Find a Therapist in Castro Valley, California.

I provide brief solutions-focused psychotherapy to help clients assess personal and professional functioning, clarify goals, and strengthen social and emotional skills. I specialize in brief online relationship counseling. Online counseling allows clients to seek help as needed, engage in therapy at a schedule that's convenient to them, and keep their counselor as they progress through life. I work with LGBTQ and hetero clients on individual, couple, and alternative relationship concerns. Clients explore issues that impact their professional and personal relationships, including communication, power dynamics, and intimacy. I accept US$ and cryptocurrencies.

Psychotherapy is not anything to be scared of, or intimidated about. Seeking out a therapist or being in therapy isn't an admission of weakness or some kind of character flaw. Therapy is a collaborative process and a partnership with someone who is trained in and experienced with facilitating personal growth. And in this process, you are in the driver's seat. Our minds and emotions and relationships involve complicated machinery just like our bodies do and in the same way a medical doctor helps you stay physically healthy, Psychotherapy is designed to help you be and stay mentally and socially strong, and continually in a position to take on life's many challenges as your best self.

Are you feeling stuck? When you’re depressed, anxious or overwhelmed, it feels that life is always difficult. Taking the time to work through challenges in therapy improve your life in ways you never imagined. I am a therapist who helps clients manage anxiety and break through depression. My style is warm and nonjudgmental, and I work collaboratively with a wide range of clients. My areas of specialization include perinatal depression and anxiety and chronic pain. Using insight-oriented psychotherapy and mindfulness techniques, I will help you find a way to stop feeling stuck and move forward.

Are you interested in getting relief and finding solutions? Would you like to feel good about your life and relationships? I use empirical research and science across multiple disciplines to show clients just like you how you can get real-world, tangible, time-tested, and long-lasting, results that lead to optimal mental and relational health. Mental and relational health is not just a reduction in symptoms and problems. Instead, they are increases in self-control and empowerment, as well as acceptance, freedom, kindness, compassion, safety, and understanding - for yourself and others.

Entering psychotherapy can provide and rich and healing journey of understanding of yourself and moving past stuck places right now and from times earlier in your life. I am delighted to be your guide in this powerful process that can get you through old trauma, gently move you forward from belefs and behaviors that feel toxic or unnatural to your mind and body, and bring your thoughts, emotions and physical self into a healthier place. Some individuals benefit from discovering origins of where their struggles came from, understanding and clearing that, and others get a lot out of adding ways of moving in new directions inside and outside right here and now. Relief can be enjoyed!

Psychotherapy is a longer-term approach to change utilizing a growth and insight-focused orientation. Through the process connections between past and present are made and with greater awareness of what has led to where we are now we can begin to make conscious choices rather than react when old stuff is triggered and react in ways that don't feel good later. Often EMDR, somatic work, Internal Family Systems and compassion-focused therapies are utilized combined with process-based psychotherapy to address all aspects of the Self.

Healthy relationships make healthy people. Unfortunately, about 50% of our society, while their parents may have loved them dearly, didn't get enough attachment and connection. When this happens, the normal / natural response is depression, anger, excess perfectionism, feeling uncomfortable in your skin, etc. While I may use several modalities, I am always being present and attuning to you in a way that gives you permission to be who you are. My experience is this creates a re-wiring of the "attachment / connecting" neuropathways in your brain. My clients, usually between 6 months and 2 years experience significant emotional shifts that allow them to feel comfortable in their own skin.

No two people are exactly the same, so my approach to each client depends on her particular needs and goals. I take a top-down/bottom-up approach in that we work on how our minds control the body and how the body controls the mind, so that ultimately you have control over both. We will look at patterns that are working and patterns that aren't in terms of emotions, relationships, and behaviors. We figure out how those patterns originated so that we know how to eliminate what's not working and find new, more functional patterns. Science shows us that talk therapy isn't just talk. Therapy literally changes the wiring of your brain to give you more choice, functionality, and joy.

Therapy is not a one size fits all experience. Though I extensively trained to understand specific theories of practice, I utilize a "prescriptive" approach. This means I will adapt to your needs in treatment. Therapy is co-created, it is relational, and it is in the therapeutic relationship where we seek personal growth to apply outside the therapy room. I work with adult individual clients who are grieving a significant loss, LGBTIQ+ adults, adults with creative blocks, neurodivergent adults, people pleasers, those recovering from trauma, and adults burnt out about their work.

Feeling stuck in a cycle that is causing you pain or a lack of fulfillment leaves you open to increased stress, followed by more pain and lack of fulfillment. This puts a strain on your relationships and your sense of well-being. Maybe you feel stuck in addiction, depression, anxiety, a relationship you want to change, a job that doesn't satisfy you anymore. Maybe you have specific ways of interacting with people that you find doesn't serve you anymore- yelling, arguing, passivity, keeping your guard up. We explore your patterns, your symptoms and the reasons they were useful to you. I will teach you knew ways of managing your emotions and ways to diminish patterns that no longer serve you.

I provide a safe, calm, friendly, empathetic & down to earth environment for you in session. Making changes or gaining a better understanding about your life can be challenging. I will lend support to you whether you are experiencing a crisis, going through a transition in life or are interested in learning more about yourself & relationships. Maybe you have sought therapy before or this is the first time, I am here to assist you with all of your therapy goals. No matter who you are and what you have experienced, we all can benefit from psychotherapy. Together we can work on achieving your therapy goals.

My clients often find me easy to talk to and say they feel comfortable with me, trusting quickly. This can make the psychotherapeutic process easier and more effective for my clients, especially if they are nervous or don’t know what to expect. Therapy with me can range from just talking casually with each other, leading to insights, increased self awareness, and processing through emotional issues, or it could be more intensive deeper therapy like EMDR.

We are all born with the capacity for joy and love, but sometimes, as adults, we forget the wondrous sense of possibility or dreams we once had for our lives. Psychotherapy can help you reconnect with yourself and your hopes and aspirations for your life. It can also help you: (1) Develop more awareness about your needs (2) Express yourself more openly and authentically (3) Understand the ways your childhood impacts your experience of yourself as an adult (4) Cope with circumstances such as loss, illness, disability, anxiety, depression, parenting, marriage, aging, care-giving or conflicts in the workplace. If you would like to discuss your needs, please call me at 415-533-9724.