Nina Berenfeld LCSW

California BBS License 91917

I am a mental health therapist because there is nothing more interesting and satisfying to me than understanding another human being and playing even a small part in their liberation, empowerment, and enjoyment of life.

I’ve been providing therapy for about 13 years. During that time, I have effectively helped clients impacted by complex trauma, parental abuse and abandonment, relationship difficulties, grief, life transitions, and weltschmerz (aka pain about the state of the world). I have also helped parents and professionals who work with children learn to better support children and teens’ healthy development and empowerment.

If your are looking for a compassionate, interactive, and transformative experience in therapy - you will find that with me. I'll support you to dig deep, face your struggles with courage and compassion, process complex feelings, and truly connect with yourself and others. My clients appreciate my focus on healing and growing vs just coping.

I will help you explore the impactful events and background noise of your life, truly get in touch with your strength, and provide a safe space to process your experiences and feelings (no matter how big or messy those might be). I will help you expand your capacity to live the life you want, even if you're not sure what that could look like yet.

I practice with the belief that people are beautifully complex, deeply good, and deserving of the opportunity to be themselves in this crazy world.

Some of the training and philosophies that influence my work are Attachment Theory, Psychodynamic Theory, Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), Brain Spotting (BSP), Trauma Informed Cognitive Behavior Therapy (TFCBT), Hand in Hand Parenting, and Community Resilience Training (CRT).

You are welcome to schedule a free consult call with me. I’d love to talk with you about your therapy goals and see if working together would be right for you.

My view on the human condition is that people are basically good, and are generally born equipped with what is needed to live a good life. After we are born, we are impacted by the world we live in and its response to us. This journey can leave us with useful skills, unique perspectives, many strengths, and often more than a few confusions, challenges, and painful feelings.

When our basic emotional needs and expressions are not met or understood during our childhood, it can leave us feeling like there is something fundamentally wrong with us and/or there is something wrong with the world and the other people in it.

As a child, you may have been told (directly or indirectly) that your tears were not welcome, or your laughter was too loud, or your tantrums were bratty, or your need for attention was too much. You were not too much. There simply may not have been enough emotional space for you, or perhaps not enough support for the adults who were raising you. There may have been a lack of understanding of the unique needs of the developing human that you were. The adults around you may have been reactive, frightening, neglectful, or abusive. You or your family may have lived through war, migration, oppression, and other events completely out of your family’s control. Any of the above can take a physical and emotional toll on any person.

I believe people are generally born with an instinct to seek support and heal - babies cry, toddlers tantrum (the most misunderstood emotional process), children seek comfort, adults tell their stories, people tremble after scary experiences, friends laugh together about embarrassing moments..…people make art and sing and dance. Human beings have no shortage of ways to express or process their experiences and emotions. But, we often have a shortage of safe places and people to process them with. Every person, including you, deserves the safety they need to understand themselves better, heal, and thrive.

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