Hello, and welcome.

Being a human in this world is not easy. Most of us need help with it.

By seeking out psychotherapy or psychoanalysis, you’re making intentional space for yourself to step out of the productivity hustle, slow down, and listen to parts of you that have been ignored or pushed aside (or never allowed the light of day) for too long.

It’s hard to feel connected during times of crisis. Feeling lost, overwhelmed, anxious, and scared are all normal responses to crisis, including life changes, transitions, loss, disaster, and, yes— even growth.

I have spent nearly two decades learning how to listen deeply to you on multiple registers. I listen for the voice you know you have and love; the voice you know you have and feel shame about; the voice you aren’t sure is there, that comes in whispers, and maybe only in dreams; and I listen for how you may have organized an understanding of these parts of you that may be authentic to you, that you may have questions about, and that you may have unconsciously negotiated to meet social or familial expectations and maintain relationships.

As we listen, we will focus on finding life amidst death; pleasure amidst grief; how anxiety and depression can be understood as messages; the ways we build a resilient core inside ourselves and how that may be both harmful (as in, overly-protective, stagnant, and limiting) and helpful (as in, keeps us alive and going forward); and learning how to trust in your own process of making a decision or living your life even if the options you have available are not the ones you’d necessarily pick.

Learning how to face the unknown, including failure, messiness, discomfort, disappointment, and still being able to find a way to choose yourself and the world you wish to build (with the people you love and trust) is part of the work of being a person. Joy, pleasure, vitality, and creativity are necessary parts of all of this. If you feel you have lost touch with any of these experiences or parts of you, we can work together to find out what happened, and what you wish to do next.

When under stress, you may notice your internal world shifts. For example, when you’re making a big decision or when you’re struggling emotionally, it can be at these times that thinking feels hard to do. I offer a focused and engaged process of being with whatever you bring in the moment. I listen in such a way that can offer a new perspective on an old habit or assumption to what you may take for granted. This often helps people trust themselves more than they thought they could.

Living and loving while human is complicated. Trying to find joy and authenticity in being human amidst grief and anxiety can be blissful and it can be painful, and the seduction of escape is tempting. But some part of you is longing to make, transform, or receive something meaningful amidst it all. Some part of you wants to be witnessed while you work through old patterns, habits, and repetitions that might not serve you the way you wish they would. And sometimes, when that inner critic can be relentless— the voice that judges you, lowers your confidence, and leaves you feeling like you want it to be okay to just be yourself— you long for a stronger voice inside you that reminds you that there are other options, and that you can live your life fully as yourself.

But first, you have to find out who you are.

I work with:

  • grief

  • parentified adult children and adult children of narcissists, alcoholics, and preoccupied parents

  • end of life

  • anarchists and political activists & disruptors who envision and work toward a new world

  • skeptics with a tough shell and soft heart

  • people moving through and living in the margins

  • queer, trans and gender nonconforming folks (and those who are questioning)

  • neurodiverse folks creating new ways of relating and living

  • therapists and other care providers who want to dig deeply into their own psyche and presence

  • class-crossers who have changed economic position generationally, or in their lifetime

  • perfectionists whose inner critic eats them alive

  • eating problems, shame, and longing for connection

  • intergenerational trauma, structural trauma, and interpersonal trauma

  • reckoning with the effects of capitalism, genocide, and ecocide

Since beginning my first training practicum in 2006, I have helped adults, youth, and couples with all of these issues and more.


If you want to feel more connected to yourself and others,
If you're feeling stuck in unsatisfying relationships and work,
If you feel beaten up by perfectionism and self-criticism,
If you feel like you've had to grow up too fast,
If you realize you can't do it all by yourself,
Reach out to find out how our work together could help.

One way to come alive is to face the parts of yourself and your history that you have bottled up for too long.

You don't have to do this alone.

 It's time to stop hiding from the life you really want to live.

Call me or email me to set up an appointment today.
510-594-4035 or therapy@mollymerson.com

 

 

“And the speaking will get easier and easier. And you will find you have fallen in love with your own vision, which you may never have realized you had. And you will lose some friends and lovers.... And new ones will find you and cherish you. ... And at last you'll know with surpassing certainty that only one thing is more frightening than speaking your truth. And that is not speaking.” - Audre Lorde