Top addiction therapists in 94702: Berkeley, CA.

Addiction can be a powerful force that can quickly take over your life and can lead to many negative consequences. Trying to understand your addiction(s) and the underlying reasons that led you to this way of coping can be the beginning of more control and management of these behaviors. It can be difficult to look at behaviors that have caused harm, hurt and shame. Together we can work through this process and I will support you throughout.

Addictions are highly entrenched behavioral patterns that seem to take on a life of their own. I view addictive patterns as ways that parts of ourselves are trying to fill unmet needs, search for comfort, relieve stress/tension and sometimes to express a powerful urge to be independent or defiant. In addition to encouraging group supports such as AA/NA, I use body awareness to help us identify triggers and to allow them to act out/ express themselves in sessions. This lessens the likelihood that they will be acted in the world- and fills in the unmet needs. I also teach ways of grounding in our body, and holding a strong stance, so that we can contain the urges when they arise.

I am an addiction specialist. I have spent over a decade working with those suffering from addictions to sex, drugs, alcohol, food, & gambling/spending. I will help you to learn about the roots of your addiction, what underlying thoughts and feelings trigger your addiction and how to manage your life as a recovering person. You are not alone and I am here to help.

Most of the clients I see in my job as Mental Health Clinician for Solano County have a diagnosis that includes substance abuse. I believe that substance abuse can be overcome through various behavioral and psychotherapeutic approaches and I readily apply these techiques to my treatment plan. I also rely on the assistance of outside groups such as Alcoholics Anonoymous and NA. Sexual addiction is an area of importance in our society and I can work with people who are preoccupied with self-destructive sexual behavior, too.

If you are moving into recovery from drugs and alcohol I am here to support your path to strength and growth. From many years of experience with those in early or later recovery from addiction, I would like very much to offer you effective ways of staying present, yet getting underneath where your substance issues began and how to move back into a sober and healthier life. There are often specific career and relationship factors that need to be healed or started anew in a fresh way...often both! I am here to give you that guidance towards adjusting to substance free feelings safely. It can be a great benefit to have support in gently allowing awareness of avoided emotions again.

I work with a lot of people who are in recovery, who may or may not be in an addiction support program such as 12-step programs. All addictions are attempts to regulate the nervous system. Nervous systems get dysregulated as the after-effect of unresolved trauma. Being a certified Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, I use the tools of SE to help clients learn to regulate their nervous systems so the constant unconscious drive to use in order to get relief from anxiety and depression dissipates.

We have all experienced some sort of addiction, whether it be to food, work, sex, alcohol, a drug, gambling, shopping, or our cell phone… This unconscious escapism or desire to fill a void runs rampant in our modern day lifestyle. What do we do when addiction is eroding our quality of life and/or our relationships? I find the solution is often in identifying the core wound that is causing you to want to escape, or to fill a void. I offer a more spiritual approach to recovery work in which you will cultivate your relationship with your Higher Self and learn how to keep the addict part of you in the back seat with the seat belt on.

To live authentically and fully, we must have access to our feelings. In short, this means that we can identify, articulate, express, and finally take appropriate action on them. Addictions, while there is a vast continuum in type and intensity, block full access to our feelings. It is our feelings and our ability to effectively manage them (without addictions) that enable us to connect deeply with ourselves and others. They are our "internal compass" allowing us to discern various parts of ourselves as well as our choice in relationships. Therapy is the ideal place to process feelings and learn how to manage them without addictive substances and behavior.