Resources
Resources abound in the Bay Area and in the world. Being proactive and responsible for your growth and healing are essential components of therapy. Below are various ways to further your learning and get needed support. The power is in your hands!
Books, podcasts, websites, and even apps can be essential supplements to therapy. Here are some I wholeheartedly recommend:
Online Resources:
Meditation Apps - practicing meditation can help your mind to focus, find calm, and attend to your emotions and experience of life. It is a profoundly helpful skill that will help therapy be effective and help you gain traction towards your goals of wellbeing. Here are some places to get started:
Waking Up App - option to pay annual fee for access or you can request a free subscription with one simple email
Insight Timer - offers free guided mediations and talks as well as a nifty timer with a pleasant meditation bell sound to use for meditation sits
Head Space - meditations, talks, music, community support
Insights at the Edge - Excellent podcast! Archive with 100s of free interviews with leaders in the world of healing, transformation, spirituality, and body/mind/spirit wellness. I have curated this short list of recommended interviews that will add benefits to the therapeutic work:
Self-Therapy - explaining Internal Family Systems therapy (IFS)
Choosing to Live Well with Pain and Illness - how to turn towards pain and release resistance towards it
Turning Towards What's Difficult - Tibetan Buddhist combined with Gestalt therapy perspective on working with difficult emotions and situations (pair this with an essential read - Feeding Your Demons)
I Want to Grow More than I want to be Safe - talk with Elizabeth Lesser
The Courage to be Vulnerable - talk with Brené Brown
Falling in Love with Sleep - Dr. Rubin Naiman
Daring to Rest - Karen Brody introduces Yoga Nidra
Changing Habits - Gretchen Rubin, the Four Temperaments, know which one you are to more effectively change habits
Making Friends with Anxiety… and all of your Emotions - Karla McLaren, author of the Language of Emotions
Dharma Seed - 1000s of talks on nearly all topics of life by Buddhist teachers and applicable to anyone regardless of faith or belief - simply search topic of interest. Here are some really good ones to get started:
Non-Violent Communication (NVC) - Expand your Emotional Intelligence vocabulary with these helpful lists of needs and feeling words to help you communicate more successfully. The following are some curated resources and people to start with:
Atlas of Emotions - Build your vocabulary of emotions http://atlasofemotions.org/
Healing Feeling Sh*t Show - several season podcast by licensed therapist Rachel Kaplan guiding and teaching about how to feel your feelings, interviews, recorded live sessions, humor and music infused
Teachers to check out (talks, videos, courses, retreats):
Tara Brach - blending Western psychology and eastern spiritual practices
Pema Chodron - internationally acclaimed and beloved Buddhist nun, author, teacher
James Baraz - Insight meditation teacher, Awakening Joy course, weekly talks
Oren Jay Sofer - Online and in-person courses and retreats on mindfulness, meditation, and non-violent communication
Jay Earley PhD and Bonnie Weiss LCSW - Articles and courses on Internal Family Systems
Talks and Videos:
The Power of Vulnerability - Brené Brown
Books:
I Need Your Love - Is that True? - Byron Katie
The Gifts of Imperfection - Brené Brown
Feeding Your Demons - Lama Tsultrim Allione
When Things Fall Apart and The Places that Scare You - Pema Chodron
The Language of Emotions - Karla McLaren
Say What You Mean - Oren Sofer
Rescuing the Light - Martín Prechtel
Inner Work: Using Dreams and Active Imagination for Personal Growth - Robert Johnson
How to be an Adult in Relationships - David Richo
The Book of Joy - HH Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu
Workshops, Retreats, Classes
All offerings below are available online
SF Dharma Collective - Daily meditation groups, free classes and retreats
Mission Dharma - Mission District, Weekly meditations, talks, and classes
SF Zen Center - Weekly talks, meditation, and longer classes
Spirit Rock Meditation Center - Marin County, talks, day long or longer retreats, also some weekly talks in SF and Berkeley, all available online
Finding the right therapist may take some research, but take heart. There are many options and you are bound to find the right fit. Low fee centers can offer excellent services at more affordable prices. If you are struggling with a specific mental or emotional need that I do not have expertise in, I am always happy to help you find someone who does.
Low Fee Counseling Centers
Church Street Counseling Center 1782 Church Street (415) 648-2644
Pierce Street Counseling Center 2140 Pierce Street (415) 776-3109
SF Marriage and Couples Center SF, Oakland, Berkeley locations (415) 494-7074
Suicide Crisis 24/7 Hotline
415-781-0500 www.sfsuicide.org