Chronic Pain Therapists in Berkeley, CA

My approach as a relational and somatic therapist is to create a safe and collaborative space to explore your relationship with yourself, others, and the world. By applying mindfulness and somatic therapy techniques, our work together will unearth unconscious beliefs and patterns in order to increase self awareness, develop resilience, and experience wholeness. While we can't change difficult or traumatic experiences of the past, we can work together to better understand and resolve challenges in your current life.

Hey! My name is Maya. I'm an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist practicing in Berkeley, CA. I offer therapy to teens, adults and relationships of all kinds. I love working with people who sit with big questions. People who grapple with longing, and who deeply want to experience something different in their life. I see therapy as a process of uncovering and exploring together, over time inviting in more felt experiences of aliveness, self-knowing and belonging. This world is a wild one and it's a gift to get to walk alongside you in the wilderness of your unique experience.

You may be suffering from inexplicable sadness or anxiety, or problems focusing. You might feel blocked in achieving your creative or work goals and want to figure out what is getting in your way. You might be having health problems and need help sorting out how what is truly out of your control or what might be stress related. I have specialized training in psychodynamic psychotherapy which allows me to listen with special attention to unconscious processes. I am also a graduate of the Psychoanalytic Couples Psychotherapy Group and help many couples navigate difficult patches in their relationships.

I welcome those into my practice who are struggling with a range of issues, including depression, anxiety, and PTSD. I am trauma-informed, with twenty years of experience working with adults, children and families. I have worked with adults and teens who have come to seek treatment for various types of developmental traumas such as childhood physical and sexual abuse, neglect, as well as single incident trauma. I welcome anyone who is looking to create a safe working alliance through which to explore issues with boundaries and self care, whereby I can assist you in the cultivation of a compassionate inner awareness.

Don't Give Up Yet! Just because you've tried therapy before, it doesn't mean that you have failed or that you can't have what you really need. Maybe you just haven't found the person who can get you there. Life doesn't have to be about hiding inside scared to go out, or continual overwhelm recovery mode, because you're afraid of being triggered by family, work dynamics, or issues with parents. Would you like to not have to constantly be holding all this stuff inside, exhausted, spinning, or caught in addictive or obsessive cycles? Maybe you're hoping someone can help you see through the noise, and get to the core.

You deserve support navigating life's challenges and moving towards a sense of ease, joy, and meaning. You may be feeling overwhelm, stuckness, worry, perfectionism, doubt or any number of challenges many of us face. Together we will work on what matters to you.

I am drawn to support clients heal the anxiety, guilt and shame from trauma. This may include trauma related to abuse, bullying, accidents, harassment, religious impositions, discrimination, and more. My clients often want to feel less anxiety, better manage their triggers, enjoy sexual intercourse with their partner(s), and redefine themselves from the trauma they experienced. Grounding techniques, challenging learned beliefs, asserting needs, and living more for self, are common themes in my practice and essential for post-traumatic growth. Integrating identities (e.g. race, ethnicity, sexuality, etc.) is common in my practice.

Building relationships to last a lifetime! I work with * Individuals from all walks of life * Couples of all kinds - married, co-habitating, dating, divorced * Families of all sorts * Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people and their partners and families * People who are part of the kink community, or who participate in BDSM in their personal lives * People in open, non-monogamous, polyamorous, or other non-traditional relationships * Cross-cultural couples and families * Genderqueer folks * Current or former workers in the sex industry * People with body image and self-acceptance issues * People with all kinds of mental and physical health problems

You feel like something is off but you're not exactly sure why. Your mind races and you feel stressed most of the time. You have a hard time slowing down and feeling connected with yourself as well as other people in your life. These statements describe the experience of many clients that I work with. I specialize in helping people who feel anxious, disconnected, or just "off." If you experience general anxiety, panic attacks, agitation, or disconnection from yourself or others, then I may be able to help you feel less alone and more settled in your life.

I work with individuals and couples who are trying to understand both their inner psychological issues and their responses to complex and stressful outer lives. I listen for the strengths each person has for meeting challenges, and listen also for the ways clients create losses for themselves. Within a warm, caring, reliable working relationship clients have the opportunity to more deeply value themselves and to grow interpersonally.

We all have the capacity to live fulfilling and creative lives, but sometimes difficult circumstances overwhelm us, or we find ourselves in painful relational patterns. I see the transformative power of psychotherapy help people make lasting changes in how they relate to themselves and others, and move beyond protective patterns that limit their capacity for satisfaction and joy. In our collaborative relationship, we will explore your inner world, and when appropriate, the impact of family, gender, culture, sexual orientation, class, temperament, current relationships, life stage, and daily stressors on you and your life.

Therapy is a collaborative process that can help us move through painful situations and challenging transitions, finding meaning even in darker places. As the poet May Sarton wrote, 'without darkness/nothing comes to birth/As without light/nothing flowers.' Constructing a safe and supportive container for healing allows us to explore patterns in a different light. In this renewed relational field, development and choices take root. Grounded in Somatics, an approach that builds awareness of links between mind and body, I am influenced by Jungian analytic psychology, psychodynamic, cognitive/behavioral, and family systems frameworks.

Welcome and thank you for your interest in my practice. Choosing a therapist involves your heart and mind and willingness to trust another with your inner thoughts. I have over twenty years of experience, working with adults on a wide range of issues. My approach is "integrative"- focusing on both deep-seated patterns as well as practical issues. Although trained in various techniques, I believe the quality of our relationship is important for meaningful therapy. I incorporate skills for reducing depression and anxiety, improving relationships and dealing with the many stressors we face. I can help you feel better.

I have been a licensed Psychologist for over 25 years working with individuals, couples and families. My practice is informed by Mindfulness-Based principles and practices and am trained in Psycho-dynamic and Depth Psychology, including MB-CBT. I also use Somatic methods to complement our discussions and inquiry. Most importantly I seek to offer a safe, open and welcoming space for you to explore your sense of self, your life history and the challenges you may be facing at this time. I have found this to be the basis for discovering your own capacity to make meaningful change and to promote growth and well-being in your life.

Do you find yourself getting stuck in old thoughts and feelings that create challenges in your relationships or career? Would you to feel present, clear and peaceful? It takes courage to go to therapy and work on issues that challenge you. Rather than giving you advice, we would look at how you're putting your experiences together, and how those create repeating patterns in your life; this is with the hope of getting enough information, willingness, and inspiration to try out new options and develop new patterns that are in greater alignment with your authentic self.

Do you find yourself at a crossroads, with recent events or longstanding issues to sort through and understand? Are you experiencing a challenged relationship, a sadness lingering from Covid isolation, anxieties, a shake up of self esteem, or a desire to re-calibrate life/career goals? What do you want to release and what to retain as learning? I offer compassionate, supportive, resourceful, pragmatic collaboration to help you balance these awarenesses. Together, we will set achievable goals and reclaim your resources within, so that you, and your relationships can move forward in a positive way.

Just because therapy is serious, even profound, doesn't mean that it has to be grim. Understanding and the change it permits are liberating and exciting.

Connecting with your inner compass does not have to be an abstract concept. When you've survived difficult circumstances - learning trust your body's messages is challenging - but also how you can cultivate clarity in relationships, jobs, and everyday decisions. Somatic therapy offers the opportunity to bring awareness and compassion to your nervous system's response to your environment and integrate a greater sense of safety. From this place, your own wisdom becomes easier to hear and follow.

With a Stanford B.A./ UC Berkeley J.D., a prior career as a dating startup founder/CEO, a journey healing from a painful autoimmune disease, and most recently having become a new mother, I bring rigor, depth, and rare professional experience to the therapy room. To optimize for the best client results, I combine the use of psychodynamic therapy, DBT (dialectical behavior therapy) skills, EFT for couples, mind-body (somatic) work, meditation, breathwork, and yoga. My practice is informed by modern, evidence-based methods of therapy as well as spiritual wisdom from Zen Buddhism, Judaism, and the teachings of the yoga masters.