SANCTUARY COUNSELING SERVICES
WHAT IS OFFERED: Mental health professionals in our community have volunteered to provide their services through the Sanctuary Counseling Team.
You have the flexibility to choose any team member you feel is most suitable to work with you. Please note that all sessions are confidential. Sessions may be over Zoom or in person.
Your counseling may involve one counselor or multiple counselors and can include individual or couples counseling. You are entitled to up to six sessions per year with all counselors combined. Additionally, team members may occasionally offer educational workshops or group sessions at the Sanctuary or via Zoom.
CONTRIBUTIONS: Payment is on a sliding scale of twenty to eighty dollars per session. Pay for sessions through the Gift Shop website.
CONTACT PRACTITIONERS: You can contact any member of the Counseling Team directly to ask questions or set up an initial session.
MEET OUR COUNSELORS
ALLEN FRITZIGER
Phone: (925) 326-5920Email: fertziap@gmail.com
My career started as a neuroscientist where I taught and researched brain function at the University of Maryland Medical School. However, for the last 40 years, I have focused on understanding the human mind during significant life changes, grief, and the ultimate challenge of dying.
I have taught university courses, conducted workshops, and trained healthcare professionals. I have also assisted individuals struggling with the hardships brought on by life-threatening illnesses and loss.
My focus is to assist in clarifying, examining, and understanding the nature of challenging experiences contributing to suffering. We can learn to accept and embrace these difficulties productively and effectively through transformation.
Services offered: Individual therapy
Format: In Person or via Zoom
CAROLINE CHIARA
carolinechiaralcsw@gmail.com
925-322-0707
I have served clients as a clinical social worker in various settings over the past twelve years, addressing grief and loss, depression, anxiety, chronic illness, caregiver fatigue, life transitions, and stress. I am here to provide you with the space to pause, reconnect with your inner knowing, and assist your self-reflection. We will work together to find a new space of clarity and skills to create a life aligned with your true self.
I also hold advance certification in hospice and palliative care. I can assist
you with processing the thoughts and feelings that are a natural part of documenting advanced health-care directives and end-of-life care. I have a master’s degree in social work and am licensed to practice clinical social work/psychotherapy in California and Washington, DC.
Services offered: Individual counseling
Format: Offered on Zoom or in person
CYNTHIA PASTOR
Have you ever noticed yourself having a strong response to a situation that
caused you to react in ways you wish you hadn’t? In retrospect, you may have even been puzzled by your reaction's force. This can be a sign that unhealed
“parts” of you, holding beliefs from your past, are calling out to be witnessed,
understood, and transformed.
By using the Internal Family Systems model of therapy (one of the modalities that
I use) I can help you to align with your true “Self” by guiding you gently inward in
an atmosphere of caring and trust. Ultimately, it is your relationship between
“Self” and parts that lead to healing. This approach combines an awareness of
mind and body and helps you release old patterns and beliefs that no longer serve
you. As these parts begin to heal, you will feel more calm and balanced in the
present, both within yourself and in your relationships.
Please feel free to reach out to me for help with other counseling concerns, and
please visit my website for more information about my practice. For more information about my work, please visit my website.
FORMAT: Offered in person or via Zoom
ELLEN PESKIN BAUM
peskinbaum.lmft@gmail.com
510-604-0010
I work with individuals dealing with a wide range of challenges – including grief, aging, abuse, neglect, childhood loss, different types of trauma, and health issues (I have lived with type 1 diabetes for over fifty years).
I see myself as a kind of a midwife to what is pushing to come alive in us. In this work, I use many different body-oriented self-soothing tools and skills that help shift the nervous system from high anxiety to a more peaceful, balanced, and creative state.
In addition to calming anxiety, I will support and guide you in experiencing the natural wave-like rhythm and flow of your emotions – how they first gather, then rise, plateau, and subside. As you learn to ride these waves, you will gain more and more confidence in your ability to be clear and to communicate what you’re feeling and in tackling the challenges that life presents.
I find this work to be deeply engaging, spontaneous, creative, and collaborative.
FORMAT: Offered in person
Service offered: Individual counseling
EMILY ZETTNER
emilyzettner@gmail.com
925-286-9591
WEBSITE
As a psychotherapist, I offer support for a variety of challenges including depression, general anxiety, career stress, life transitions, family conflict, developmental trauma, relationship and communication issues, identity exploration, and spiritual or existential concerns.
I create a warm and accepting therapeutic space and bring compassion, curiosity, and integrity to each session. I provide encouragement and support for you to develop personal strength, purposeful connection to yourself and others, and more balance and ease as you walk your path in life. I incorporate principles and skills from several therapeutic theories.
Whatever your concern or presenting issue, whatever therapeutic approach we decide to take, as your therapist, please consider me "a friend of the soul”. My favorite quote by Vincent van Gogh is “I am seeking, I am striving, I am in it with all my heart.” I love this because it sums up both my approach to practicing therapy and what I witness in my clients as I walk alongside them on their journeys.
Services offered: Individual and couples therapy
FORMAT: Zoom
JASON SAFFER
jason@creativegrowth.com
510-527-2100, ext. 5
WEBSITE
A licensed marriage and family therapist since 1976, I’ve been trained in counseling methods pioneered and popularized by John Bradshaw and Pete Walker. These methods focus on addressing and resolving the painful legacies of growing up in an abusive, dysfunctional, addictive, or enmeshed family and emphasize healing the inner child and the inner sense of toxic shame from such family backgrounds. My work emphasizes the specifics of developing healthy boundaries and mindful living.
Well-versed professionally and personally in twelve-step programs such as Al-Anon, I bring a lifetime of blending psychological and spiritual growth to my work. I'm also co-director of the Center for Creative Growth, through which I offer individual, couples, family, and group therapy, as well as family-business consultations.
Services offered: Individual and couples counseling
FORMAT: Offered in person or via Zoom
JEANETTE SEGAL
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925-788-3483
Whether you’re managing a health condition, moving through a transition, or seeking renewed energy and clarity, our work together offers a safe, collaborative space that supports growth, healing, and joy.
Health Coach. Life can feel overwhelming when we’re living with chronic symptoms, caring for a loved one, or facing changes in health or well-being. It’s easy to feel anxious, exhausted, or unsure how to move forward. I offer a calm, steady presence to help you find clarity, regain a sense of agency, and reconnect with your body’s natural capacity for healing. Together, we’ll create a path forward that feels safe, supportive, and truly your own.
Background: As a certified health and wellness coach, I apply science-based training in chronic pain recovery, lifestyle medicine, and other mind-body modalities. These approaches are medically proven to enhance clarity, emotional balance, and well-being.
My work is informed by my privileged career as a registered nurse and Hospice Case Manager. My own health and trauma recovery journey, and adjustment to aging, has deepened my understanding of the body-mind connection and strengthened my belief in our capacity to heal. Yet it is love, whether experienced in relationship or within us that I believe truly heals. It is this perspective that shapes the way I show up with clients—grounded, compassionate, and fully present.
What I Offer: As we collaborate, we’ll discover approaches that resonate with your unique needs and create lasting pathways for resilience, joy, and meaning in life’s challenges.
Services offered: Individual coaching, caregiver support, end-of-life support
Format: Offered on Zoom or in Person
jsegal@inursecoach.com, Cell:(925) 788-3483
JOHN OSBORNE
My training and decades of work as a child therapist gave me a deep appreciation of how the accommodations we make to survive childhood can create problems for us later in life. Now that I work exclusively with adults, I have the opportunity to focus on unpacking those legacy parts of us that can be distracting and unsettling. In that context, it’s a privilege to meet with companions with whom I have so much shared experience, and together create an atmosphere of compassion, hope, and healing.
Service offered: Individual counseling
Format: Offered in person or via Zoom
jcosborne@gmail.com
925-385-6855
LINDA KATZ SAFFER
linda@creativegrowth.com, 510-527-2100, ext. 1
I support companions in healing personal issues and relationships and family and work difficulties. Baba said, “All suffering is [our] labor of love to unveil [our] own infinite Self.” Together we can find the gift in each suffering, including health challenges. I am the founder and co-director of the Center for Creative Growth and a licensed marriage and family therapist. You can read more about my work on the Creative Growth website.
Service offered: Individual counseling
Format: Offered on Zoom or in person.
Contact information: linda@creativegrowth.com, 510-527-2100, ext. 1
As we learned from Aurobindo, growth is growth in all directions, not just up. As a clinical psychologist for many years, I’m deeply grateful for the privilege of facilitating psycho-emotional growth and greater peace of mind.
Therapy is a collaboration, a joint journey of discovery. Research shows that the therapist-patient relationship fosters growth through loving-kindness. Each of us has the capacity to make sound decisions and manage our relationships through emotional self-regulation; at times, all that’s needed is a guide to help us achieve the emotional balance that enables us to connect with our innate capabilities. This balance results from an autonomic nervous system that quickly returns to equilibrium after emotional stress. The good news is that our years of meditation have nourished our nervous system, enabling us to respond more effectively to stress. See more on my slightly outdated website.
Services offered: Individual and couples counseling
Format: Offered on Zoom or in Person
Contact information: joygranit@gmail.com or lorraine@drgranit.com, (925) 788-1591
lorraine@drgranit.com, (925) 788-1591
LORRAINE GRANIT
LINDA GOLDMAN
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I began my work with children as a kindergarten, first- and second-grade teacher and guidance counselor in the public school system. I have become a grief therapist with children, adolescents, and adults, working with issues involving the death of a family member for a child, prenatal loss with couples, and other loss and grief issues. I have found over the past forty years that the children, teens, and adults who have been brave enough to explore their grief with me are actually my teachers. I value the sacred space they create together, and I make every effort to safely hold that space without judgment during the grief journey.
I have taught at universities including Johns Hopkins University, George Washington University, King's College, and the University of Hong Kong, and have authored several books, including Life and Loss: A Guide to Help Grieving Children (Classic Edition) and Children Also Grieve. I look forward to being present for you with any death- or non-death-related challenge you might be facing.
Services Offered: Individual or group grief counseling
Format: Offered on Zoom or in Person
Contact Information: linda.goldman@verizon.net (301 980 063
REBECCA PALLEY
(925) 412-0266
rebeccajpalley@gmail.com
Even after all this time
The Sun never says to the Earth
“You owe me”
Look what happens with a love like that
It lights the whole sky
-Hafiz
BACKGROUND: With more than 40 years of working with young children and teens, I offer child therapy in addition to my work with adults. I am skilled in helping people with life transitions and relationship issues of all kinds, as well as offering support for those who are caring for family members with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.
I have personally experienced parenting a child with a severe chronic illness, which has fostered a deep sensitivity and interest in supporting others who face similar challenges, including their caregivers. Additionally, I have expertise in assisting parents and their estranged adult children, as well as adult siblings seeking to build closer relationships and improve mutual understanding.
WHAT I OFFER: Love is at the center of all we do and are. With that understanding, I feel privileged to accompany people in their journey inwards to the Heart, offering love, compassion, perspective, kindness, and humor. Sharing our deepest feelings and concerns can help release shame, guilt, and sorrow and bring new light where pain resides.
Throughout my work, I have been repeatedly touched by the beauty in each person, and am honored by their trust in me.
Services offered: Adult and Child therapy
Format: Via Zoom and in-person
Contact information: rebeccajpalley@gmail.com (925)-412-0266
STEVE SARDELLA
With over forty years of experience as a psychotherapist for individuals, families, and couples, what I’ve found to be healing for people isn’t necessarily the therapy model I use but rather my relationship with my clients. Working with me in an atmosphere of trust and safety, clients can use the healing power of the internal Self to release old patterns that inhibit their personal growth. You can read more about me and my work on my website.
Services offered: Individual and couples counseling
Format: Offered on Zoom or in Person
Contact Information: stephensardella@gmail.com, (925) 708-3484
WENDY RICHEY
I’ve been a licensed psychologist in private practice since 1982. Though officially “retired”, I continue to work with companions and close associates of Sufism, drawing on my training in cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), hypnosis, and various mindfulness practices.
I especially enjoy my work with companions because of our shared understanding: The lower mind is the source of our angst. Understanding this helps us keep it in perspective and learn to manage it – so it doesn’t “manage” us! Specific strategies vary, depending on the challenges the companion is experiencing, but the common denominators in all my work are love, respect, and confidentiality.
I’m happy to discuss whether my style and approach might be a good fit for you. Call me.
Services Offered: Individual and couples counseling
Format: Offered on Zoom or in Person
Contact information: writchey@gmail.com, (925) 212-9589