Therapy Services

Mental Wellness is for Everyone.

Therapy is a safe and confidential place for you to explore your feelings and thoughts.  It involves genuine and honest dialogue that can lead toward explanations for the patterns and themes you find occurring in your life.  

This self-actualization is the solid foundation you need to change the way you react and respond to your world, as you see it.  I'd like to help you create that solid foundation.

Psychotherapy Treatment for a wide range of concerns and disorders, including:

• Substance Abuse | drug and alcohol addiction | history of family addiction | dual-diagnosis | codependency

• Adjusting to Change & Life Transitions | school pressures | new to parenting or parenting again | caregiver stress | grief and loss | divorce | co-parenting

• Stressors | life purpose | forgiveness | guilt | jealousy | money and financial issues | creative blocks | shame | anger | irritability | values clarification | health/illness/medical issues  

• Relationship Issues | relationship stress | commitment issues | trust issues | family conflict | emotional abuse | family of origin issues | attachment issues | domestic violence

• Emotional Intelligence | recognize and label emotions | self-awareness | self-regulation | empathy | social skills

• Workplace Issues | job stress | work-life balance

• Adults of Childhood Trauma | adults coping with childhood abuse | dysfunctional family and social history | absence of childhood attachment | childhood abandonment | intrusive childhood memories | adults of emotionally abusive parents

• Domestic and Community Violence | victims | children witnesses | gang and clique life | community norms and culture | survivors of abuse

• Teen Mental Health | anxiety | depression | peer pressure | bullying | identity | mood | behavior | self-esteem | moving homes/schools | social skills | divorce/separation of parents | all forms of abuse

• Anxiety | panic attacks | excessive worry | anxiety related to trauma | overwhelming worry

• Depression | persistent sad or empty mood | decrease in happiness and fulfillment | suicidal thoughts | self-inflicted injury | feelings of hopelessness | isolation | seasonal affective disorder

• Self Image | self-compassion | self-criticism | self-esteem | self-doubt | self-love | narcissism

• Cultural Conflicts | pressures with fulfilling cultural expectations | stress around cultural norms and values | multicultural concerns

• Post-traumatic Stress & Trauma | memories and somatic reactions related to a life threatening event | sexual assault & abuse | victims of crime | triggers | witnessing traumatic events | fears and avoidance related to trauma

• Gender Role Identity | life transitions | parenting | work | family | sexuality

• Religious Recovery | leaving religion | faith transition | Recovery from religious conditioning

Theory-based & Cultural Considerations

I have training and experience using a variety of therapeutic approaches which I tailor to your specific needs.  I meet you where you're at and together, we navigate through beneficial strategies and interventions of Client-Centered, Psychodynamic, Humanistic, Cognitive Behavioral (CBT), Solution-Focused, Brainspotting, and Sandtray.  

In addition to these traditional Western therapeutic approaches, I am supportive of the healing benefits of holistic approaches to health including Native American practices, crystals, aromatherapy, prayer, intentions, alters, pet and animal connections, dreams, spirits, cultural folklore and beliefs, meditation and visualization, music and sound therapy, and nonverbal attunement...just to name a few!

*I do not currently treat Children under 12, Couples, or Families at this time.

brainspotting

WHY USE BRAINSPOTTING?

“Brainspotting encourages you to take back the permission that was taken away from you.” - David Grand

WHAT IS BRAINSPOTTING?

It’s a type of therapy that accesses a client’s natural resources for processing, healing, and expanding by locating points in their visual field. It activates and utilizes the body’s innate ability to heal itself and includes a blend of somatic work, neuroscience, interpersonal neurobiology, and polyvagal theory in practice. Most importantly, it’s void of Western colonialist perspective which is crucial for the BIPOC community.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Brainspotting uses the neuroscience finding that where you look, affects how you feel. Clients are helped to find a visual “spot” with the aid of a pointer that increases or reduces the ‘felt sense’ of an experience or overall arousal. With the use of a visual “spot”, the client’s optic nerves provide easy access to the inner brainstem. Experiences are processed by observing changes in bodily sensations and any thoughts that come naturally. In addition to the use of a pointer to assist in finding a visual spot, biolateral sound is used to enhance the effects of Brainspotting. Biolateral sounds consist of specific music that is hand-panned in a side-to-side pattern from one ear to the other through the use of headphones. 

Brainspotting works by attuning the brain’s autonomic and limbic systems located within the central nervous system. This accounts for the physiological nature of Brainspotting. It utilizes the Interpersonal Neurobiology of Dual Attunement which is simultaneously relational and neurobiological attunement between the client and therapist. Simply, talk therapy occurs in the largest and most outer part of the brain, the neocortex. This is where attention, thought, perception, and episodic memory is computed. Brainspotting occurs deeper within the subcortical brain where trauma, experiences, and desires are stored. By attending to the subcortical areas of the brain, the client is able to access and process older memories, embodied trauma, and felt experiences that were previously forgotten. In addition, spirituality, instinct, creativity, and original thoughts become available in a way that isn’t accessible during regular talk therapy.

It looks and feels different from talk therapy in the sense that your inner self guides you where you’re meant to go while your therapist honors and witnesses your process. The therapist may appear to engage less because they are talking less, however they are not engaged less. They are engaged with you differently.

WHAT WILL IT FEEL LIKE?

Everyone is different! There is no such thing as “always” when it comes to how you’ll respond to Brainspotting. Brainspotting promotes coherence between the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems and so we’ll see and you’ll experience bodily sensations of all kinds.

Some experiences have been reported as:

• Visual changes- flashes of light, seeing spiritual beings, the sense of objects fading into the background

• Feeling a trance-like state

• Limbic transference - you and your therapist feeling each others somatic symptoms

• Sleepiness

• Headache

• Twitches in your body or your eyes

• Tightness in your body

• Feeling like you just meditated

• Burping

• Increased saliva or a metallic taste in your mouth

• Mental numbness/dissociation

• A connection to ancestors, loved ones who have passed, and an inner knowing

As someone who benefits from Brainspotting as a client on a regular basis, I can attest to the culturally sensitive and validating experience that is felt during shifts of regulation. I highly recommend Brainspotting for anyone searching to connect with themselves in a deeper, loving manner.

I'm open-minded and down to earth.

I was born and raised in Southern California where I spent a lot of my time surfing, eating burritos, and professionally competing in Polynesian dancing. Raised as a third culture kid, my traditions, values, and social nuances are ethnically diverse. My communication style is direct and down-to-earth with kind and caring intention. I enjoy sharing genuine moments with others and attending to in-the-moment feelings. My idea of a good time is watching a Netflix series or The Price is Right, laughing good and loud, drinking coffee, and taking a moment to watch the sunset and the moon rise. 

My professional background and training is as diverse as I am.

I moved to the Bay Area in 2005 to attend San Francisco State University where I obtained my B.A. in Psychology with a minor in Counseling and immediately went on to complete my Masters in Marriage, Family, Child Counseling with an emphasis in Rehabilitation Counseling, also from SFSU. My experience includes residential and out-patient treatment centers such as The Salvation Army Adult Rehabilitation Center in Oakland and The IRIS Center in the Mission District of San Francisco. I expanded my experience in other nonprofit and family focused programs including the Head Start preschool program through Contra Costa County as a play therapist and consultant. I define myself as a solid supporter and collaborator for those who wish to practice new ways of processing while exploring a healthy and fully present life.

Co-Founder of Silver Fern Child and Family Therapy, Inc.

Director of Operations & Clinical Supervisor of Silver Fern Child and Family Therapy, Inc. Associate Program Division

Member of California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT)

Certified Brainspotting Practitioner

Sandtray Therapist

Link to SeekHer Foundation Scholar Spotlight: https://www.instagram.com/p/CrBVZ-Ir6mf/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Link to Therapy4thepeople Superbill blog article reference: https://therapy4thepeople.org/therapy-superbills-demystified-everything-you-need-to-know/

Link to Instagram Live conversation on “Belonging at Work: Bringing Your Whole Selves To The Workplace”: Instagram Live Recording

My office practices appropriate health risk management in the efforts to reduce highly transmittable viruses. If either Client or Therapist have symptoms of the flu or COVID, a Telehealth session may be requested by either party.

Phone

(925) 255-5569

EMAIL

elise@silverferntherapy.com

office location

3075 Citrus Circle | Suite 165

Walnut Creek, CA 94598

Hours

My practice is full at this time

Mondays: Telehealth only

Tuesdays: In-person 10:00am - 6:00pm

Thursdays: Telehealth only

Rates & Forms

Fee

$180 per 50 min. session

IN-NETWORK INSURANCE PROVIDER

United Health Care/Optum

Kaiser Permanente

Modern Health

Crisis & External Resources

Mental Wellness:

anxiety & depression:

parent’s corner:

addiction: