Trauma Focused Therapists in Albany, CA

My intention is to help you live a more meaningful, easeful, and joyful life. My Areas of Focus are Depression, Low Self-Esteem, Anxiety, Stress, & Burnout, Trauma, and Identity & Spiritual Exploration. I work with BIPOC/ People of the Global Majority, Children of Immigrants, Queer Folk, Neurodivergent folk, and Adult Children of Alcoholics.

Life is messy. As we all navigate it the best we can, a lot of us find survival strategies that make sense at the time but don’t serve us in the long run. If you or your child are having trouble in relationships, feeling consistently down or anxious, or finding yourself stuck in painful past experiences, therapy can help identify patterns that don’t serve you and build practices that enable you to thrive. ​

Do you want to heal from your past and find greater peace and joy in your life? I applaud you for taking the first step in seeking therapy. I'll help you to move through your self-blame and embrace your magnificence. I provide a free 20-minute initial consultation to see if we are a good fit. If you are struggling with work, relationship or parenting stress, childhood abuse, life transitions or loss I will teach you how to shift old patterns, heal, and make positive changes. You can feel better and thrive!

I offer professional psychotherapy via video and in-person or a flexible combination of the two modalities for adults of all ethnicities, gender identities and sexual orientations who may be experiencing a spectrum of emotional challenges, including anxiety, depression, stress, grief, work/life balance and healthy boundaries.

People come to therapy because they want something in their lives to be different. We hear that we can only change ourselves, yet even if we "know" the why or how or who of it, we can't always budge "it" on our own. My job is to help navigate the terrain, to make sense of the landscape, and to be with you as you reencounter your obstacles to living and loving your life.

Have you been experiencing heightened levels of stress? Challenges focusing on your college courses? Microaggressions in the workplace that you aren’t sure how to address? Were you ever sexually assaulted or the victim of intimate partner violence (IPV)? Has your grief paralyzed you? Do you have negative thoughts that prevent you from moving forward in life? If you answered yes to any of those questions, I can help. I work with adults (18+) throughout California from all ethnic and cultural backgrounds who want to heal and live a life filled with joy, purpose, healthy relationships, abundance, and laughter.

I am a bicultural/bilingual, latinx psychologist with extensive experience working with youth of all ages who are struggling with mood, anxiety, and impulse control, and families who have experienced trauma. Key to this work is the relationship we build together. My goal is to help your family better understand what is happening for your child based on what research has taught us about how our brains work, while honoring your child’s unique experience and normalizing that we all have struggles. I use a strengths-based collaborative approach to get to know your family and identify and practice skills to help your child cope.

Trying to resolve issues in our life can be difficult and serious work but usually worth all the effort and time. These changes may come from sustained effort, learning from past failure, exploring detours, walking in faith, fostering patience to allow change to happen to us, addressing chemical imbalances, and many other factors. Many, perhaps most times in our lives, we can make these changes through our own efforts or help from our friends or family. Sometimes we may need help from professional guidance to help make sense of or add to all of these efforts.

We’ll make use of my professional training, life experience, imagination and intellect to gain perspectives on your relationships, your past, and your present. We’ll experiment with ways for you to manage difficult emotions, feel compassion toward yourself and others, and live with integrity and purpose.

Dr. Ponting is a licensed clinical psychologist specialized in treating anxiety, traumatic stress, and depression in adults and children. In her roles as a researcher and clinician, she focuses on improving mental health during the transition to parenthood, including pregnancy and the postpartum period. Dr. Ponting also works with families with young children ages 2-6 who have experienced a recent traumatic event.

I strongly believe in people's resiliency and motivation to live a full life despite difficult experiences. I'm dedicated to helping my clients achieve desirable and lasting change. We will look closely at what holds you back and what feels painful in your life. Whether it is a cycle of difficult emotions, unwanted behaviors, or relational difficulties, I believe it is crucial to discover the meaning in these experiences. Through our work together we will develop new tools to transform your life and make it more satisfying.

Are you finding this season of parenthood harder than you expected? Maybe you are trying to find your stride with parenting, experiencing challenges in balancing parenthood with all of your other life roles, or managing the mental load of parenting a kid who needs extra support. In these circumstances, we can find ourselves experiencing fear, shame, and guilt in ways that interfere with our wellbeing as parents. But with support and time, we can find our joy, rhythm and wisdom as parents.

I work with individual adults, adult families and adolescents. My work is grounded in contemporary and relational psychoanalytic theory, with particular attention paid to multicultural context. My psychotherapy practice serves people who feel blocked by certain behaviors or patterns of relating with people, who seek to improve individual well-being and personal relationships, and/or who have experienced trauma within their families or elsewhere, including survivors of war or other conflict. My practice focus includes older adults and clients with chronic health and/or mental health conditions, and with caregivers.

You may be feeling temporarily overwhelmed by the situation, in your relationship, at work, in the culture you live in or you may have felt emotionally distressed over a long period of time. In both cases, therapy can be the first step to bring relief, self actualization and happiness to you and your loved ones.

The transition from summer to fall can be challenging, whether due to academic stress, parenting challenges, sadness about seasonal shifts, or feeling disconnected from relationships. I often work with people who notice themselves feeling overwhelmed, numb, or burned out due to life stressors. I have special training and experience working with new parents, students of all ages (college and graduate school included) and people with disabilities. In all stages of life, I hope to offer a supportive space for you to process your experiences and determine next steps.

Hi! I’m Julia, a holistic psychotherapist. My passion is guiding professionals and couples through the unique challenges of relationships, dating, anxiety, and self-esteem. With a unique blend of psychological expertise, practical tools, and transformational spiritual practices (such as mindfulness meditation and visualization), I can help you transform your unconscious patterns into conscious choices. My compassionate and integrative approach is tailored to your specific needs, helping you unlock your greatest potential and achieve lasting transformation.

I am a Harvard trained psychologist with over 15 years experience in the mental health field. I specialize in working with individuals and families who are feeling stuck in their lives. Many of my clients report feeling overwhelmed with feelings of depression, hopelessness, anger, or low self-esteem. They may have experienced relationship or career conflicts, personal loss, trauma, or be in the middle of important life transitions. I also have advanced post-doctoral training in working with individuals who engage in potentially harmful behaviors and young adults struggling to develop their life path.

As a depth psychotherapist, I am deeply committed to helping individuals explore the underlying currents of their inner world. I believe that true healing involves delving beyond surface-level symptoms to uncover the unconscious patterns of belief and emotion that shape our experience. My approach is rooted in the principles of depth psychology, emphasizing the importance of understanding the psyche's complex layers and the transformative power of bringing the unconscious to consciousness.

Welcome! Note: email is the best way reach me. Finding a therapist is daunting. The relationship tends to be the most consistent factor in whether therapy is successful, so I encourage you to trust your intuition. I work with adults (not couples) and adolescents over 14 on a variety of issues, including achieving greater mood stability, identity issues, improved relationships and sexuality, and recovery from trauma. I have experience working effectively with people who identify as trans, genderqueer, and those with diverse lifestyles. I also offer ketamine-assisted psychotherapy in collaboration w/Journey Clinical.