As part of our ongoing training program for postgraduate clinicians, as well as professional development for our licensed staff, La Cheim regularly brings in outside experts to enrich our clinical work:

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Black Mental Health: Theory and Application for a Clinical Setting | Jewel Love, MA, LMFT

As a licensed psychotherapist and mental health consultant in corporate America, Jewel provides culturally-responsive strategies and training for the workforce of tomorrow. His clients include: Google, Microsoft, Capital One, PayPal, Nvidia, PG&E, Medtronic, and more. Through his highly engaging presentations, he inspires employees with the tools they need to win in business and in life. In addition, Jewel runs Black Executive Men, a private psychotherapy practice helping Black men in corporate America find inner peace. Learn more at www at www.championsmentalhealth.com and www.blackexecutivemen.com.

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Trauma Recovery | Janina Fisher, PhD

Janina Fisher, PhD is a licensed Clinical Psychologist and Instructor at the Trauma Center, an outpatient clinic and research center founded by Bessel van der Kolk. Known for her expertise as both a therapist and consultant, she is also past president of the New England Society for the Treatment of Trauma and Dissociation, an EMDR International Association Credit Provider, a faculty member of the Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Institute, and a former Instructor, Harvard Medical School. Dr. Fisher has been an invited speaker at the Cape Cod Institute, Harvard Medical School Conference Series, the EMDR International Association Annual Conference, University of Wisconsin, University of Westminster in London, the Psychotraumatology Institute of Europe, and the Esalen Institute. Dr. Fisher lectures and teaches nationally and internationally on topics related to the integration of research and treatment and how to introduce these newer trauma treatment paradigms in traditional therapeutic approaches.

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Radically Open DBT (RO-DBT) | Alicia Smart, PsyD

Radically Open Dialectical Behavior Therapy (RO-DBT) is a new evidence-based therapy for people who are over-controlled in ways that create problems with functioning. Dr. Smart is the Clinical Director of DBT Center of Marin, a licensed clinical psychologist and DBT-Linehan Board of Certification, Certified DBT Clinician. She has received intensive DBT training from Behavioral Tech in 2009. In addition, Dr. Smart has been intensively trained in Radically Open DBT (RO-DBT) by the treatment developer Thomas Lynch, Ph.D. Dr. Smart received her BA from New York University and earned her Doctorate in Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies. Dr. Smart has over twelve years of group experience, including leading depression, anxiety, anger management, DBT skills groups, caregivers support groups, and bereavement process groups.

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Hearing Voices Movement: New Approaches to Managing Psychosis | Tim Dreby

The Hearing Voices Movement advocates the "hearing voices approach” -- an alternative way of understanding the experience of those people who experience what are traditionally known as auditory hallucinations. Tim Dreby is an award-winning author and licensed psychotherapist who works on an urban outpatient psychiatric unit. Tim’s first publication was in 2015, entitled Fighting for Freedom in America: Memoir of a "Schizophrenia" and Mainstream Cultural Delusions. It chronicles his mid-career plight taking on a section 8 management company, police, and black market forces that intermingled to run things. The outcome has been a unique perspective on mental health informed by both sides of the broken tiled corridor. Tim became a social worker in 1993. Since becoming licensed over the past ten years he has developed an extensive training for providers to help them work with people who experience “psychosis” across diagnostic divides. 

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Working Effectively with Borderline Personality Disorder | Diane Suffridge, PhD

Most recently, Dr. Suffridge was Clinical Director at Family Service Agency of Marin for 11 years ending in 2014.  Since that time, she has been an assistant professor at Dominican University of California in San Rafael, in the Counseling Psychology Department providing training toward MFT licensure.  She also directs the University Counseling Center on campus and maintains a practice of adult psychotherapy and behavioral health consultation in San Rafael.  Her book “Entering the Behavioral Health Field” was released in May, and she publishes a biweekly blog on topics related to behavioral health and psychotherapy practice accessible on her website.

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Internal Family Systems (IFS) | Bonnie Weiss, MA, LCSW

Bonnie Weiss, MA, LCSW, is a psychotherapist, teacher, supervisor, trainer, and coach who has been practicing since 1974. Her distinctive approach incorporates the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model into an emotionally-deep, present-centered, yet action-oriented way of working. She combines a quick mind, clear insight, and sharp intuition with solid experience in developing trusting and meaningful transformative relationships. Her commitment is to facilitate personal growth and help people live to their highest potential. Bonnie teaches classes and workshops on the Internal Family Systems Model, Inner Critic, Self-esteem, and Food and Eating Issues.. She has taught in  Australia, Israel, Ireland, Germany and the Easlen Institute. She is the author of Self Therapy Workbook, Freedom from Your Inner Critic, The Illustrated Workbook for Self Therapy for You Inner Critic, Activating Your Inner Champion, and Letting Go of Perfectionism, and producer of a numerous audio products including  IFS Classes, Demonstration Sessions, and Guided Meditations. Her private practice in the Bay area and by telephone focuses on individuals, couples, and professional supervision. Bonnie is a licensed clinical social worker in California and New York.

 

Healing Shame | Sheila Rubin, MA, LMFT, RDT/BCT

Sheila Rubin, MA, LMFT, RDT/BCT is a leading authority on Healing Shame. She co-created the Healing Shame – Lyon/Rubin method and has developed therapy techniques integrating somatic and expressive modalities to work with the all-pervasive shame and trauma that underlie eating disorders, addictions and toxic family dynamics. Sheila has been adjunct faculty at JFK University and CIIS. Her expertise, teaching, and writing contributions have been featured in numerous publications, including six books, and she has delivered talks, presentations and workshops across the country and around the world, at conferences from Canada to Romania. Sheila is a Marriage and Family Therapist, a Registered Drama Therapist and Board Certified Trainer with offices in Berkeley and San Francisco. She also offers consultation to therapists over Skype. Sheila and her husband, Bret Lyon, are co-directors of the Center for Healing Shame in Berkeley, CA offering continuing education for therapists. For more information about Sheila and her work, visit www.SheilaRubin.com and www.CenterforHealingShame.com.

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Somatic Attachment Therapy | Karen Rachels, LMFT

Karen Rachels, LMFT, provides therapist consultation and training in Somatic Attachment Therapy (SAT). The author of “Body, Brain, Love: A Therapist’s Workbook for Affect Regulation and Somatic Attachment,” Karen is a Certified Hakomi Therapist and also trained in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, EMDR, Emotionally-Focused Couples Therapy and Bonnie Badenoch's Relational Neursoscience. In addition to providing workshops, she facilitates ongoing consultation groups and practice groups focused on SAT. More information about groups, trainings and publications are available at www.karenrachels.com. A series of demonstration videos can be seen on YouTube at her channel, Karen Rachels, LMFT.

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Nonviolent Communication | Jean Morrison

Jean Morrison is a consultant specializing in interpersonal communication, functional and respectful working relationships, and team development -- all with the intention of supporting individuals and groups to have harmony, productivity, health, and satisfaction at work and at home. She has over 25 years “breadth and depth” experience with a variety of clients including: hospitals and health centers, university departments, corporate teams, hotels and retreat centers, prison inmates and staff, school administrators and teaching staff, parents, families, and individuals. She is a certified trainer with the international Center for Nonviolent Communication since 1989; and a co-founder of Nonviolent Communication Santa Cruz which offers community trainings, mediations, retreats, and classes. Jean is co-producer of communication materials, books, and games which can be found on GROKtheWorld.com.

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Talking Courageously About Race | Linda Handy

Linda Handy connects local issues with international movements. Whether it’s in Detroit, Tuscaloosa, or Portland, she can draw a parallel between local challenges and those around the globe. Linda seeks to transform unjust conditions into new opportunities for social, racial, and economic change. She is comfortable with discomfort and encourages participants to engage in hard conversations;"‘walking the talk,” she motivates people to follow her. Developing a common ground through story telling and conscious listening, she supports communication across social and economic strata. As a facilitator she builds bridges, allowing disparate worlds to merge. Whether it is across continents, county lines, or across the street, Linda supports the examination of what is right, just and fair. With an M.S. from Case Western Reserve University and as a public official, Linda uses her position to support people who desire access and equity. She is accessible and straightforward, while being worldly and savvy.

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LifeRing Secular Recovery | Martin Nicolaus, MA, JD

Martin has a B.A. in Comparative Literature from Wesleyan University, 1963; a Master’s in Sociology from Brandeis University, 1967, and a J.D. from Boalt Hall School of Law, UC Berkeley, 1983. His sobriety date is October 2, 1992. He is a founder of LifeRing Secular Recovery and served as its CEO from 1997 to 2011. He has given numerous presentations about LifeRing to audiences of treatment professionals and clients in recovery. He has led many hundreds of LifeRing meetings in the Bay Area. He is a recovery blogger, author of a number of articles on recovery issues, and author of three books about LifeRing -- namely, Empowering Your Sober Self: The LifeRing Approach to Addiction Recovery; How Was Your Week? Bringing People Together in Recovery the LifeRing Way -- a Handbook; and Recovery by Choice: Living and Enjoying Life Free of Alcohol and Drugs -- a Workbook.

 

Gender and Sexual Identity Awareness | Sheila Addison, PhD

Dr. Sheila Addison (pronouns she, her, hers) is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice in Berkeley, CA. Her clinical and scholarly work focuses on the needs of gender and sexual minorities, people with higher body weights, people in the kink/BDSM community, and racial & social justice. In addition to private practice, Sheila also provides trainings on Size Acceptance and the Health at Every Size® perspective, cultural competence with gender and sexual minority clients, and the Ally Skills Workshop for companies and workplaces. She currently serves as the President for the Association for Family Therapy of Northern California.

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Somatic Experiencing® for PTSD Recovery | Peter Levine, PhD

Drawing on his dual doctorates in medical biophysics and psychology, Peter A. Levine, PhD developed Somatic Experiencing®, a naturalistic, body-awareness approach to healing trauma, and founder of the Somatic Experiencing® Trauma Institute, which conducts SE™ trainings throughout the world and in various indigenous cultures. Some of Dr. Levine’s other achievements include being a stress consultant for NASA during the development of the space shuttle project, as well as a consultant to the Sandia Labs during their report on preventing terrorism commissioned by the Department of Homeland Security in 2002. Dr. Levine was a member of the APA Task Force: Psychologists for Social Responsibility in developing responses to large-scale disasters and ethno-political warfare. He is currently a Senior Fellow and consultant at The Meadows Addiction and Trauma Treatment Center in Wickenburg, Arizona. Dr. Levine has written several influential books about trauma. His international best seller, Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma, has been translated into twenty-six languages. Levine’s original contribution to the field of Body-Psychotherapy was honored with the Life Time Achievement award from the United States Association for Body Psychotherapy. He also received an honorary award as the Reiss-Davis Chair for his lifetime contribution to infant and child psychiatry.

 

Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) for Couples | Annie Asch, MFT

Annie Asch has worked as an individual and couples psychotherapist in Marin County for over 20 years.  She is certified in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) as well as Gottman Relationship Therapy.  She has advanced training in EMDR with a specialty in working on attachment based trauma. Before becoming a Marriage and Family Therapist, she worked as a dog and horse trainer focusing on motivating animals by developing strong and trusting relationships with them.  Her graduate research was about the efficacy of animal assisted therapy and she is currently training her new puppy to work in her office as a therapy assistance dog.

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Autism Spectrum Clients and Executive Functioning | Meg Field, PhD

Meg Fields Worked at SF General Hospital in Psychiatric Emergency room for about 20 years before retiring and working full time as a Psychologist. Her interests are many, but she has found a niche working with young adults who are having trouble launching.  She and her Husband Michael Fields co-created Aspen Network to provide services to these young adults. Dr. Meg Fields is enormously proud of Aspen Network's several programs for adolescents and young adults. Summer camp in the Truckee-Tahoe area was the first exciting adventure, soon followed by a program of evening groups focusing on social-ease for teens and young adults with social anxiety, learning differences, and autism spectrum disorders. Finally, she and her husband Mike Fields, created a residential program for young adults, in which each individual follows a tailored program designed to overcome or compensate for challenges in the path to adult life.

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Focusing: The Felt Sense of Experience | Ann Cornell, PhD

Ann Weiser Cornell is an American author, educator, and worldwide authority on Focusing, the self-inquiry psychotherapeutic technique developed by her close colleague, Eugene Gendlin. She has taught Focusing in more than 20 countries. Dr Cornell has written several definitive books on Focusing, including The Power of Focusing: A Practical Guide to Emotional Self-Healing, Presence: A Guide to Transforming Your Most Challenging Emotions, and Focusing in Clinical Practice: The Essence of Change. She has taught Focusing around the world since 1980, and has developed (with Barbara McGavin) a system and technique called Inner Relationship Focusing. Dr Cornell is also a past president of the Association for Humanistic Psychology. For more information see her Wikipedia entry or website.

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Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) (Parts I & II) | Karen Pando Mars, MFT

Karen Pando-Mars, MFT is a licensed psychotherapist in San Rafael, CA, senior faculty member of the AEDP Institute in New York and one of the founders of AEDP West.   She provides psychotherapy to individuals and couples, and supervision, consultation and training to psychotherapists nationally and internationally.  She is lead faculty of the West Coast AEDP Essential and Advanced Skills courses, which she has provided in both the SF Bay area and Vancouver, B.C., Canada.  She is also a supervisor/trainer in AEDP Core training in Marin, Vancouver and in the AEDP for Couples core training in the SF Bay area. With a background in somatic, relational and experiential psychotherapy, she began extensive training with Diana Fosha in AEDP (Accelerated Experiential Psychodynamic Psychotherapy) in 2005.  AEDP’s over arching model incorporates attachment theory, interpersonal neurobiology, emotion processing and transformational studies to help facilitate and maximize the experience of change. Karen’s warmth and presence in her teaching style is complimented by the organization and clarity with which she translates complex theory into clinical practice.  She receives consistent praise from her audiences. Currently she is writing about tailoring treatment to the presenting attachment style.

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Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy | Jay Early, PhD

Jay Earley, PhD, is a psychotherapist, group leader, author, teacher, and theorist. He trains Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapists and teaches IFS to the general public as a practice for self-help and peer counseling. He is the author of Self-Therapy: A Step-by-Step Guide to Inner Wholeness Using IFS, Self-Therapy, Vol. 2, Self-Therapy, Vol. 3, Freedom from Your Inner Critic, Working with Anger in IFS, Conflict, Care, and Love, and The Pattern System, and the audio products IFS Courses, Guided Meditations, and Demonstration IFS Sessions. Jay has created the Pattern System, a method for understanding parts, behavior, healthy capacities, internal dynamics, and underlying psychological issues. He is the creator of Self-Therapy Journey, a web application for psychological exploration and healing, which is based on IFS and the Pattern System. Jay also teaches courses on Finding Your Life Purpose as a Contribution to Social Transformation.

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Hakomi: Mindfulness-Based Experiential Psychotherapy | Rob Fisher, MFT

Rob Fisher, M.F.T. (License # MT 22886),  is the author of Experiential Psychotherapy With Couples, A Guide for the Creative Pragmatist and of a number of book chapters and articles published internationally on couples therapy and the pyschodynamic use of mindfulness for publications such as the Psychotherapy Networker, The Therapist, The Journal Of Couples Therapy, The USA Body Psychotherapy Journal and others.  An advocate of the use of mindfulness and present expereince in psychotherapy, he is an adjunct professor at JFK University. As the Co-Developer of the Mindfulness and Compassion in Psychotherapy Certificate Program at CIIS, he has brought together many of the leaders in the realms of mindfulness and psychotherapy in one of the only programs in the US that teaches, not just the skills pf psychotherapy, but helps participants develop their internal state as well. He is a speaker at conferences and workshops around the country such as CAMFT, USABP, The Psychotherapy Networker, The Couples Conference, and The Relationship Council where he presents as a peer, master or keynote speaker.  Teaching internationally, he is a Hakomi Mindfulness Based Experiential Psychotherapy Trainer and a director of Hakomi Institute of California.

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Personality Disorders: Diagnosis and Treatment (Parts I and II) | Diane Suffridge, PhD

Most recently, Dr. Suffridge was Clinical Director at Family Service Agency of Marin for 11 years ending in 2014.  Since that time, she has been an assistant professor at Dominican University of California in San Rafael, in the Counseling Psychology Department providing training toward MFT licensure.  She also directs the University Counseling Center on campus and maintains a practice of adult psychotherapy and behavioral health consultation in San Rafael.  Her book “Entering the Behavioral Health Field” was released in May, and she publishes a biweekly blog on topics related to behavioral health and psychotherapy practice accessible on her website.