Genesee Herzberg, PsyD
Psychologist
Oakland CA
I offer individual psychotherapy, couples therapy and parent-child psychotherapy, as well as ketamine-assisted therapy and psychedelic integration. I usually see clients once per week, though sometimes it is helpful to meet more frequently. My style is non-directive and client-centered. This means that I leave a lot of space for the client to take the lead, and tailor the treatment to the client’s unique personality and needs.
My orientation is psychodynamic, relational, holistic, and trauma-focused. In everyday language, “psychodynamic” means that I am interested in your early relationships and experiences, and will help you think about how they impact your current relationships and way of being in the world. “Relational” means that I see the relationship between client and therapist as a foundational part of the work, and use it to help you learn to feel safe and comfortable relating to others. Studies show that the quality of the therapeutic alliance (relationship between client and therapist) is the most important determinant of effective therapy. “Trauma-focused” means that I understand the ways that major and minor traumas (overwhelming incidents in one’s life) take a toll on the psyche and body, and I help people to process and integrate these experiences so that they can live with greater freedom and flexibility.
Dr. Genesee Herzberg is a licensed psychologist in the state of California (PSY 26407). She received her doctorate in clinical psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies. She has been in private practice in Berkeley since 2012, where she sees clients with a variety of mental health concerns and enjoys working with people of all ages, ethnicities, genders and sexual orientations. Dr. Herzberg specializes in working with complex trauma and integrating psychedelic experiences, and takes a holistic approach to her work, with an underlying belief that the mind, emotions, body, and spirit are interconnected. She is a meditation practitioner and incorporates mindfulness into her therapeutic work.
Dr. Herzberg is in the process of opening an integrative health clinic, Sage Health, in Berkeley that will specialize in psychedelic-assisted medicine, including ketamine-assisted psychotherapy. She has a longtime interest in the healing potential of entheogens, leading to her dissertation research on MDMA-assisted psychotherapy. She has worked as a supervisor for the Zendo Project, and co-founded the annual “Integration Station,” a daylong event offering workshops and psychedelic integration services. Dr. Herzberg volunteered as an adherence rater for the MAPS phase 2 MDMA/PTSD research, and is a psychotherapist for the San Francisco Insight and Integration Center, a participating site in the MAPS phase 3 MDMA/PTSD clinical trials.