Therapists in Pleasanton, CA

My name is Sarah Chavez and I'm a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. I take a client-centered approach to therapy and am particularly passionate about helping clients activate and enhance the strengths within them to overcome adversity. I look forward to getting to know you! I typically work with adults in overcoming the barriers to their goals. I also enjoy assisting couples with bridging the communication gap in order to empower them to resolve conflict. I have experience working with justice-impacted individuals and child welfare/DV circumstances.

I know how desperate you feel, having the same fight again and again with no resolution. You try harder, but your partner just seems to sabotage you. So you fight back, "lose it," and feel guilty. You reminisce about the past, hoping the future will get better. If this vignette strikes a chord, please know that I specialize in relationships at "marital death's doorstep." Grandiosity, rage, and shame become empathy, cooperation, and mutual respect. Hope and love do flourish again. This is a big promise, so call for a free 20-minute phone consultation. A happier life is out there.

Therapy is a process of healing, growth, and change. Changing patterns that aren't working and creating positive change, while feeling more happiness in your relationships, work, family, life, and self. Therapy provides an opportunity to discuss struggles, decrease stress, increase understanding of self and others, find solutions, and create positive change. I am the owner of Alamo Counseling, a group private practice comprised of highly skilled, warm, and engaging therapists and educators. We implement evidence-based treatment with interventions from humanistic, cognitive-behavioral, and systemic therapies.

I am passionate about supporting you in exploring what’s getting in the way of being your full self and having the connections you want. I provide psychotherapy to adult individuals, couples, and more than couples from a place of open-mindedness, curiosity, and sex-positivity, and an awareness that our lives don’t always unfold as expected. People who work well with me include those with liminal identities that may not fit neatly into boxes and who may feel like outsiders in some spaces.

Marriage can be extremely challenging, especially if your childhood was less than ideal. I help couples learn to listen to each other and talk about difficult issues without being triggered by past events or experiences. These reactions can cause defensiveness, or result in attacks on, or withdrawal from, the other. I help change these patterns, facilitate productive discussions and help you get the love and closeness back in your marriage. Couples can heal, become stronger in their bond and rejoin in love even after an affair or infatuation. I have 29 years of experience as an insight-oriented psychotherapist working with individuals and couples.

We are complex; we get to go through iterations of ourselves. It's a healthy part of being human. My job is not to judge you but to make space for your next iteration. In our lifetimes we get to be messy and beautiful; kind and mean; complicated and simple. We get to change. That doesn't mean it's easy. I'm a straight shooter who will tell it like I see it and challenge you compassionately when necessary. You're not "too much" for me. I see your challenges as coping skills that are no longer working rather than deficiencies. I'm client focused and I allow you to set the pace, flow, and tone. I meet you where you are.

As one of the few Asian, sex-positive, licensed therapists and certified sex therapists, I provide a safe and supportive space for individuals and couples where they can explore their attachment and relationship dynamics, intimacy, identity of self, and sexuality. I believe that everyone has the capacity to experience pleasure, joy, and have an overall sense of freedom throughout their lives.

I view therapy as a collaborative effort with my clients- you bring a desire to work on yourself, with all your strengths as well as challenges; I bring a warm, respectful, and clinically experienced therapy style that recognizes your inherent worth and capacity. We will work together to explore, understand, and support your healing journey using a variety of tools, collaborating to meet your needs. I welcome LGBTQIA+ folks, I am Kink positive, and believe in cultural humility and health at every size. I use a holistic approach that honors my client's innate healing wisdom- from mind, body, and spirit.

As a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, with over half a decade of experience, I have had the great pleasure in serving individuals, couples, families, and therapy groups in the greater San Francisco Bay Area. I have provided therapy services for folks aged 5 to 65, couples, families, trauma survivors, students, and LGBTQIA individuals and couples, supporting them in navigating difficult developmental milestones, career and life stressors, depression, anxiety, relationship issues, substance dependency, and much more.

We work with a diverse population of adult individuals, couples, and special interest groups who may be struggling with any number of mental health challenges related to anxiety, depression, stress, trauma, relationship issues, and substance abuse, among others. We are committed to providing culturally competent care across the spectrum of age, race, gender, sexuality, religion, and background.

Let’s talk about sex and relationships! I am here to help you feel comfortable working through the hard stuff, and sex and relationship issues can be some of the hardest stuff for people to talk about. Together, we’ll create a comfortable, judgment-free space to explore your wants and needs, improve communication with others in your life, and promote intimate, meaningful, and healthy (sexual) relationships. My aim is to help you, and any potentially involved partner(s), to reach your full personal, relationship, and sexual potential in order to lead your happiest and most fulfilling life.

As a therapist, Isabel is proactive, transparent, and honest. Currently, she is working towards certification in sex therapy and has completed her certification as a sex addiction therapist. She utilizes an integrative approach tailored to individual client’s needs. Her reflective therapeutic style emphasizes the unique strengths of individuals and their ability to create change. In Isabel’s career, she has experience working in inpatient, forensic, school based, and community outpatient settings. Isabel’s work also includes the supervision and training of MA and doctorate level clinicians. She is a CAMFT certified supervisor.

I believe that people experience healing in and through relationships. Brené Brown defines connection as “the energy that exists between people when they feel seen, heard, and valued; when they derive sustenance and strength from the relationship”. Therapy can be a powerful, safe space to experience that connection both as individuals and partnerships.

My therapy work is grounded in modern cognitive-behavioral methods proven to promote healing and increase resilience to life stressors.

Welcome! I’m glad you’re here and appreciate that it can take a lot to start the process of finding support. I believe we all have the capacity to experience satisfaction, fulfillment, and moments of joy in our lives by exploring the barriers to these things- both internally and externally, learning new ways of self understanding, and developing coping skills for the challenges we face. Life can be hard and we don’t always get to choose our circumstances but we can try to find ways to get through the best we can. I use a holistic approach with a backdrop of trauma focused, racial and social justice informed, compassionate care.

My goal is to help people make ho-hum sex good, and good sex great! I love working with couples looking to rekindle their fire or make it burn brighter, and also with individuals looking to deepen their understanding of their own sexuality and in turn become an even better lover and partner. Dating, foreplay, and exploration of fantasies are just a few exciting areas of my work. I have experience in helping clients develop confidence and skill in diverse types of sexual expression (for example, dominance and submission). love helping couples learn how to lovingly share their needs and desires.

People often come to therapy because they feel stuck in their lives, are experiencing anxiety or depression and are struggling with personal and professional relationships. My style is warm, supportive and engaged. I believe that the more access we have to our authentic selves, the more we can live a life that is deeply fulfilling. We will work collaboratively to develop a relationship in which there is room to take risks and experience aspects of yourself that may have been previously unknown to you. You will gain valuable tools to help you reach your goals personally, creatively, and professionally.