WELLNESS SERVICES
SANCTUARY COUNSELING PROGRAM
WHAT'S OFFERED: Experienced mental health professionals among our membership have volunteered to provide their services to companions through the Sanctuary Counseling Team.
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You may work with whichever member or members of the team you feel would be most appropriate given your needs. Most team members work with their clients over Zoom. All counseling sessions are confidential.
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Your sessions might be with a single counselor or several counselors, and can involve individual or couples counseling. You’re entitled to up to six sessions per year (the total number of sessions with all counselors). Members of the team may also offer educational workshops or groups at the Sanctuary or via Zoom from time to time.
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FEES: Payment is on a sliding scale of twenty-five to fifty-five dollars per session. Pay for sessions through the Gift Shop website.
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CONTACTING TEAM MEMBERS: Contacting team members: Contact any member of the Counseling Team directly to ask questions or set up an initial session.
MEET OUR COUNSELORS
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.
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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? That can be a sign that unhealed “parts” of you that are stuck in the past are calling out to be witnessed, understood, and transformed.
If you want to explore some of these behaviors, I can help you heal the old patterns beneath these reactions and feel more calm and balanced in the present.
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Services offered: Individual and couples counseling
ELLEN
PESKIN BAUM
peskinbaum.lmft@gmail.com
925-604-0010
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).
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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.
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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.
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I find this work to be deeply engaging, spontaneous, creative, and collaborative.
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Service offered: Individual counseling
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EMY ZETTNER
emyzettner@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.
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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.
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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
JEANETTE SEGAL
925-788-3483
Health challenges and the uncertainties of aging may leave us feeling stressed, overwhelmed, and isolated. It can also be a time in life for building resilience, finding meaning, and making healthier lifestyle choices.
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As a registered nurse and a health coach, I offer practical guidance to people struggling with physical, cognitive, and emotional challenges. From fears of loss to the dilemmas of chronic health conditions, I can support you in identifying your own inner strengths for optimizing your health and well-being. My body-mind approach draws on reliable, research-based strategies including chronic pain management, nutrition, qigong, mindfulness, and self-compassion practices. If needed, I can help you sort through medical information and communicate wisely with your health-care providers.
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Together we can explore the opportunities hidden in any health challenge and focus on bringing ease and harmony to body, heart, and mind.
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You can expect strict confidentiality, non-judgment, and a welcoming advocate.
Services offered: Individual coaching, caregiver support, end-of-life support
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
jcosborne@gmail.com
925-385-6855
LINDA KATZ
SAFFER
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.
Service offered: Individual counseling
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linda@creativegrowth.com
510-527-2100, ext. 1
WEBSITE
LORRAINE
GRANIT
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 reveals that the relationship between the therapist and patient promotes growth through loving kindness. Each of us has the capacity to make sound decisions and choices and manage our relationships by means of emotional self-regulation; all that’s needed at times is a guide to help us achieve the emotional balance that allows us to connect with our innate capabilities. This balance is a result of an autonomic nervous system that can return quickly to a state of equilibrium after emotional stress. The good news is that our years of meditation have nourished our nervous system, resulting in the capacity to learn to respond better to stress.
Services offered: Individual and couples counseling
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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.
Services offered: Individual and couples counseling
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stephensardella@gmail.com
925-708-3483
WEBSITE
WENDY RITCHEY
writchey@gmail.com
925-212-9589
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.
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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.
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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