About Paul

I believe that people can experience movement towards more whole and satisfying relationships to self, significant others and the world at large. My background and general approach combine more than 20 years of corporate marketing and management experience with a warm, energetic, safe, interactive and solutions oriented approach to psychotherapy.  As a hospital based psychotherapist and training manager for Cal Pacific Medical Center’s intern program  in San Francisco I bring a more formal & deeper understanding of mental health and healing.

My expertise is in somatic psychology approaches.  I call attention to the way my clients embody their emotional world. The goal is to help, through awareness of the body, to increase awareness of one’s whole self, needs, desires, feelings and goals.

My approach to therapy is one of warmth, active relating, insight and a focus on goal setting. I am trained in EMDR (trauma treatment), Authentic Movement, Sensory Awareness, Self Psychology and  other relational/mindful modalities.  My couples therapy advanced training is through the Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy school. I specialize in and enjoy working with couples, individuals and teens.

I provide psychedelic integration services for those who sit with psychedelics such as ayahuasca, psilocybin, san pedro, and MDMA. I offer ketamine assisted therapy (KAT) for depression and trauma support  in partnership with an M.D./psychiatrist.

 

 

What is Psychotherapy?

Psychotherapy is a process that can be extremely helpful in dealing with anxiety, phobias, depression, addictions, relationship difficulties, sexuality issues such as sexual dysfunction, compulsive disorders and obsessive behavior. People also often come to psychotherapy because they feel they are not realizing their full potential. They engage in the process as a way of achieving personal growth. Depending on the problems, the numbers of sessions are likely to take place once or twice a week. During the session the therapist and client will together attempt to unravel locked away feelings that may have been buried since childhood. Working through these, even remembering them, can sometimes be a frightening and difficult process, but ultimately rewarding. This becomes an essential part of the process of growth and change because often our experiences in childhood have shaped us as adults. Some of these experiences may have resulted in us learning coping methods that may not be working in our lives now.

What is Somatic Psychology?

Somatic psychotherapy focuses on understanding the dynamic relationship between psychological and body processes. From a somatic psychology perspective, life experiences are embodied experiences; breath, flow, movement habits, muscle tone, cognitive style, affective expression, and relational patterns are shaped by past and present experiences. Somatic psychology combines the body/mind/spirit connection and integrates somatic-oriented processes with contemporary psychological and developmental theories and practices.  Somatic psychotherapy is also used to integrate progress made through shamanic practices. “From the perspective of somatic, the basis of our psychic life is the construction of bodily states, gestures, and ways of moving which have social and emotional meaning. These bodily states, formed in interaction with significant people around us, are the stuff of psychic life. They interact with each other to permit, prevent or enhance our feeling and expression of ourselves.”—Ian Grand, from The Body in Psychotherapy