Elena Felder, MA, LMFT
Licensed Marriage Family Therapist
Oakland CA
In my practice I have worked with individuals on addiction and recovery, recovery from PTSD, depression, managing anxiety, self-esteem and grief and loss. I work with individuals to create a safe place to explore patterns in relationships, ways to heal from substance use or other self-destructive behaviors, or areas where they are stuck in fear or depression.
I do both brief and long-term therapy using a variety of techniques and modalities including Attachment-Focused EMDR, relaxation training, motivational interviewing, increasing body awareness, visualizations, relaxation training, integration of transpersonal states and grounding to help clients move through grief, trauma and anxiety and move towards healing and wholeness.
I graduated from New College in 1996 with an MA in Feminist Psychology and a focus on psychodynamic and relational therapy. I worked as a therapist and an intern in agencies working with children in special education, people living with HIV, women and families struggling with addiction and members of the LGBTQ community.
For over 15 years, I worked at a non-profit outpatient recovery clinic in the Mission/SOMA district of San Francisco whose mission was to provide both abstinence based and harm reduction treatment to women suffering from addiction, abuse, intergenerational trauma, and the lasting effects of poverty and racism. I began as a recovery counselor and eventually ran the internship program where I trained and supervised trainees and interns in trauma-focused therapy. I became frustrated with the limitations of talk therapy in working with trauma and went onto explore more experiential based therapies.
I trained in EMDR and I am currently EMDR certified, an EMDR consultant and a faculty member of the Parnell EMDR Institute. Through my work with trauma and my own personal work, I developed a deep interest in how mystical experiences that allow us to move beyond our normal sense of ourselves can be integrated into therapy, both for healing and for growth. I have a certificate in Psychedelic Therapies and Research for CIIS. I currently have a private practice with locations in Oakland CA and San Francisco CA.