Seeking low-key therapist /counselor for young teen
Hello,
We are seeking a low-key therapist for our young teen daughter. There is nothing wrong, per se, but she has an older sister with bipolar disorder who causes a lot of stress in the family and we thought it would be beneficial for the younger one to have someone to talk with about her feelings who is from outside the family. We are seeking someone who will give her an outlet, maybe advice about what to so when her sister acts out, etc.. We want to make sure she does not feel like she "needs help" because something is "wrong" with her, or how she moves through life, but, rather we want her to see that this is just an additional support resource. We desire a counselor who will support that vision of the therapy process. We prefer someone from Lamorinda, but thanks to the fourth bore, could go to Berkeley or Oakland.
Please send recommendations. Thank you.
Parent Replies
Try Georgia Maslowski in orinda and Oakland. Low key and gentle.
My teen daughter did really well with Virginia Keeler-Wolf, in Oakland. She was a great support, and after some regular sessions she switched to an as needed basis.
Kathleen P
Andrea Weiker is pretty amazing. She specializes in adolescent CBT. In her private practice she does Sunday appointments. She is in Oakland.
https://www.facebook.com/therapywithandrea/
I want to second the post for Virginia Keeler-Wolf. We were in the same position as you with my son and she was very helpful. He still stops in for the occasional session 2 years later when new issues come up
Hi - I highly recommend Susan Regan, MFT. She is in Berkeley. Susan worked with my step daughter for the last 3 years. My older SD has an eating disorder and struggles with depression, cutting and anxiety disorders. So we too thought the younger daughter needed extra help
We found Susan to be an amazing support and is definitely low key.
Susan Regan- (510) 520-2924
I hope this helps- Allison
In Lamorinda area I can recommend Colette Bischer-Choate, MFT at 925-974-9029. She has much experience with the (more functional) siblings of those with severe issues. Definitely "low-key." Marlies Rosmark, MFT is another great resource. Her number is 925-257-4071. She is great with young teens who need support.
Good luck!
If you choose to use Susan Regan, keep a close watch on your bank account. She requires you to keep a card on file with her and she'll charge it without talking to you about it first. She charged me for reading emails (had I known I would have just talked to her about the emails during a session). She also charged me for an extended session when she was 10 minutes late starting it (when I raised that point with her she refunded part of the extra charge very graciously. The issue is that I never would have known that she charged me extra had I not been keeping watch over my bank account and I would expect a professional not to charge a client for time that client spends in the waiting room.). She'll tell you that she has a two day cancellation policy but what she enforces is a 48-hour and two BUSINESS day cancellation policy. So an appointment on Tuesday at 6:00 pm has to be cancelled by Friday at 6:00 pm or she'll charge the card on file. I found this out when I attempted to cancel a Tuesday evening appt at 7:00 am Monday morning. Even though she had the exact same amount of business hours to fill the cancellation that she would have had if I had cancelled on Friday after the end of business hours, she wouldn't budge. It was the first time that I had cancelled an appointment and didn't understand the policy but she wouldn't cut me a break. I finally reached the point where I felt like a walking bank account instead of a patient and severed the relationship. She was a decent therapist but the money issues were just too much for me.
Deb McManus, in Lafayette, is an excellent therapist for teens. She is amazing about supporting the teen as well as the whole family. Pretty close to Lafayette BART, too.