PSYCHOtherapy

Working with Individuals

These are wild times and psychotherapy can help. Some people come in with a very clear idea of what they need, whether it’s confronting anxiety, finding a better job, or getting more from a stalled relationship. Other clients arrive with a more generalized state of existential discomfort or depression, grappling with questions about why we’re here, where to find meaning in life, a sense of cosmic isolation, or fear of mortality. Either way, we work to understand the internal forces—like family of origin impacts, self-critical or limiting internal voices, or attachment wounding—that might be keeping them stuck. We also look at the external factors that might feel harder to control, but nonetheless have a significant impact on mental health: rising income inequality; the deep-seeded narratives of capitalism, around productivity, say, or perfectionism; systemic oppression in the form of white supremacy and patriarchy; rising authoritarianism, both in the U.S. and globally; and the climate crisis.

We look openly and honestly at where and how a client might build empowerment and agency, to be able to take responsibility for their choices and the full range of emotions, to feel more hope, joy, and delight, and cultivate deeper and more meaningful relationships. We also openly explore the ways that—depending on race, gender, age, sexual orientation, ability, or religion (what the existentialists include in our “context”)—clients might be actively held back or demoralized. Combining the principles of relational Gestalt, existential psychotherapy, attachment theory, climate psychology, and Yogic philosophy, I collaborate with individual clients to get exactly what they need from therapy.

Particular areas of interest, experience, and focus include:

  • Anxiety

  • Depression (both acute and low-level)

  • Fear of intimacy or commitment

  • Emerging adulthood

  • Working with the inner critic

  • Relationship conflicts and attachment issues

  • Setting (and sticking to) boundaries

  • Belonging and sense of place

  • Anxious or avoidant attachment styles

  • Early recovery

  • Co-dependency

  • Life transitions (marriage, jobs, moves, babies, loss)

  • Spiritual and existential crises

  • ADD and ADHD in adulthood

  • Working with creativity and creative process

  • Conflict avoidance

  • Eco-distress or anxiety

  • The search for meaning in everyday life

Sessions

Therapy sessions are 50 minutes, generally weekly (double sessions, every-other-week sessions, or other arrangements are available as clinically appropriate). I work both remotely and from my office in Noe Valley, on 24th St. at Castro.

My fee per session is $195. I can accept cash or credit or FSA cards and am happy to provide a super bill for reimbursement from insurance companies.