Substance Use Therapists in Kentfield, CA

Hello and a warm welcome to my page! I'm an Associate Professional Clinical Counselor specializing in co-occurring mental health and substance use disorders, depression, anxiety, trauma and grief for individual clients. I am a compassionate person-centered therapist who believes in results. My style is warm and directive, which means I play an active role in helping my clients learn to solve their problems. I value humor and warm smiles, and interject these when appropriate. I am also in recovery and am grateful to help clients find sobriety, peace and happiness as I have found.

Somatic Experiencing (SE) takes healing to a deeper level. Combined with 'top-down' approaches, SE helps identify strengths and intentions beneath painful survival patterns. Shame, fear and anger transform into vital life energy. Surviving becomes thriving. As a private practice psychotherapist based in SF & Marin, I primarily work with adults, but also love to assist children in the healing process.

Whether your decision to make changes involves freedom from painful limiting beliefs, release from repetitive relationship patterns, or transformation through sincere self-examination, I help people to fully realize the person they are destined to become. I work with adults, couples, teens, and families, helping them to successfully attain short-term goals and craft long-range solutions by utilizing a variety of approaches matched to their specific needs or expressed desires as they learn new ways to address life's challenges. As a level 3 Gottman couples therapist, I work with couples utilizing John Gottman's evidence-based theory.

Getting professional assistance works, but it's not easy to ask for help. In practice for over 25 years, I find that many emotionally challenging problems can be treated with insight, support, and education. In a confidential and discreet setting, together we can look honestly at what's going on and find personalized solutions for you. Whether you're struggling with a life transition, a family problem, an addiction or a health challenge, together, we'll get you moving in the direction you desire.

I am a Certified Emotionally Focused Therapist for couples. In this therapy we re-frame and restructure the emotional experience you have with your partner. We help you move from conflict and disappointment to intimacy and love. We all want to be seen, heard and understood by our partner; to feel our loved one is accessible, responsive and engaged. This therapy, through experiential work in the sessions, accomplishes amazing shifts in the safety, closeness and love felt with your partner. My approach is highly interactive and experiential.

Welcome to my practice. Trained at the The Wright Institute in Berkeley, my approach emphasizes compassion, collaboration, and evidence-based treatment. Good psychotherapy encourages perspective on life's challenges, and can open up new possibilities.

Relationships are our speciality - We work with couples, families, and individuals on attachment issues, relationships, connection, and emotional safety. We are 'Emotionally Focused Couples Therapists' (ICEEFT) as well as sex-informed therapists. Our approach involves turning around patterns that feel out of control and repetitive while increasing bonding and closeness. We also work with individuals on connecting with others in a positive way while understanding and changing patterns that are hard to shift.

I work with individual and couples who want to see and FEEL a shift in their lives. Some clients start therapy with a clear idea of what they want to work on including feelings of depression, anxiety, communication, infertility, somatic symptoms, trauma, etc. Others come to therapy describing that something just feels "off", and we discover the roadmap together. It's my role to help you establish clear goals for therapy which I will track over our time together. I value collaboration, authenticity, curiosity and safety in the therapeutic process, and work well with people who are open to exploring different techniques.

I believe everything has meaning, even pain. Oftentimes, the function of such suffering feels unclear or arbitrary. My approach to the work seeks to understand the motives and desires (both conscious and unconscious) that are maintaining painful patterns that feel hard to break. Through embarking on this journey together, it becomes easier to face uncomfortable truths that have stifled your growth in some way while gaining new tools for deeper fulfillment. I hope to provide an opportunity to increase insight while relating to yourself and others in a new way that allows for more authenticity, playfulness and connection in your life.

I help anxious clients who want to build healthy relationships and meaningful lives . I specialize in treating anxiety disorders including panic, fear of flying, general anxiety, OCD, and social anxiety, with evidence based Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. I treat individuals and couples with relationship issues including addiction using Schema therapy, ACT, and Gottman methods. I am a behaviorist and believe changing behaviors is fundamental to changing outcomes. I work with clients on active life skills and narratives to thrive and create meaning and connection. I work with psychiatrists, physicians and support 12 step groups.

Lasting change occurs in therapy when one identifies and works through their concerns that have been outside their awareness. I develop a non-judgmental, intimate working alliance with my clients, in order to facilitate this self-understanding, both emotionally and intellectually. Such work fosters growth and creative responses to long standing difficulties in relationship to one's self and others. In return for investing themselves fully, my clients are offered the freedom to be more completely who they are, while also being able to maintain close and fulfilling relationships.

Therapy can be a source of tremendous relief and gratification. Unhappiness and anxiety that feel unbearable can lessen and disappear when you have someone who can help you understand the reasons for your suffering. A good therapist can also help you more easily get your mind off upsetting thoughts that preoccupy you. Or if you find yourself acting in self-defeating ways, studying it with a therapist can be of enormous help. Ideally, you will leave an initial consultation with a new way of thinking about the problem that brought you in.

I hope you will consider me a trusted ally in your journey to personal and professional growth. My mission is to provide you with the tools and support needed to create a life filled with joy and fulfillment. I believe in the power of genuine connection and practical guidance to help you navigate through life's challenges with confidence and resilience.

You may be educated, even outwardly successful, but struggle to feel good about yourself, have difficulties with close relationships or just want more out of life. I believe it's human to struggle and that we all can benefit from self exploration. You stand to gain, and so does your partner, children, friends, even co-workers when you're bringing more of your best self to the game. My style is active and I bring humor and compassion to help you develop solutions as well as grow from your struggles. A seasoned therapist, my approach is flexible and practical, tailored to meet your needs. I'm LGBTQIA sensitive and welcoming.

I believe that feeling safe is the most necessary factor for us to create change in our lives. Each of us deserves to feel valued for who we are. Often our life experiences, beginning in childhood, have convinced us we are undeserving of happiness and good things. How can we create the life we long for if we don't believe we deserve it? Sometimes it is necessary to unlearn some of the distorted messages that came out of childhood. I can help you uncover what is in your way and help you to heal.

Adolescence can be a very challenging time for teens and their families. Although developmentally it is a particularly wonderful time of exploration and curiosity for teens, sometimes things do not go as expected. Individual adolescent therapy and sessions incorporating parents and /or families can make this time much easier to negotiate. I see primarily adolescents, and often incorporate parents and families into treatment planning. Presenting issues may range from anxiety and depression to substance abuse and eating disorders where I hold additional certifications and trainings. I also see adults with persisting eating issues.

You have tried everything…taken all the yoga classes, lifted all the weights, read one (or two) of Brené Brown’s books, but none of it seems like enough. There is still that thing that keeps coming up and gets in the way of living your best life. Perhaps you are still full of anxiety even though you’re meditating every day. Maybe you’re drinking too much, feel disconnected from life, or just can’t seem to find the right relationship—whatever it is, you feel trapped in this cycle and recognize that you might need some help breaking free. ​Getting to this point is really tough and it's incredibly brave to seek help.

I am a licensed psychologist who sees individuals, couples and families for more than 20 years. My goal is to help patients live psychologically healthier and more fulfilling lives. My patients want to remove obstacles and recover hope, purpose and themselves. I help explore deeper issues and patterns underlying persistent unhappiness, as well as help navigate life transitions that are overwhelming. Adjusting to uncertainty, new beginnings, endings, isolation, grief, and constantly changing conditions are challenging and can cause us to get stuck. I can help unstick.

I have been licensed as a Marriage Family Therapist and life coach for over 27 years. I see a client's issues in the context of the unfolding of the whole person. Making life changes can be a powerfully transformative experience. I offer a highly personalized approach tailored to my clients needs and interests, depending on whether you are more interested counseling or coaching, individual or couple's work. I offer a complimentary phone con to determine whether we may be a good fit. I offer a nonjudgmental and safe space to explore your concerns while also wanting to get you results. My style is supportive, and direct.