Psychodynamic Therapists in San Francisco, CA

I believe therapy works best when you feel a deepening in self-awareness and inner-strength. When this happens it often coincides with feeling connected and understood by me. This is the main pathway to meaningful and lasting changes. My approach is psychodynamic and my style is direct, collaborative, and playful. Difficult and challenging behaviors often result in feeling stagnated and trapped in an endless cycle. By unpacking the underlying dynamics that are driving these struggles, you will feel more freedom to reach your goals.

Welcome, I am glad you are here.  ​ My name is Arabella (she/hers). I am a mother, partner, daughter, sister and friend. I provide psychodynamic psychotherapy services to individuals and intimate partners in person and online in San Francisco and virtually all over California. I specialize in guiding clients through the intricacies of their relationships. I welcome those from the LGBTG+ and non-monogamous or polyamorous communities.  ​

Something doesn't feel right, but you can’t quite figure it out. Or, you know exactly what you'd like to change, but you're not sure how to get there. You feel exhausted, overwhelmed, anxious, stressed, burnt out, sad, or lost. I help couples at any stage improve their relationship functioning. I work with high achievers, corporate & tech leaders and creatives who want to build skills for managing stress, tolerating difficult emotions, and balancing drive with ease. I bring insights from ten years of experience in Fortune 100 and tech startups (series A - IPO), and a lifetime of involvement with creative communities.

If you are feeling stuck, isolated and overwhelmed, talking to a professional can help view the situation from a new perspective and find solutions. I am here to help you answer such questions as: “Why did this happen to me?”, “Why does it keep happening to me?” and more importantly, “How do I make my life better?” Getting to know yourself is the hardest yet the most rewarding journey in life. And I believe it is the key to changing it. I will gently help you process your experiences so that you feel lighter, have more self-acceptance, and feel better about who you are and your future.

I frequently accept new patients for telehealth psychotherapy, adults residing in California. Therapy can be helpful for a wide range of issues and clients come to me with emotional and mental distress, relationships problems, questions about the overall quality and direction in their lives. More specifically clients express worry and anxiety, depression, loneliness, career/work problems, mental and emotional concerns with retirement, difficult family and relationship issues, or needs related to long term recovery from substances, other addictions.

I am a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist certified to provide mental health services in the state of California. I have been providing mental health services for the past 6 years working with non-profit community mental health clinics, probation offices & court systems, middle school, high schools and now as a private practice clinician. Within these settings, I have had the privilege of working with individuals, couples, parents, teenagers, children and families at many different phases of life and personal development.

I work with adults and adolescents 15 and older who are struggling with depression, anxiety, trauma, and life transitions. I provide a relaxed, safe, and supportive environment to help you explore the challenges you are facing. I help you harness your own strengths in order to remove obstacles to your growth and healing.

I'm a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist based in San Francisco and Sebastopol, California. I specialize in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy, Narrative Therapy, and EMDR. I work with individuals and couples to treat depression, anxiety, bipolar, and other mental health issues, as well as substance use and within the LGBTQ+ community.

I offer a heartfelt approach to therapy that is warm, engaged, and focused on getting to the root of the issues you want to address. Often we are scared to face our upsetting thoughts and feelings alone. I feel honored to be able to accompany people on this journey as an experienced guide. In this role I will help you to process unresolved feelings and experiences and also work with and ultimately heal parts of your self that may be keeping you stuck. My aim is to help you get to a place where you feel liberated from old feelings, beliefs and patterns and more authentically and vibrantly connected to yourself and those close to you.

I enjoy supporting my clients' curiosity to uncover and explore what contributes to who they are and how they connect with the people in their lives. I work especially well with traumatic experiences, troubled upbringing, grief and anxiety. If you want to understand or change the way you relate to yourself, your story and the world and maybe are longing for a more authentic self expression and acceptance or sense of iner strength, we might be a good fit. I believe that sustainable change happens from the inside and you have the capacity to create this change.

One of the most difficult aspects of being a parent is seeing your child in pain and feeling like there is nothing that you can do to help. Whether they feel the pain of depression, anxiety, loss, trauma, divorce or social and academic pressure, my expertise is in helping children connect with their inner strength and confidence. I support families in developing the communication skills necessary to allow children to grow and move forward in healthy ways. I believe all children are unique, and my goal is to help bring out the best in your child.

Having a safe and supportive space where one can talk openly, is so very important. Feeling understood and listened to promotes growth and change. I am warm and understanding as well as insightful and objective, bringing experience and honesty to my work. Together we will talk about what’s going on now, past events and relationships, and how they might be affecting you. I will work to develop a trusting, supportive relationship to more clearly understand what is troubling you. My clients have enjoyed success in overcoming anxiety and depression, connecting with others, defining and attaining goals, and increasing self-esteem.

I work with individuals and couples who are seeking to transform their inner and relational conflicts into opportunities for growth and life change. I have seen deep transformation take place in clients when they begin to learn compassion for themselves and begin to address the source of their symptoms so that true and lasting change can occur. Clients I work with most are those suffering from mood disorders, complex trauma, PTSD, midlife transitions, and relationship issues. I also offer support to family members of individuals with mood disorders, PTSD and ADD/ADHD. I also offer clinical supervision to associates.

I provide compassionate, conscientious and meaningful psychotherapeutic treatment to individuals seeking to overcome difficult life circumstances, understand/manage emotions, or to those simply seeking self-growth or personal/career development. With twenty plus years as a practicing psychotherapist, having worked with diverse ethnicities, races, ages and sexual orientations, I have vast skills/resources and experience to offer/impart. My approaches/technique includes an eclectic mix of Psychodynamic, Cognitive Behavioral, Jungian, Gestaltian, and some Buddhist philosophy.

As a Black, queer femme with mixed ancestry, I carry with me both a personal and professional understanding of the systems of oppression and domination that entangle with identity and wreak havoc in our lives. I have specific interest and experience working with those struggling with racial identity, sexual identity and gender identity; those healing from and finding their independence from/within dysfunctional family dynamics; folks who have been affected by intimate partner violence and dating violence; and those seeking to uncover patterns of intergenerational trauma within themselves and their family systems.

Through compassion, humor, and gentle challenge, I work to create a supportive environment to help individuals and families overcome temporary setbacks, heal old wounds, and change dysfunctional patterns. My areas of expertise include anxiety, interpersonal trauma, issues related to parenting, early childhood mental health, and disruptions in early attachment.

I specialize in supporting adults, older teens, and couples facing difficult life transitions, relationship issues, intergenerational/ historical traumas, grief/loss, depression and anxiety. I provide support from a multicultural lens, taking into account physical, mental, spiritual, emotional wounds. My work is deeply rooted in empowering and supporting individuals on their journey of healing. I sit alongside them as they mend emotional/behavioral wounds and uncover inner strengths, insight and increase awareness about themselves.

As he trekked through the California wilderness, John Muir said, “Going out is really going in.” Psychotherapy is a similar adventure, but one where going in is really going out. The internal journey of self-awareness leads to external change and healing. My hope is that each person experiences the thrill of growth and exploration of their mind. My training in psychodynamic, attachment, and trauma informed techniques has offered me the “gear” required to guide a summit into the psychic mountains, with the pace and route we determine together.

People come to psychotherapy for a variety of reasons. Making our way in this world demands so much self-reliance and yet we are given very little opportunity to get to know ourselves well. We keep our fears and uncertainty about whether we have what it takes to survive our struggles very close to our chests. This is such a fragile place to live. Ignoring our emotions and "soldiering on" creates a life of isolation and confusion. This may manifest as depression, anxiety, or uncertainty about how to wish, desire, and create a life worth living.