The Bay Area Center for Anxiety is a multidisciplinary group of clinicians who provide treatment for anxiety across the San Francisco Bay Area, and is a specialty center of the Institute for the Advancement of Psychotherapy. We provide assessment, medication management, therapy, and educational counseling in order to provide our clients with the best treatment possible. Our work is guided by the latest research on anxiety and we use effective treatment interventions. Below is a list of the psychologists, psychiatrists, and educational therapists who are part of the practice.
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W. Keith Sutton, Psy.D. - Director and Psychologist
Dr. Keith Sutton works with adolescents and adults providing individual, family, and couples therapy and psychological assessments. He combines his training in cognitive behavioral therapy, family and couples therapy, and neuropsychological assessment in order to work with clients on the micro level of neurology to the macro level of working with the individuals and systems within the client's lives. His warm, straightforward manner and focus on using strengths to overcome weakness helps clients to feel safe and understood in the therapy. He provides both brief therapy and long-term therapy. Email: KeithSutton@bayareaanxiety.com |
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Davida Cohen, MFT
Davida Cohen works with families, couples, children and adults and has been teaching, training and supervising for 20 years. She has worked at the Family Institute of Pinole in the positions of Director of Training, and Clinical Director. She also holds an MA in Art and works with adults and children to bring out their potential in mindfulness, creativity and relationships. Her specialties include ADHD, spirited, acting out children as well as overly constricted, anxious or depressed children. Additionally, she works with trauma and stress, adoption issues, and children and teen's behavioral difficulties. Email: DavidaCohen@bayareaanxiety.com |
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Joann Riggio, MFT
Joann Riggio is a Marriage and Family Therapist, who has helped many people recognize their true potential while helping them overcome their emotional difficulties. She uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, which has a strong basis in science, to overcome depression, anxiety and a wide range of problems. She helps her clients to start changing thought processes in order to change feelings and behaviors. She also uses Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) to relieve past traumas and work on healing deeper emotional wounds. email: JoannRiggio@bayareaanxiety.com |
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Lianne Warren, MA, MFT
Lianne is a Licensed Marriage Family Therapist in San Francisco who is experienced in working with adolescents and adults with ADHD. She has a particular interest in helping clients with ADHD who also struggle with anxiety. In her work, she collaborates with her clients to develop individualized strategies for action: to optimize his or her ability for time management, organization, to sustain effort to meet goals, and emotional regulation. In the process she helps her clients to recognize each of their unique strengths, innate resiliency, and to generally feel more competent, confident and have a more fulfilling life at home, work and in relationships. Lianne utilizes an integrative approach that includes skill building, and evidence based practices such as CBT, Mindfulness based psychotherapies, & EMDR. email: LianneWarren@bayareaanxiety.com |
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Max Farber, Psy.D. - Psychologist
Dr. Max Farber is a licensed clinical psychologist who helps foster positive change in people’s lives. He listens and co-creates therapy goals. Dr. Farber’s work often involves helping people to identify and live by the values that give their lives meaning and vitality, become more aware and accepting of emotions, worry less, problem solve with more flexibility, be more resilient to stress, change emotion driven behaviors to behavior choices that are more in line with core values, and to make new and enhance existing relationships, be they personal or professional. He feels that it is a tremendous privilege to help people in this way. He is politically liberal and queer positive. His education, training, and experience include a doctoral degree from the APA-accredited Wright Institute, predoctoral and postdoctoral residencies at Kaiser Permanente in Walnut Creek, and supervising student-clinicians at the Berkeley CBT Clinic. Email: MaxFarber@bayareaanxiety.com |
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Raven Westhoelter, MFT - Marriage and Family Therapist
Raven Westhoelter is a Marriage and Family Therapist. She completed her M.A. in Marriage and Family Counseling at Argosy University and her B.A. in Psychology at the University of Missouri – St. Louis (UMSL). She has worked with survivors of domestic violence, substance abuse, homelessness, anxiety, depression, trauma, and a variety of other therapeutic concerns such as parenting skill, relationships, and major life adjustments. Raven works from a collective of evidence based therapeutic orientations including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Solution Focused Therapy, Emotionally Focused Therapy, Family Systems, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, and Mindfulness meditation. Email: RavenWesthoelter@bayareaanxiety.com |
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Laura Petracek, Ph.D.
Dr. Laura Petracek is the best-selling author of The Anger Management Workbook for Women (New Harbinger Publications Press, 2004.) She received her Doctorate in Psychology from California Institute for Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco and her Master’s in Social Work (MSW) from Yeshiva University in New York City. She has worked in the field of Psychology and Social Work for over thirty years. She has served as Executive Director, Clinical Director, and held the positions of Psychologist/LCSW at many different non-profit agencies including New Leaf: Services for our Community, Centerpoint, Inc., and A Women’s Path. She has supervised Ph.D. Post-Doctoral, ASW, and MFTi students. She has also held the position of Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, and Adjunct Professor at Bay Area Graduate Institutions such as Alliant University, Dominican University, and National University. Her areas of interest are injustice and racism in the Criminal Justice System, Feminist/Women’s Issues, Gender Issues, LGBT Issues (specifically drug and alcohol abuse in the LBGT community, suicidality in LGBT teenagers), and trauma (specifically complex trauma). Alcoholism/Drug abuse among women, Meditation, and Yoga. I have worked exclusively with Children and Adolescents, who are diagnosed with ADHD, Anxiety, Depression, and/or Oppositional Defiant Disorder at local elementary and middle schools in the Bay Area for the past 5 years. Dr. Petracek specializes in helping people with anger dyscontrol issues and recovery from alcohol and other addictions. She currently maintains a private practice in the San Francisco Bay Area. Email: LauraPetracek@bayareaanxiety.com |
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Fabrizio Dellabernarda, LMFT - Marriage and Family Therapist
Fabrizio Dellabernarda is a marriage and family therapist who obtained his M.A. in Counseling Psychology at the University of San Francisco. He provides psychotherapy in San Francisco and online, in English and Italian. He strongly believes in the importance of looking at each person in his or her own context. He collaborates with his clients in identifying what is most important to them. He draws from his clients' strengths and offers guidance and skills to expand their repertoire of responses to align with their chosen values in the face of stressful emotions and situations. His approach and style in the therapy session comes from his life experience and the integration of multiple therapeutic orientations. He has trained in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Family Systems, Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). He has worked at the Bay Area Community Counseling with Dr. Keith Sutton and at the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto for the past 3+ years on issues such as depression, anxiety disorders (including OCD), complex trauma and PTSD, ADHD, behavioral issues with adolescents and their families, relationships problems, and problems with life transitions. He is active in the LGBTQ+ community and co-facilitates a group of aging gay men with HIV. Before entering the field of clinical psychology, Fabrizio worked for fifteen years as a software engineer and enjoyed the problem solving and the group dynamics aspects associated with that career. Email: FabrizioDellabernarda@bayareaanxiety.com |
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Liliana Casas Hernandez, LMFT - Marriage and Family Therapist
Liliana Casas Hernandez, Licensed Marriage family therapist considers it a great honor to be able to serve kids, children, teens and parents. For the past 17 years, she has been providing comprehensive counseling services to children and teens, parents and groups from diverse cultural backgrounds in different settings. This has included all levels of education from preschool to high school, hospital settings, non-profits, outpatient programs and victims of crime. She uses an integrative approach that includes EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), Emotionally Focused Therapy, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. With children, she has used Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) for preschoolers and Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT). Liliana understands that the gift of parenting brings both tremendous joy and challenges. She strives to support parents in exploring and identifying opportunities that invite their children in experiencing the best of who they are. Liliana works collaboratively with parents in understanding their child's strengths and temperament in order to address barriers that are impacting their child's ability to maximize their potential. Liliana believes that learning is continuous throughout life; there is always the possibility of growing and overcoming challenges. Being in a family means collaborating as a team, learning from each other and discovering what each member brings to the family. Email: LilianaCasasHernandez@bayareaanxiety.com |
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Yi Zhao Martins, LMFT - Marriage and Family Therapist
Yi Zhao Martins, LMFT is committed to helping clients get in touch with their own reality, to accept their unique personality and that of others, and to successfully integrate the client(s) into their family, social circle and society at large. Yi has extensive experience working with children in school settings, during transitions, and between households. She is highly intuitive in seeing the inner child in her clients with compassion, warmth, and clarity, and supporting them to integrate all parts of the self. Yi is a lifetime learner, who holds a Bachelor of Arts in Law, a Master of Arts in Law, and a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology. She graduated from Dr. Alicia Lieberman’s one-year training program of Parent-Child Therapy by UCSF Child Trauma Research Program. She is actively learning and practicing Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), and System-Centered Therapy (SCT). Yi loves getting to know her clients and developing individualized therapeutic plans towards clients’ goals. Her areas of specialty include ADHD, PTSD, and anxiety. She uses an integrative approach that includes Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Solution-Focused Therapy, Somatic Psychotherapy, System-Centered Therapy (SCT), Parent-Child Therapy (PCT), Play Therapy, Developmental Transformation, Expressive Arts Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT). As a long-term meditation and yoga practitioner, Yi uses mindfulness practices to nurture her own physical and emotional wellbeing. Her invaluable intuition and calm demeanor will surely be of benefit to her clients. Email: YiZhaoMartins@bayareaanxiety.com |
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Justine Gilbane, LMFT - Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
Justine is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with over a decade of clinical experience and an undergraduate degree in Art Therapy. She currently provides psychotherapy online helping people better understand themselves and identify/utilize their strengths. She teaches tools so they can go from surviving to thriving. Her approach is collaborative. She utilizes traditional and creative interventions with a sprinkle of humor. She has worked with people across the life span both individually and as a family therapist. She has experience working with individuals and their systems in outpatient, community based, school and residential programs. She is familiar with learning differences and emotional and behavioral dysregulation both at school and at home. She has led parenting groups and programs. She has level two certification in Attachment Based Family Therapy. She is experienced in Play Therapy. She loves to help people strengthen their communication and relationships through insight, attachment work and processing trauma. Email: JustineGilbane@bayareaanxiety.com |
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Lyn Blodgett, LCSW - Licensed Clinical Social Worker
As a licensed clinical social worker with more than twenty years of experience providing a range of mental health services to children, teens, adults, and families, Lyn is deeply committed to helping others with their healing and growth. She works with adults, adolescents, and families, offering individual and family therapy as well as parent coaching. She utilizes a number of evidence-based approaches, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, trauma-informed treatment, and self-compassion. She tailors her compassionate, warm approach to the unique, diverse needs, perspectives, experiences, and concerns of each client, keeping in mind the larger community context and drawing on her experience working in various settings, such as public schools and medical centers as well as community and county agencies. Lyn has specialized training and expertise in Mindfulness, Trauma-Informed Treatment, Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Parenting, Grief, Early Childhood Mental Health, Trauma-Informed Treatment, and Gender Expansive Care. She works with individuals from a strength-based perspective, welcomes feedback and collaboration, and offers compassion as well as practical skills to help reduce stress, anxiety, and depression and improve one's connection to oneself and others. Email: LynBlodgett@bayareaanxiety.com |
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Karrie Stafford, Ph.D, LMFT
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Andrea Vela, LMFT – Marriage and Family Therapist
Andrea Vela, LMFT is a bilingual, first-generation Peruvian-American therapist. She provides individual, couples, and family therapy through telehealth to adults and adolescents eager to relieve relationship issues, and symptoms of anxiety, trauma, and depression. She integrates a variety of therapeutic methods to meet the unique needs of each person she works with. Andrea has training in evidence-based approaches such as systemic family therapy, emotionally focused and Gottman Method couples therapy, cognitive and dialectical behavioral therapy, and is a certified anger management counselor. She has also effectively supported many individuals experiencing issues in the areas of identity development, self-esteem, intergenerational trauma, culture, parenting, life transitions, and grief. Notably, she is passionate about helping couples achieve interconnected, fulfilling, joyful relationships. Her solution-focused, playful, direct, and nonjudgmental style in the room promote a culture of safety, empowerment, and healing during therapy. Anxiety is one of Andrea’s primary focuses. She helps individuals understand the science of anxiety, how to identify and manage triggers, relaxation techniques, how to harness and accept difficult emotions, and how to solidify assertiveness, problems solving, and boundary setting skills to reduce day to day symptoms. Email: AndreaVela@bayareaanxiety.com |
BAY AREA CENTER FOR ANXIETY
Providing Trusted, Compassionate, Effective Therapy
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San Francisco • Marin • East Bay • Peninsula • South Bay • Anywhere in California via Zoom
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email
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phone
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(415) 488-5781
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