Transgender Therapists in Saratoga, CA

Affirming Relationship Therapy provides a judgement-free space to work on helping people create more balance and calm in their lives and within their relationships. We help you connect with your authentic self and guide you on that journey. Together, we will work through changes, anxieties, or other stressors in a way that focuses on emotional well-being and growth. We'll use mindfulness, person-centered therapy, coupled with an attachment approach and emotionally focused therapy that fits your style - let us help you to get to where you envision yourself and your relationships at their best.

I specialize in working with clients who may have experienced trauma and those that are experiencing relational struggles - including codependency as well as self-esteem and self-worth issues. Are you struggling to find a healthy relationship? Do you tend to lose your sense of self when you enter into relationships? Or perhaps you are struggling to connect with others or to let your guard down? I also enjoy working with clients who are recovering from childhood trauma, narcissistic abuse, emotional abuse, and CPTSD.

Are you concerned for your children in an ongoing high conflict divorce or another highly distressing situation? I consult, support, offer parent/child coping strategies to prevent longterm effects of severe stress & trauma for children/affected others. Even the youngest can demonstrate remarkable resilience. We attend to their confusion, impaired awareness, degree of distorted cognition. Parents cultivate enhanced attunement, insight, learn to see beyond children's distorted appraisal. We co-create more accurate thinking, safer, more healthy relationships, make space for more realistic understanding, provide predictability, constancy, enhanced trust, explore feelings, support emotional regulation, form new, hope-filled stories to replace frightening, traumatic ones.

Struggling with a mental health or emotional issue? A difficult child/teen? In your relationship? Difficult life transitions? Addiction issues? Gender Identity? Family reunification? I can help you overcome your problems and embrace a healthier lifestyle. You deserve a therapist who will truly strive to understand the way you think. I will take the time to understand your thought processes, emotions, fears, and concerns. Of course, seeking therapy is not always easy; but you deserve to get the help you need to live a happy, fulfilling life.

Do you feel isolated, overwhelmed, or hopeless? Are you struggling with relationship conflict, trauma, or loss? Do you have concerns about your identity or feelings of low self-esteem? Whatever may bring you to therapy, you deserve to have support in what you’re going through. In either in-person or virtual sessions, I prioritize providing a safe, accepting space for adults, adolescents, and children to explore a wide variety of issues. I work with clients from a variety of backgrounds, and as a non-binary therapist, I have particular passion for working with LGBTQ+ and gender-expansive clients of any age.

I help patients solve their emotional and psychological problems. They learn tools to overcome depression, anxiety, and stress and are facilitated in stopping inappropriate use of food, alcohol and drugs. Parents and stepparents learn skills to become more effective. Patients acquire methods to re-parent themselves as well as techniques in how to be more satisfied in their personal and professional relationships. Individuals gain insights that enhance their ability to feel more confident and be more productive by setting goals to achieve positive results and outcomes. Children and adolescents learn to improve their relationships with themselves and build better social and interpersonal relationships.

Each of us are unique individuals; complex and ever-changing. We are often affected by family, relationships, work, and even spiritual dynamics. I strive to understand my clients' point of view so that I may collaboratively develop a treatment plan that is as unique as they are.

Do you find yourself experiencing the same recurring intrusive thoughts? Reliving disturbing memories day after day? Having recurring nightmares? Withdrawing from life and others and increasing your isolation from the world? Are you struggling with Performance Anxiety or communication challenges at work, school or in relationships? If so, you may be suffering from PTSD, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Untreated, these symptoms can worsen over time. If you find you are struggling with symptoms of PTSD, Anxiety, Depressed Mood, Phobias, Addictions, Identity or Spiritual Emergency I am here to help.

The most difficult and painful circumstances in our lives can also serve as an opportunity to look at what needs our attention! Very often, we give our POWER away to people and situations in our life, causing us to feel victimized and stuck. Your current challenges can be a gateway towards self empowerment! you do not need to walk this path alone. In a safe space, we can begin the process of uncovering and healing the pain which may be keeping you paralyzed! It is possible to regain trust and confidence, in order to invite joy back into your life, get you power back and enjoy waking up each day !

A positive therapeutic experience consists of rapport building and establishing a strong connection with your therapist. Kate is passionate about providing honest and open therapy that helps clients explore their lives and move towards change. As a systems based therapist, Kate likes to process a person’s upbringing and childhood experiences to understand how they affect their current relationships today.

Promoting healing & trustworthy engagement for children, youth, their families, adults who come seeking shelter, emotional safety and refuge (see abbeypsychservices.com). Even the youngest demonstrate remarkable strengths with precise, attuned, attention to their levels of awareness, given new experiences to help transform distorted cognitive appraisals of themselves, others, relationships, the world. Working together, we cultivate more accurate appraisals of internal/external experience, shift into clearer, more realistic thinking, enhanced empathy, healthier, more effective coping styles. We co-create new, hopeful, cooperative stories to replace hopeless, repetitive, "traumatic reliving" within the safety of a predictable, nurturing, skillfully maintained therapeutic environment.

Sometimes life presents us with difficult, painful, or even seemingly unbearable challenges. Sometimes we, ourselves, can be a source of the pain and challenges. Either way, we must be able to access our resources -- inner and outer -- to cope with the pain, the imbalance, the overwhelm, the stuckness ... and, ultimately, to learn, heal, and grow from our experiences..... My job is to help you best utilize resources you already have and to offer you more tools to help you change undesirable patterns in yourself and your life.

I am trained as a psychologist and psychotherapist in both California and Sweden. I am an appointed Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University School of Medicine, and I have over 30-years of experience in providing mental health treatment. I am a board certified specialist (ABPP) in both forensic psychology and psychoanalysis and a certified Qualified Medical Evaluator (QME). I provide treatment as well as psychological and forensic evaluations. I know how to help you effectively without judgement or blame. You have the right to feel better about yourself and your life.

I am a Psychotherapist, Personal Trainer and Wellness Coach who specializes in mind/body work with individuals, teenagers, couples and families. I promote transformational change that encourages healthy balances in work, life, and growth. I bring a unique integrative approach to overcoming issues such as depression, poor motivation, low self esteem, negative body image, anxiety, and feeling out of control and disempowered in your own life. In addition I help my clients understand underlying issues that lead to depression, anxiety, poor lifestyle choices, and codependent relationships. My work is my passion.

At different times we experience unresolved situations that affect our sense of clarity, calm and balance. As a therapist and guide, together we will strive to remove those obstacles and restore hope and engagement. We can achieve this through developing goals and ways to cope that address those often unexpected and sometimes familiar patterns of living. My practice serves individual adults, children/teens, parents including parent and child therapy, and elders. My wish for all clients is to find a trustworthy therapist in me. Please refer to my website to learn more about my specialties and past work history at karenapetersen.com.

Let's work together to solve the problems impacting your life and create a more balanced lifestyle that will open new opportunities for you to thrive. I am confident that we will make a strong connection and forge a therapeutic relationship that can change your life. Through a collaborative process, we can work the problem together and seek new horizons. Take the next step to make change become a reality by calling me for a free phone consultation. There is nothing standing in your way.

It takes courage to look for a therapist, so I try to make it as painless as possible! I help people who might feel anxious, overwhelmed, or depressed or who are just stuck in patterns, jobs or relationships that are making them unhappy. If you feel like you are struggling in some way, whether it is related to your mood, relationships, or just with where you are in life right now, contact me, we can work together to sort things out. Send a quick email through here, then I will follow up with a call. If we are a good fit then we get started.

Life is a journey filled with ups and downs, success and failures. The emotional weight of these experiences can be overwhelming, leaving us feeling lost or stuck. I am here to help you navigate these difficult times and guide you toward healing and resilience. In my practice, I specialize in supporting individuals, couples, and families in healing from life's emotional experiences. Whether you're grappling with past traumas, struggling with anxiety or depression, or facing relationship conflicts, I provide a safe and nurturing space where you can explore your feelings, gain insight, and find inner strength.

For over a decade, I have been supporting individuals across the lifespan with culturally sensitive and compassionate therapy. In addition to helping people work through anxiety and depression, I specialize in working with adults affected by complex/systemic trauma and help them feel safer and more hopeful to create a life worth living. I also support people with marginalized identities process the stressful impacts of oppression and increase experiences of empowerment and connection.