Find a Therapist near Hercules, CA

I believe we all have the potential to live creative and happy lives. I integrate writing therapy, expressive arts, and EMDR in a framework of positive psychology.

Are you looking for a happier and healthier way to live your life? Unpleasant feelings and experiences can affect the way people choose to live their lives. There are many positive ways to deal with these unpleasant emotions. Through discussion and exploration we can find ways to work through life's roadblocks in order to find a happier healthier path for your life. I am a Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT) in Sacramento located in Northern California. My license allows me to counsel people with an array of symptoms to better their ability to have more happy productive relationships and lives. I work with many symptoms including depression, anxiety, fear and anger. All these symptoms affect one's relationships with others. I specialize in couples counseling to assist with more effective communication, parenting to help parents find more effective ways to parent their difficult or challenging children and trauma abuse issues or intense situations that lead to a disturbance in life. The individuals and families that I see are able to see more clearly how awareness can lead to their desired change. For more information about my experience and practice you can visit my website or to schedule an appointment call me.

Many people come to therapy already understanding a great deal about themselves. You may know which patterns keep repeating, where they came from, and even what you wish you could do differently. The frustrating part is that insight does not always make those patterns easier to change when stress, conflict, fear, or uncertainty takes over. My approach is active, collaborative, and focused on helping you turn understanding into meaningful change. I work with adults, couples, and families on relationship patterns, life transitions, anxiety and stress, grief and loss, divorce, identity, boundaries, and personal growth. Rather than applying the same formula to everyone, I pay attention to what keeps the problem going, what capacities may need to develop, and what kinds of experiences are most likely to help something shift. My work is informed by systems and strategic therapy, attachment, mindfulness, experiential approaches, and clinical hypnosis. I tend to work especially well with thoughtful, psychologically curious people who want more than short-term symptom relief and are interested in developing greater flexibility, agency, and clarity in how they live and relate. You can learn more about my approach and services at https:www.dareneaken.com.

If depression or anxiety has been making it hard to get through your days – affecting your work, your relationships and your sense of self – you’ve come to the right place. I’m Beverly Leftwich, a licensed therapist with over fifteen years of clinical experience. For several of those years I served as Clinician II in the Adult Mood Program at the Scrivener Center for Mental Health and Addiction Services at El Camino Health – widely regarded as one of the leading mental health programs in the country. You will benefit from the insights of talk therapy, and my approach goes beyond that. I will help you to understand what is happening in your mind and body, teach you evidence-based skills that actually work, and support you in building the confidence to use them. As you begin to integrate these practical skills, how you learn to cope with difficult situations begins to define you more than the stressors that brought you here. My approach draws on sound, evidence-based strategies that can genuinely help, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), mindfulness practice and selected DBT skills - integrated with neuroscience-informed techniques that explain not just what to do, but why it works. Practical tools you can actually use, grounded in how the brain changes and heals.

Life can change in an instant. What was once predictable, safe, and familiar is gone and we are left with the unknown. Life transitions, both big and small, require support. Some are easily manageable while others cause us to forget who we once were. In my practice I focus on working together to again find equilibrium. Sometimes we can't be who we once were but it absolutely does not mean we cannot discover who we are now or who we want to be in the future.

There was a 2-3 year time period (almost 15 years ago) where I seriously thought my husband was trying to hurt me, or at least didn't love me! We had already been married, raised 4 children and even been in ministry for over 3 decades! Yet we didn't understand ourselves or each other well. My husband was going through some horrendous things as a pastor, and even though I wanted to support him, I wasn't helping! I didn't understand why my reaction was so strong to him and he didn't understand why his reaction was so strong to me! Not a good situation for either of us. Truth be told, we both saw each other's reactivity a lot more clearly than we saw our own! It scared me when my husband got so angry at his situation. I'd seen rage growing up and I was trying to convince him it wasn't all THAT bad! I didn't mean to, but I was invalidating his deep feelings of betrayal and anger. This was not a time to "Pump Sunshine!" He saw me turn from supportive wife to "aligning with his enemies". I didn't mean to, but that's what it felt like I did! I saw him as intentionally shooting holes in the bottom of our sinking boat, and I was already bailing water as fast as I could. I was trying to keep myself safe. Thank God I finally realized (it felt like I was giving up!) that I was NOT HELPING! I chose to be less "positive" and gave myself permission to just reflect back to him how terrible his situation was. I initially thought this would make things even worse!!!, but found that the more negative MY reflection was, the less negative HIS was. (It was a very tough situation!) This was what we needed! We were polarized. Like on a teeter totter, the more I tried to be positive the more negative he got. When I could move closer to the middle, he could also be less extreme and we could both still feel heard. We were both less reactive! What I know now is that my childhood need to feel safe, was being answered NO by his rage and I didn't know what to do with my fear! His highest emotional need, left over from his childhood, was triggered when I overlooked and minimized his dire situation. We were both unknowingly answering each other's highest emotional need with a HECK NO! We react to others who regularly push our buttons and forget to find out WHY those buttons are even there! I want to help you understand why you react and help put you back in the driver's seat of your life. Let's clarify your highest emotional need and help you take back your life! Let's identify the scramble you fall into to get your needs met, as well as your super-power, the relational gift you offer to the world. Our biggest PAIN can lead us to our life-giving PASSION! I naturally develop potential in others and get jazzed over incremental steps toward hope and healing. I can help you get unstuck! The world NEEDS who you were meant to be.

Therapy occurs within the context of a specialized therapeutic relationship (a unique type of helping relationship that is formed with your therapist to address problems). I focus on creating safety and trust through a nurturing, non-judgmental, and highly confidential environment while using a variety of approaches to help you make changes. I match the problem to the type of therapy most helpful for that particular problem using methods ranging from cognitive behavioral to psychodynamic or depth therapy. Often I mix several of these approaches, at times emphasizing one and then another, depending on the specific situation. Using this approach, my clients have reported tremendous benefits. Some have made remarkable changes while grappling with very difficult issues.

All of us have experienced loss, anger, loss of control, impulsiveness, and communication problems. If these experiences are discussed in a safe environment with a competent therapist, they can be used to mature and create the life we want. If ignored with distractions such as overwork, alcoholdrugs, food, sex, and internetTV, unresolved issues can remain stuck in our bodies and minds, wreaking havoc at unexpected times (for example, a sudden panic attack). Clients need a therapist who has done a significant amount of their own inner worktherapy. As Carl Jung once stated, "It's not what you know that heals your clients, it's who you are." Authenticity cannot be faked....most people can sense this quickly. I am committed to being real, as well as actively involved in my clients' growth process. I have also done my own personal psychotherapy as I believe this is necessary to be effective in counseling. How can you help clients if you haven't experienced your own individual counseling? Many clients have commented on their preference for my ability to balance talking with listening. I don't "just sit there and listen, nodding my head occasionally." I am fully engaged, providing honest feedback and support.

We all go through periods in which we begin to feel and think differently. What we once assumed would always be true changes. Perhaps, we simply no longer feel like ourselves or are relationships no longer feel like how we remember them. A variety of things can initiate these changes. Our marriage may not be working. Someone may leave a relationship. We may lose our job. Our child may be making dangerous choices. Someone we love may be drinking too much... But no matter the circumstance, the key is in how you cope with these changes. For over two decades, I've been helping people just like you navigate these types of changes. My job as a licensed psychotherapist is to make sure you can talk about, work through, and overcome the issues that matter most, without judgment, all while feeling respected, heard, understood, and empowered to create the changes you seek. While clients often leave sessions feeling relieved, the most important part of our work together is the time you're not in session with me. If you have sessions with me once per week, how you are feeling and thinking the other 167 hours we're not together? The goal of our work together is for you to NOT be dependent on sessions with me as soon as possible. You can also ask me any questions and I'll share my thoughts with you. I'm not one of those therapists who "just sits and listens" ... I will offer you suggestions to navigate the challenges you are facing and you can decide if what I am saying is of value for your particular situation. I'll also teach you the skills you need to calm yourself down, whether you're angry, sad, or afraid. And we'll work together to get to the root of the problem so you can heal at the deepest level, as this is how to create real, positive, lasting change... My intention is that you walk away able to navigate change differently for the rest of your life! Last but not least... Please note that I only provide online counseling and therapy. Fortunately, my clients have been surprised by how well tele-therapy works... and how easy it is! After all, it's our working relationship that allows change and growth to occur, not the comfort of my office. Your privacy is always my highest priority, and I encourage you to visit my website or contact me today for more information about how I can help you realize and live the best life possible!

I help you slow down and make sense of what’s happening beneath the surface. Together, we listen to the parts of you that have learned to overfunction, stay guarded, or hold everything together, and begin to understand what they need. Therapy becomes a space to move beyond old patterns and reactive cycles. With curiosity and care, we create room for clarity, stronger boundaries, and more honest connection with yourself and the people who matter most. I help individuals and couples reconnect, heal past wounds, and create relationships that feel safer, more grounded, and vibrant. I work with accomplished California professionals, couples, and men facing relationship stress, identity or self-esteem challenges, burnout, or questions about separation and repair. Many are high performers who function well at work but struggle at home, carrying a constant mental load or wondering how ADHD or neurodiversity may play a role. My approach is warm, collaborative, and centered on you. I bring a socioculturally attuned perspective, honoring the ways your culture, identity, and lived experiences shape your emotional well-being and relationships. I work with individuals and couples in a practical, compassionate, and effective way to create lasting transformation using an integrative approach grounded in emotion focused therapy (EFT), internal family systems (IFS), cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and psychodynamic theory. This is not just insight, but deep, lasting change—reflected in how you connect, set boundaries, and engage. Reaching out can feel intimidating. Acknowledging pain and uncertainty takes courage, and you don’t have to do it alone. I offer a spacious, unhurried therapeutic relationship where the complexities of life can be explored with openness and compassion, creating meaningful change.