school, with learning or being social? Is your child being called hyperactive, withdrawn, or distracted? Is your child seem angry, sad, worried, or nervous? Do you wonder if your child might benefit from special education services? Or if they need therapy? Do you wonder if your child is functioning at a level that is comparable to children within their peer group? Having a Psychological Assessment or Psycho-Ed Evaluation can help you learn how to help your child develop and grow in a safe manner and give your family answers to the above.

I love working with clients who want to be free of ingrained patterns that aren't working, whether from sub-optimal parenting or other experiences. Often these patterns are held in place through painful and threatening feelings stemming from conditioning or our natural dependency on challenged parents. I resource and support clients' present lives, which may mean touching in to what happened to connect to a source of reactivity. Clients who enjoy working with me want more aliveness and freedom, more flow and resilience. They want encouragement & new challenges, and will attend to their experience, unfolding the paths forward.

I use my extensive somatic training to help my clients build more capacity to be with and understand their feelings so that they can be in charge of their lives instead of their feelings pushing them around. I help clients with issues ranging from social anxiety, relationship challenges, depression, sleep issues, chronic pain, navigating difficult family and work environments, finding and focusing on their passion in life, and dealing with the traumatic state of the world.

Life can get difficult sometimes as we try to juggle the demands of the external world while finding internal balance and harmony. We can carry the pain inflicted on us due to circumstances, or by others. And sometimes it is just a feeling of wanting something more from life than what seems feasible. These experiences can leave us feeling isolated and disconnected from our sense of aliveness, joy and creativity. I like to support my clients on their journey towards creating a more satisfying life, a life that feels wholesome both internally and externally.

Do you find yourself at a crossroads, with recent events or longstanding issues to sort through and understand? Are you experiencing a challenged relationship, a sadness lingering from Covid isolation, anxieties, a shake up of self esteem, or a desire to re-calibrate life/career goals? What do you want to release and what to retain as learning? I offer compassionate, supportive, resourceful, pragmatic collaboration to help you balance these awarenesses. Together, we will set achievable goals and reclaim your resources within, so that you, and your relationships can move forward in a positive way.

My name is Daniel Lesny, and I'm a therapist, supervisor, and Training Director at Center for Creative Growth. I see myself as a catalyst who helps you to be with, heal, and grow in the areas of life that are most important to you. For over 25 years, I have offered individual, couples, family, and group therapy, including our Center's acclaimed "Healing Your Past - Transforming Your Future" 20-session Intensive, now available to California residents via Zoom. Our Program helps you heal these painful legacies of growing up in a family where there was emotional, verbal, physical, or sexual abuse, neglect, abandonment, or addiction.

People I work with are seeking new dimensions of creativity, desire, feeling or something unnameable. I bring respect and attention to each moment of our work together, where my aim as a psychoanalytic therapist is to listen to your life in an unheard way, so you can open a space for irrevocable transformation.

I have a particular expertise in working with clients who have diverse cultural backgrounds (e.g. ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation.) I also have a deep association working with artistic/creative type individuals and can address particular issues that arise being an artist confined to a conventional/mainstream worldview.

Therapy is an opportunity. When familiar ways of being in the world no longer prove useful, therapy offers the possibility of discovering aspects of ourselves that can help us lead a richer, more fulfilling life. I offer both short-term treatment and long-term intensive treatment depending on your needs. Working to develop a safe relationship we can explore together how past events and patterns of relating to others contribute to difficulties with the goal of improving relationships and issues at work, and to help you achieve a more stable and fulfilling sense of who you are in the world.

I specialize in helping individuals and couples transform obsessive thoughts, harmful/addictive behaviors (especially sex addiction and/or porn addiction), and unhealthy patterns into a serene, fulfilling life with repaired, satisfying relationships. Therapy can actually be fun! Especially as one establishes more fulfilling ways of being with oneself and others, and learns to hear, trust and act upon one's own inner guidance. Changing old, limiting patterns takes courage, and having a therapist with the right blend of compassion, insight and humor can be a valuable ally on the road to transformation.

My ideology is inspired by the juxtaposition of American narratives, originating from the Deep South and Urban Midwest. Growing up in a Pro-Black, Christian Baptist home I learned how gender, sexuality, and white supremacy can greatly affect our culture, happiness and well-being. Early exposure to the mental healthcare system taught me that oppression can be as multi-layered and intersectional as the oppressed, and diagnosis will continue to be an act of oppression if it ignores cultural context, societal phobias, and systemic oppression. For a great number, our mental health is a representation of how we survive our social climate.

With over 14 years of clinical experience, I help men and women, couples and families (especially adult siblings) address a variety forms of distress, from anxiety and depression, to addiction or just a general sense that something feels off in their lives in order to find more fulfillment and meaning. Whether I am working with an individual, couple or family, I am attuned to multiple forms of communication as a direct means for assessment, diagnosis and treatment for what ails each client, and what blocks them from their own joy and peace. I am interested in working with clients with a curiosity of their inner worlds.

My practice is informed by social justice and my experience growing up as a first generation Filipino-American in the Bay Area.