Welcome Betsy Thompson!

We are pleased to welcome Betsy Thompson, LPCC who is a licensed Professional Clinical Counselor.

Betsy has experience providing individual, group, and family therapy to adolescents and adults. Betsy has obtained her undergraduate degree in psychology from Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia and completed her master’s degree at the University of Denver in Denver, CO. Betsy has worked in various therapeutic settings including residential treatment centers, outpatient private practice, and outpatient clinics.

Betsy has experience working with clients with PTSD, anxiety, depression, personality disorders, change of life issues, social skill struggles, and behavioral concerns. Betsy utilizes an integrative approach with an emphasis on Psychodynamic Theory, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT).

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7 Signs You Could Benefit from Supportive Housing

Are you in the process of working through issues such as depression and anxiety, as well as illnesses such as obsessive compulsive disorder, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Is your current living situation getting in the way of your recovery or preventing you from independent living. Here is a quick test to see if you can expedite your recovery by living at a supportive housing.

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Depression & Mental Health Screening Tool

Should You Seek Professional Help?

October observance brings attention to the need for depression awareness and mental health screenings. Not everyone experiences depression in the same way, but it can affect anyone at any time. So, it is important to take steps and seek out professional help and be screened if you or someone you care about feels they may be depressed.

Depression Anxiety Stress Screener

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Welcome Anna Lacey!

We are pleased to welcome Anna Lacey, LCSW to our clinical team. Anna is a licensed clinical social worker

Anna has worked in the mental health arena for her entire adult life. She has worked and studied in several Latin American countries but has called the Bay Area home since 2005. Anna loves to work with individuals, families and couples. She has an extensive background supporting adolescents and adults experiencing anxiety and depression, survivors of trauma, as well as individuals battling substance addiction. Anna received her Master’s in Social Welfare from the University of California, Berkeley, and is also an alumnus of Carleton College and the University of Chile.
Anna incorporates mindfulness and self-compassion in therapy sessions and utilizes Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, and Family Systems Therapy in her practice. She endeavors to create a safe space for clients in order to address the real issues causing distress and to develop effective strategies to maintain a higher quality of life.

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We are hiring! Check Out Open Therapist Positions

Are you a passionate therapist committed to helping your clients and seek an opportunity to develop and grow as a leader? Do you have clear ideas that you want to develop and need a strong supportive clinical team to help you?

We are looking for highly motivated licensed therapists to provide Family and Couples Therapy as well as Individual Therapy as part of our multidisciplinary clinical team. We are offering a unique opportunity to create and lead new programs. You will have an opportunity to create new group therapies training programs and be a team member of highly skilled professionals working on some of the most complicated and innovative areas of mental health. This is an opportunity to advance your career while doing what you are most passionate about.

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The Journey Back from PTSD

So, how do you know you if you have PTSD? What are the signs?

Symptoms usually start soon after the traumatic event, but less often they may first appear months or years later – often triggered by another traumatic episode. Symptoms may come and go over time; however, if the symptoms last longer than four weeks, and interfere with your work or home life, you might be experiencing PTSD.

While it has become apparent that supportive talk therapy by itself is not very helpful for PTSD, specific trauma-focused therapies that address the way trauma is stored in the mind/body are effective. There are treatment methods that research has shown to be effective for treating trauma:

  • Cognitive Behavior Therapy

  • Prolonged Exposure Therapy

  • EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)

  • Somatic Psychotherapy

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Did I Experience a Trauma? Could I Have PTSD?

In PTSD, a trauma is defined as “exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence”. The trauma can be something that happened to you as a child or as an adult, something that happened once or many times over the years, or even something that you witnessed or learned about it happening to a close family member or friend. Even though we often describe things like a divorce, a bad argument with a friend or parent, a difficult move, or a toxic work environment as ‘traumatic’, these major stressors are not experiences that would lead to a diagnosis of PTSD. When we think about “Big T” traumas, we mean events like childhood physical or sexual abuse, an actual or threatened assault, unwanted sexual contact or abuse, exposure to war or combat, severe motor vehicle accidents, natural or man-made disasters, or sudden/catastrophic medical events.

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