Jeannie Wolitzer, Therapist 94550, Therapist Livermore

Jeannie Wolitzer, M.S., MFT

Profession(s):
Marriage & Family Therapy, Mental Health Counseling, Psychotherapy
License Status:
I'm a licensed professional.
Primary License:
MFC - 45633

My Approach to Helping

Often my clients are dealing with feelings of depression or anxiety or are feeling overwhelmed and confused by a time of transition or challenge in their lives.I offer a safe and supportive environment where you can take a good look at your life, your feelings and your choices. Together we identify more rewarding and effective ways to meet the challenges in your life. We determine the realistic and practical small steps towards making those changes happen.My role is to listen carefully with compassion and without judgment, to really "get you", and to use that understanding to help guide and encourage you in creating positive change in your relationships and in how you feel about life and yourself. We use your strengths and abilities along with my skills and warmth, genuine acceptance and respect, and at times, some humor. Together we navigate your growth in coping, problem solving and finding the joy in your life.

More Info About My Practice

I specialize in helping adults and teens who are facing depression and anxiety. When my client is a teenager I work to both create a safe and confidential therapy relationship with the teen and to also increase the family support and communication.If you feel like you are carrying around sadness or anger or hurt or worry that is dragging you down, it may be time to look at how to start unloading it. Take a look at my web page or give me a call at 925 201 3414 for a free phone consultation. Take some time to decide if I am the right therapist for you.Change can happen. You CAN feel better!

Specific Issue(s) I'm Skilled at Helping With

I am particularly experienced and skilled at helping people who are dealing with depression and/or anxiety. People dealing with depression and anxiety often have enough trouble just getting through the day. When they come to therapy it is important that they feel safe, understood and treated with gentleness, compassion and respect. It is also important that they AND their problems are accepted and not judged. I deeply understand this and as I provide this warm respect and acceptance, it begins the healing process. Then the work can proceed. I am skilled and trained in cognitive behavioral therapy, the psychotherapy approach widely recognized and backed by research as the most successful method for treatment of depression and anxiety. This approach, in basic terms, involves looking at the thoughts and beliefs that dominate your mind that keep you trapped in feelings of anxiety or depression. When we identify those thoughts and beliefs we are able to challenge them or balance them with a more accurate view of the world or at least hold them with a good amount of self compassion. The “magic” is that when we shift our thoughts and beliefs, we shift our feelings and we are freed to have less of the limitations of life brought by anxiety and depression and more of what is good in life.

How Psychotherapy Can Help

Psychotherapy helps people in a number of ways and in different ways for different people. The one basic way that each person may be helped is by the healing effect of a therapeutic relationship with someone who really listens and hears you, sees and comes to understand the real you and accepts and respects you, warts and all, with compassion and without judgment. That is the most important foundation of good therapy and if you don’t feel that you are receiving it in therapy, it is time to look for another therapist. Beyond that, psychotherapy may foster insight, help identify self-destructive patterns, build skills or encourage growth and strength in any number of ways, using a variety of approaches. Psychotherapy helps people when it is focused on what is best for the unique client and is tailored to that individual. It must include acceptance and compassionate guidance and support, and, I believe, at least a touch of humor to lighten up the carrying of our load.

What I Love about Being a Psychotherapist

I love being a therapist because, to me, it is the most interesting and satisfying work in the world. Getting to know each client and working with them to understand how they “tick” is always fascinating, like solving together an amazing puzzle. Once I have the opportunity to really know a client, it comes naturally and easily to feel compassion and acceptance and respect and it is as rewarding to offer this as I hope it is to receive. I think this field is endlessly interesting and I love learning more from reading, trainings and from my peers but especially I love the education about life and people I gain from my clients. Another aspect of being a therapist that I love is that I am challenged every day to use all my skills and abilities – my intelligence, my creativity, my ability to communicate and to empathize. Becoming a therapist has added new dimensions to my life and to my sense of living my life fully.