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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Helen Shamis, LMFT - Marriage and Family Therapist
Helen Shamis, LMFT has been licensed as a marriage family therapist since 2005. She has worked with children with learning differences including ADHD, Autistic Spectrum Disorders, Anxiety and Depression for over twenty years, within the school system and in collaboration with their families. Helen has held clinical positions in public and private schools, non-profit organizations and community mental health programs. Working with transitional age youth is one of her specialities. Also, she has extensive experience in treating clients with eating disorders, and was Clinical Director of Beyond Hunger, a non-profit providing support groups for those in recovery. email: HelenShamis@bayareaanxiety.com |
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Joshua Westhoelter, MFT - Marriage and Family Therapist
Joshua Westhoelter is a Marriage and Family Therapist. He completed his M.A. in Marriage and Family Counseling at Argosy University and his B.A. in Psychology at the University of Missouri – St. Louis (UMSL). He 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. Joshua 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: JoshuaWesthoelter@bayareaanxiety.com |
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Jessica Yu, Psy.D.- Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Jessica Yu is a licensed clinical psychologist who provides therapy in English, Mandarin, and Taiwanese. Dr. Jessica Yu spent two years training at Kaiser Permanente and practicing in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. She also practices family system therapy, psychodynamic psychotherapy, and Christian faith-based counseling. Dr. Jessica Yu has specific training and interests in assessment (psychological, psychoeducational, neuropsychological) and interventions for ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, anger management, chronic depression, anxiety, attachment trauma, and adolescent/child behavioral problems. Email: JessicaYu@bayareaanxiety.com |
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Jason Azicri, LMFT - Marriage and Family Therapist
Jason Azicri, MFT works with families, adults, children and couples including anxiety, depression, attachment, self-esteem, parenting, life transitions and relationship challenges. He has experience with children and teens dealing with abuse, oppositional defiant disorder, ADHD, and those on the autism spectrum disorder. He has extensive experience with both individuals and group therapy. Past clinical positions held include the Community Health Awareness Counsel (CHAC) in Mountain View, Los Gatos High School, and STARS Behavioral Health Groups in both San Leandro and Los Angeles. Jason also has a background in the technology and entertainment industries. He holds an MA in Counseling Psychology from Santa Clara University and BA in Psychology from the University of Central Florida. Email: JasonAzicri@bayareaanxiety.com |
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Loretta Sun Nam, LCSW
Loretta Sun Nam is a California Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW). Loretta will again see clients in her office in Oakland when safe to do so and is currently seeing patients via teletherapy. Loretta has worked for many years as a medical social worker with young to older adults struggling with complex mental and physical health issues, including ADHD and addiction, coupled with challenging psychosocial circumstances. As a former inpatient psychiatric social worker, Loretta worked with adolescents and teenagers with anxiety and Oppositional Defiant Disorder, and their families to formulate viable treatment and discharge plans. Loretta utilizes Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), as ACT aligns with and draws from the client's values. For those ready to engage in change, Loretta implements Motivational Interviewing to affirm the client's value system, which elicits the drive for change. Other therapy modalities used in practice are psychodynamic psychotherapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Solution-Focused short-term and mindfulness-based techniques, all from culturally sensitive perspectives. Email: LorettaSunNam@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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Avrille Birnbaum, Psy.D. - Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Avrille Birnbaum, PsyD (she/her/they) is a licensed clinical psychologist who graduated from the Wright Institute in 2015. Early in her education, Avrille adopted a theoretically integrationist approach, using CBT, Attachment Theory, Systems, and awareness of neurodiversity to inform her individualized approach to therapy. Her training has provided her the experience of working with issues of depression, anxiety, OCD, substance abuse, neurocognitive disorders related to aging and to traumatic brain injuries, difficulties within family dynamics, and issues related to incarceration/post-incarceration. Throughout her training, Dr. Birnbaum has worked with ADHD clients, clients struggling with emotional affect regulation, clients with sleep disorders, and phobias and anxiety. Employing the principles of respect, collaboration, cultural affirmation, compassion, and humor, Dr. Birnbaum focuses on individual needs to develop a communicative client-therapist relationship and to help clients meet their desired goals. Dr. Birnbaum has clinical experience with a variety of cultures, family configurations and communities including LGBTQ+, BDSM/kink community, and polyamorous families. In her intern/post-doctoral work, Dr. Birnbaum has worked with clients from many religions including: First Nations/Indigenous religions, members of Muslim, Jewish, African Traditional Religions and more. Email: AvrilleBirnbaum@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 |
BAY AREA CENTER FOR ANXIETY
Providing Trusted, Compassionate, Effective Therapy
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San Francisco • Marin • East Bay • Peninsula • South Bay
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email
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info@bayareaanxiety.com
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phone
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(415) 488-5781
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