sara

For many people the development and growth of this capacity has been thwarted and replaced by habitual attitudes and postures of mistrust, fear, low self-worth and other compensatory behaviors that rob us of our full potential to be in relationship with ourselves and others. I believe the unique, collaborative relationship of the therapist-client dyad can offer a way to safely explore and understand self-defeating patterns and rigidly held beliefs. My approach to psychotherapy is grounded in psychodynamic/psychoanalytic theory and incorporates the wisdom of transpersonal psychology and cognitive-behavioral techniques. I am interested in the overlap between psychology and spirituality and am currently studying issues of addiction as expression(s) of dissociation from traumatic experience.
Prior to becoming a therapist, I worked in theater and spent several years teaching and caring for young children. My past clinical experience includes internships at Golden Gate Integral Counseling Center in San Francisco where I saw individuals and couples. I also worked in a residential treatment program with patients who suffer from clinical eating disorders. I currently see couples and individuals in private practice in the neighborhood of Noe Valley. I also provide counseling and psychological services to university students at Cal State East Bay and work with children and families at San Francisco Child Crisis. I have a Masters degree in counseling psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies and a B.A. in philosophy and religion.
I am deeply inspired by the way intimate relationships can support, challenge and reveal our truest longings.

We shall not cease from exploration
and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started
and to know the place for the first time.
T.S. Eliot
Therapy is fundamentally the endeavor of curious exploration facilitated by relationship. The capacity for healthy relationship and intimacy is one of the most precious aspects of being human.