Whitney is all of the things I needed in a therapist but never experienced. I wasn't so sure after…read moreour first session if I'd be returning for a second as she offered something I wasn't ready to accept- someone who accepted me as me and created a loving, safe place for me to just be me. We joke about it all these years later, but coming back for those follow up sessions would be exactly what I needed and truthfully, what I was lacking in my life. Whitney embodies compassion, care, empathy, and love and provides the safety of allowing me to show up as I am on any given day ready to help me unpack whatever I bring her. I came to her at a point in my life when I had shattered as a person. She has been by my side through some incredibly challenging times and there isn't anyone else that I would want in my corner when life happens. Whitney is an incredible therapist. If you are looking for someone who will see you as you are, accept you as you are, and who will walk by your side as you navigate the triumphs and challenges life throws at you, she is the one you need. I think she's pretty amazing and am thankful for her every day.

A few years ago, I found myself at dark point in my life. After a whirlwind of an 8 years in which…read moreI lost some of the most important people in my life, in addition to the pandemic and the ramifications of it, I knew it was time to seek help. I tried one avenue, but it just didn't work. So I went on a search for a different therapist. And that search went on day after day, hour after hour. I spoke to some, but nothing ever felt like it was the right fit. Until one day, when I was feeling defeated, I stumbled upon Whitney. I took a look at her website and read her reviews and felt hopeful for the first time in days. From the moment I first spoke to Whitney, I knew she was the one to help me. Two years later, and I can say with absolute certainty that choosing Whitney to be my therapist was one of the best decisions I have ever made. Whitney is compassionate, thoughtful, and incredibly knowledgeable. She knows how to create a warm, comfortable and supportive environment where you feel safe to tell her all your thoughts and feelings. She's patient and kind, and never gives up on finding ways to help you. She has been such a positive light in my life, and has helped me overcome so much. While I'm still a work in progress, it's all thanks to Whitney that I have made it this far. And that is why I recommend and will always recommend Whitney. If you're looking for someone to help you get back onto the path to happiness, you've found her.

Helene has been my therapist twice, thirty-one years apart, because in the intervening years, I…read morenever found another practitioner who was more deeply skilled and intuitive. It shouldn't have surprised me, but she remembered key details about our work together, more than three decades ago! To me, this indicates not just a keen memory, but an abiding care for her clients. In our most recent work, I have especially appreciated her directness, her warmth and humor, and most of all her questions--Helene asks the smartest, most intuitive questions of any therapist I've had in my 62 years, which has led to deep and valuable personal insights and growth.

Helene is always invested in my life and healing journey. The last few years had a lot of ups and…read moredowns and I'm really grateful to have her and the space she holds to process and learn from these life challenges. She's not the type of therapist that will just listen to you and nod for the whole session (unless that's what you need in that particular session), she's actively engaged in the conversation and everything that I share. She's also very intuitive and usually spot on with her observations. I'd highly recommend working with her, and so grateful to have found her 3 years ago.

Lindsay is a very compassionate, ethical, energetic therapist. Any client is fortunate to work with…read moreher

Lindsay is a compassionate and dedicated therapist. Her clients are very lucky to have her!read more

I have had the pleasure of Adam's advice and professional consultation on several occasions, and…read morehighly recommend his services. I am a therapist myself, and worked with Adam at Kaiser Permanente. Adam is one of the most skilled and competent therapists I have ever met. I regularly discussed some of my most challenging patients with Adam, and he always provided sound advice based on extensive training, as well as tremendous compassion and kindness. I can only imagine how lucky it must be to receive treatment from him. I highly recommend Adam for professional consultation as well for therapy.

Prior to Covid I was a patient of Adam Harrison for approximately 1.5 years. His approach works…read moregreat for me. I felt like I went home with some insight and things I could work on. He helped me develop skills to use for my trauma that I still use today. Emdr sessions were particularly helpful. Without going into too much detail I suffered from domestic abuse and a homicide suicide of my immediate family. Prior to Adam I didn't connect with other therapy practitioners. I felt like I was just complaining and feeling sorry for myself. I always felt more empowered and encouraged after our therapy sessions. I currently have a different health insurance now but I wouldn't hesitate to pay for future services with Adam if I were to need them.

Local residents need to know what sort of amazing resources they have at their fingertips. I have…read morehad a great experience here so far and I'm really excited that Contra Costa has this Center and that it's free. I don't actually remember who told me about CC Crisis Center, but I called them shortly after I lost my sister in an unexpectedly tragic accident. It took a few weeks to be placed with a one-on-one counselor, but I was prepared for that. They matched me with someone I now feel very comfortable being alone with. And that is why it takes a little time. CC Crisis Center can provide one-on-one, or group counseling, or both. Honestly, I don't know if their services span beyond grief counseling. But for my loss, grief counseling was what I needed, and I really struck out using the resources offered by my HealthNet insurance plan. I feel so fortunate to have found this place and been assigned a counselor who I believe will really help me heal. One on one counseling might not be for everyone, or might not be useful for every personal situation, but for me, for right now, it's really been a huge life-saver. I'm a positive person who needs help learning how to grieve in a healthy way, and CC Crisis Center has made this possible. I'm still new to the process of speaking to a stranger about very personal moments and feelings, but I truly believe this will help me get through my loss in the most healthy way possible.

If you're looking to volunteer for them, then this is my experience with them. This is a review /…read morefeedback on only their volunteer selection & training process, not on their services. There are no interviews and screening processes. So there is no way to knw exactly what their expectations are and what their "culture" is. Once you finish their online training for several weeks, you go in for a background check and then start in-person training. They give you a training manual with exercises over several weeks, and have you listen to calls, make call logs, discuss calls with you etc. No timeline / deadline is mentioned. I did all of this, under the assumption that they were acting in good faith, and serious about my time and their time. I attended in-person training from Oct 10, 2021 to Dec 12, 2021, first with Scott Chavez and then with "A" (Anna). I missed 1 week, because I was sick, but Anna asked me not to come in, esp if I was ill. During my training, Scott and Anna never told me how long training was actually supposed to take, what expectations were actually there from volunteers etc. They merely said I would be coming in and doing the weekly training sessions (4 hours on a Sunday -- I picked Sunday). Through out my time there, there was never any alarmingly negative feedback. After 3 weeks, Scott "handed me over" to Anna (or "A" as she prefers to be called). Through out the training, both Scott and "A" indicated that I would only be doing 211 and APS/CPS line, eventually "moving up" to all lines, including crisis and talk lines. On Sunday, Dec 12, "A" informed me that I would be starting that following Sunday (Dec 19). She did not indicate any issues or any challenges with my training or my ability to "man" their lines. We spent my last shift going through "mock calls", creating call records and call logs etc. Nothing about my challenges with multi-tasking etc, just that I start the following Sunday. Well, lo and behold, late on Friday, Dec 17, I got a call from Justin Jarret, the volunteer manager, that they were "letting me go" because I could not "multi-task" and took "too long to train". He further stated that I was expected to man all the lines (211/ APS / CPS / CRISIS / TALK) from Week 3 (when the manual clearly shows more than 3 weeks of training). When I pointed out that none of this had ever been mentioned to me during training, as training was done on their schedule and it was their staff's call that I would only man APS/CPS/211 to begin with, he became defensive and said I couldn't "multi-task" because I (like one of their staff members) indicated that I would take notes on paper first and then enter the information on the computer because I wanted to focus on the call and enter details later. When I attempted to discuss this further, he simply said, "Sorry, this is a team decision to let you go" and hung up on me abruptly. Jarrett had never had any interaction with me through out the hands-on training process. And if I had taken "too long to train" and had been expected to start on Week 3, then why not tell me that on Week 4? Why let me waste my time and gas money driving 16 miles to their center every Sunday, giving me positive feedback on the training exercises in their training manual, only to "terminate" me the Friday before I started? What happened between Dec 12 when "A" told me I was going to start on Dec 19, and Dec 17 when Justin calls to claim "it wouldn't work out"? I emailed Scott asking for feedback and his response was that I should take classes at DVC due to my "love" for "learning". Yes, Scott's feedback on the entire saga was that I should attend community college. My emails to Justin bounced and Lesley did not bother to respond. If you're intending to volunteer here, please make sure you know what their expectations are before hand, before - like me - you commit 4 months of your time and your gas money to these people. YOU have to ask because they won't tell you what their expectations are. You have to ensure you're jumping in ready to go on Week 3 (per Justin), never mind what the trainers and the training manual says. In fact, I got blindsided by Anna's claim I was going to start the following week only to be fired! Yes, sometimes volunteers are not a good fit for the agency and vice-versa but the time to let them know is WEEK 2 OR WEEK 3, not several weeks later, 2 days before they are due to start! The lack of respect and their inability to be upfront with their volunteers is unbelievable. The entire thing is so utterly disorganized and the lack of clear, open and HONEST communication is utterly galling. So, beware and make sure your time and money is not wasted like mine was. Good luck!

I have been seeing Graciela since the beginning of the year and I couldn't speak about her in…read moreanything but a positive way! I had always wanted to go to a therapist as any typical millennial, But never really got around to it. The first therapist I ever saw was a talk therapist in Oakland that I mostly saw for premarital counseling with my ex-husband. She was his counselor prior and he suggested we do the premarital there. When I found myself an abusive relationship after just two months of marriage, I started to look for therapy. My ex-husband, Mazen, was a narcissistic sociopath and I had read that this takes a very specific kind of therapist to deal with. Initially, I went back to the same counselor that I used to see with him. I didn't know that this is typically not advised. and in some cases considered unethical. In any case, she didn't mind seeing me, and while I will write more details one day on her Yelp page, but basically I was a victim shamed for even calling my ex-husband a narcissistic sociopath. The next week, I found myself scared to see my therapist, and I realize that that wasn't the kind of relationship that I wanted to have a someone who was supposed to help me and that I was paying good money. I ended up not showing up to the counselor and looking for a counselor that was closer to me and is specializing in trauma. It was through a referral that I found Graciela and understood that she specializes in trauma. When I spoke to her on the phone she was incredibly understanding and soothing, and she had a good grasp of what a relationship with a narcissistic sociopath looked like. This was this past December, I ended up talking to her terrified, shaking, and I showed up to my first appointment having just got off the phone with the sheriffs office making sure that he had been serve my restraining order. It was a hard time. It's been a few months, and it's been a journey. I've done a lot of things to try to heal, and I wouldn't say that any one thing did it, but Graciela was a big part of that journey. A journey that I think I'm hopefully almost done with! We worked through the trauma of being with my ex-husband, and some of the things that led me to marry someone like him. She isn't just a talk therapist too, we do exercises and meditations that I find much more effective than talk therapy. She's helped me put my life back together and I'm thankful. A few side notes because I think they matter: She is incredibly punctual. I say this because the previous therapist I saw with my ex-husband was frequently late and this was actually really throwing off my schedule. Also she does things via email and there's a little button that you can press when you get there to indicate that you've arrived. Again the previous counselor I saw did not have these things, one time I knocked on her door to alert her that I was there and she didn't hear it and I ended up waiting an additional 20 minutes while she waited for me. It was hard to get a hold of this previous counselor because she didn't use email and her voicemail was constantly full. Graciela can take payment through Zelle which is very convenient. Also, as a POC I love that Graciela is one too as I think she is more understanding of my cultural background and the family I come from. She also can do EMDR for those who would like it.

Graciela is a wonderful counselor! She was the first counselor we've ever visited and at the…read morebeginning I was a little bit skeptical that a counselor would be able to help us. She spent the first few sessions listening, letting us explain the issues. After a while, she started directing the conversations to the areas that se identified as key. She was impartial, understanding and caring. I remember she would drive the conversation to a place where it didn't seem to matter that much, when all of a sudden she would point out something that you were never aware of and explains how it would impact your spouse. It was amazing! It felt like she knew exactly how to get us out of a very complicated maze. I would recommend her to anyone out there looking for couple's therapy. Graciela is amazing!

Before working with Apaar, I had experience with talk therapy but had never tried hypnosis. I've…read morefound it to be an incredibly enlightening and transformative experience. Through memory exploration and visualization exercises, Apaar helped me uncover emotional dynamics in my family that had been affecting me in ways I wasn't even aware of. The way I thought about certain relationships began to shift even after one session. At our first meeting, Apaar immediately made me feel welcomed and comfortable. As we talked, it quickly became clear that she is an active listener who keenly picks up on important details and asks brave questions that get to the heart of what you are expressing. Her method is gentle and comforting, without compromising on honesty and focus. Her genuine concern for and connection to the vulnerable moments I share makes me feel truly seen, and prepared to face difficult obstacles I had been avoiding. I highly recommend Awaken Life Hypnosis to anyone seeking healing, and look forward to continuing my work with Apaar!

Apaar and Awaken Life Hypnosis are an excellent addition to any self-care regimen. The value was…read moreimmense and the customer experience is phenomenal! This was the first hypnotherapist I have ever attended. If you have never been hypnotized, this is a great place to try it out. Sessions begin with a relaxed conversation about yourself, past and present. That conversation expands into shorter exercises and mini-hypnosis. Then the session culminates in the 'main event' at the end. The therapist is extremely kind, present, and engaged (super important qualities for this type of work). You will not regret booking a session. I highly, highly recommend it.

As soon as I met Jeanette, I felt her grounded, radiant energy. She's easy to talk to and full of…read moreknowledge in her field. Most importantly, what's beneath all of the knowledge and experience is a sincere desire to support community. If you're looking for a safe space to move through trauma, look no further!

Jeanette blends somatic awareness, mindfulness, and trauma-informed practices in a way that helps…read morepeople feel safe, supported, and truly seen. She has a rare gift for creating a space where you can slow down, reconnect with your body, and explore what's coming up without judgment. Her presence is both grounding and compassionate, and you can feel how deeply she cares about the people she works with. Whether you're navigating stress, healing from past experiences, or simply wanting to feel more at home in yourself, Jeanette's approach meets you exactly where you are. Working with her feels like being gently guided back to your own inner wisdom. 5 stars. And she's bilingual :)