Therapists in San Francisco, CA

I describe myself as passionate, open, caring and engaged. I have worked for many years with teens, parents, families, and individuals experiencing anxiety and depressive disorders, including Major Depressive Disorder, OCD, and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. I am committed to helping each client meet their goals, including working with all other care providers involved. I use Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and have an extensive background in mindfulness. I meet each client where they are at, and collaborate with the client to show up for life in a way that is consistent with their values.

I am a warm and experienced psychotherapist who works with adults living with the challenging effects of high anxiety, relationship problems, difficult life transitions, and trauma. I listen and work closely with you to understand what factors may be contributing to your present difficulty, and from there create a plan for the path forward to feeling better. Whether it be learning strategies to live a full life in spite of anxiety, improving the quality of your relationships, resolving symptoms or simply feeling less alone in the world, my goal is for you to see tangible results from your treatment with me.

In our work together, my intention is to help you break away from the maladaptive thought patterns, emotions, actions, and external circumstances that keep you stuck in an unwanted experience. My goal is to help you create progress towards the life you do want for yourself. I’ll want to understand the changes you’d like to see in yourself. With this in mind, I’ll want to identify the behaviors you’d like to demonstrate, the lasting emotions you’d like to feel, and the outcomes you’d like to see present themselves in your life. With that information, we'll set the overall goals for therapy. Now providing Psychedelic Assisted Therapy.

Psychotherapy has the ability to significantly improve your mental well being, treat mental illnesses and boost your overall social and psychological functionality. During therapy, we will explore life's challenges, thought patterns and behaviors that are hindering your well being within a very safe, supportive, and non-critical environment. The search for the right therapist can take time and courage. It's important that you find the right match. Let me share with you about my practice and see if I can be of help to you.

I specialize in Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Exposure/Response Prevention (ERP) for adults with OCD and anxiety disorders (such as generalized anxiety, panic, and phobias). I'm also experienced in working with depression, bipolar, bulimia and binge eating, and other disorders. In addition, I have an interest in health psychology and enjoy working with people on issues like weight management, smoking cessation, and coping with medical problems.

I'm a licensed clinical psychologist working with people to help them achieve lasting changes and create more fulfilling life. I pride myself on providing evidence based, ethical and compassionate care to my clients. My therapeutic approach is collaborative, active and present focused. I am easygoing and use a lot of humor to enhance the therapeutic relationship and to make our time together more enjoyable and productive. I believe that each person is unique, has his/her own unique history and goals and work with each client to develop individualized treatment plan designed to address each person's unique symptoms and needs.

Welcome. My name is Angela Grau and I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. I provide individual therapy for adults experiencing depression, anxiety, OCD, stress, burnout, interpersonal issues, self esteem, life transitions, and grief or loss. You can expect my sessions to feel warm, welcoming, collaborative and creative.

I enjoy working with an array of different types of individuals. Some of the people I work with are looking to gain tangible skills to overcome particular challenges in their lives, such as social anxiety, phobias, and OCD. Others seek out therapy with me because they are navigating life transitions, experiencing relationship difficulties, or looking to better understand themselves. My hope would be that throughout the course of therapy, their goals might evolve as they experience some relief from their symptoms and would shift to exploring their own values, identity, and spirituality.

I am a licensed psychologist specializing in the treatment of anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, sleep difficulties, and body-focused repetitive behaviors such as hair-pulling and skin-picking. I provide treatment approaches that have been supported by research, while tailoring treatment to the unique needs of each client. I believe that therapy works best when it is a collaborative partnership between the client and the therapist, and I work with my clients to clarify their goals and develop an individualized treatment plan.

I obtained my Doctorate/Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in Child and Family Psychology, from APA-accredited Palo Alto University, Pacific Graduate School of Psychology. My Postdoctoral Residency was completed at the Psychiatry Department in Kaiser Permanente, San Rafael. I hold a B.A. in Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. I have worked in a variety of clinical settings with children, adolescents and adults providing individual, family, group, and couples therapy. I provide evidence based treatment from a strengths based perspective and have specialty training in CBT and DBT.

Welcome! Thank you for checking out my page, and more importantly, for taking this step to invest in yourself! You likely are struggling significantly with something and looking for guidance. You may be wondering if I could be the therapist by your side on this journey. Here's a little about me to help you make an informed decision: My style of therapy is thoughtful, warm, compassionate, non-judgmental, highly collaborative, and results-driven. You are the expert on you (your child), and are likely coming to me for expertise in specific therapies to help you get to where you are heading. As a team we can get there quicker!

I work with adults and teens on a range of issues including Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), anxiety, depression, and substance use. I take a pragmatic approach to therapy and work collaboratively with clients to help them identify the sources of their distress and how to overcome them. I help clients recognize thought patterns that may not be serving them well and teach them to incorporate more effective ways of thinking in their lives. I use a range of techniques including mindfulness, acceptance, and a focus on values.

Sometimes, we get stuck in patterns that might have been helpful at some point in our lives but are not so helpful to us now. These patterns show up in the ways we respond in our relationships, in work/school, to challenges, and to ourselves. We’ll approach therapy as collaborators to build up your skills and strengths to get you unstuck. In our work together, we'll gently explore the past, so we can create an action plan for a different future. We'll recontextualize what no longer serves you and make space for your curious, creative self to emerge.

Are you dealing with unwanted OCD thoughts or rituals? Avoiding places, objects, movements, people, words, colors, that you're afraid will trigger anxiety or thoughts? Thinking about the same things over and over with no resolution? Are you lost? Lonely? Grieving? Acting or thinking in ways you don't understand? Looking for something more in your life? Not knowing what the next step is? Wanting to make big, positive changes (or even small ones) and don't know how? Just moved here? I love helping people explore their lives and themselves! Let's find out what's next, what's inside, what you want and who you are!

People often consider therapy because they want to achieve a goal (satisfying job, rewarding relationships) or because they have had an experience they want to talk through in private. I consider therapy a success when you leave feeling capable of being your own therapist. I work on a client’s capacity to independently manage their feelings and problems. I want you to be able to adapt to reality on its own terms so that you can build a meaningful and sustainable life. To do this I take an approach that is interactive, transparent, and conversational. I am currently licensed in California, Washington, Oregon, and Texas.

I have specialized in working with Obsessive Compulsive Spectrum Disorders since the late 1990's and have worked with hundreds of patients, trained other professionals all over the US, and published a range of books on optimal OCD treatment ("The OCD Meditation Book"; "The ERP Cure"). OCD is the result of miscalibrated circuitry in the brain that should be looking for danger, but for those of us with OCD is looking for perfection which it can never find. Having OCD myself I will be able to more quickly understand the way your OCD works and develop a specially tailored plan to get your brain working better.

I help people 20 and older manage exhausting emotions that torture, pressure them into knee jerk reactions, and make relationships difficult. Using evidence-based practical techniques, with a dash of warmth and humor, we'll work together to see the big picture, map a path, and manage what's in the way of getting some peace.

As a therapist, I am passionate about helping you to align with what’s important in your life. I aim to create a space where you can feel heard but also challenged. My approach respects you as the expert of your own life experiences. I am here to guide the process with curiosity and compassion. Whatever you're doing makes sense. It may be that it's just not working.

Do you feel like you're continually caught in a struggle with intrusive thoughts or spiraling worry? Maybe you have a cycle of repetitive mental or physical behaviors that only seem to make the problem worse? Do you suspect that you've been struggling with OCD but you've never gotten properly diagnosed or treated? If you've spent years talking about your problems, but still feel trapped in the same hole; or you want to change, but you're not sure how, you are headed in the right direction! I know how frustrating, defeating and draining these battles can be, and I'm here to help.