Now Offering Therapy by Phone and Video
Affordable and Caring Teletherapy for the Bay Area and California
Psychotherapy provides such a rich opportunity for growth and learning, helping persons to recover from the aftermaths of trauma, abuse and loss, meet the hardships of their lives and thrive. In times like this, with so much anxiety about our collective welfare, it can be an invaluable lifeline.
In response to the coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, we are now offering access to teletherapy for all our clients, whether new and established. Also called telehealth or telebehavioral health, teletherapy can provide vital care and support to individuals, couples and families experiencing hardships which prevent them from attending therapy in person. While our world and communities grapple with “flattening the curve” and minimizing the spread and seriousness of the virus, it provides a safe alternative to meeting in person.
Unfortunately, even within the Bay Area, access to affordable psychotherapy is in significant shortage, with long waits for services in many counties. Persons with special circumstances or from marginalized communities face additional barriers, including a lack of services sensitive and respectful of their needs. We strive to ensure our services are both attuned to the needs of our communities and as accessible as possible.
Beginning in March, all of our clinicians have started to offer both phone and video-conference sessions, as well as flexible scheduling options, knowing that many members of our community are facing unprecedented and unsettling changes in their social, economic, and work, home and family lives.
With its commitment to affordability, and multi-cultural corps of eclectically-trained clinicians, Grateful Heart Holistic Therapy Center is uniquely poised to meet the needs of our community at this time. Your welfare is of utmost importance to us.
Our clinicians are selected for their skill and training, as well as their commitment to providing accessible, inclusive, holistic care.
Our current services include:
- Psychotherapy for individuals, couples and families, currently primarily online until further notice
- Internships for pre-licensed clinicians on the track to obtain licenses as Marriage Family Therapists, Clinical Social Workers and Professional Clinical Counselors
- Webinar-based educational opportunities for mental health practitioners and the community-at-large.
Our History
Grateful Heart Holistic Therapy Center was founded as a non-profit organization in 2006 by Mary Owen, a licensed Marriage Family Therapist and adjunct professor and clinical supervisor at JFK University and clinical supervisor at California Institute of Integral Studies. Mary created Grateful Heart to provide opportunities for therapists in training to prepare for licensure and begin their own private practices. Since its inception, the organization has grown to now serve approximately 1000 individuals, couples and families each year. More than 100 clinicians have participated in Grateful Heart’s program, successfully launching their practices as Marriage Family Therapists (MFTs), Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSWs) or Licensed Professional Counselors (LPCCs).
Our Mission
At Grateful Heart we believe our psychological well-being as humans is intimately tied to the health and sustainability of our families, communities, and world. We are dedicated to offering the Greater Bay Area accessible counseling services that integrate a variety of psychotherapy approaches. Guided by these values, we provide:
- Psychotherapy for children, teens, adults, couples, partners, families and groups
- Internships for pre-licensed clinicians on the track to obtain licenses as Marriage Family Therapists, Clinical Social Workers and Professional Clinical Counselors
- Educational opportunities for mental health practitioners and the community-at-large
Typically, our in-person services are provided in multiple cities and counties, including in Marin, San Francisco, Berkeley, Oakland, Albany, Alameda, Emeryville, Concord and Walnut Creek. Online therapy (phone and video-conferencing formats) is provided throughout the State of California.
Solidarity Statement from the Leadership of Grateful Heart Holistic Therapy Center
As an organization, we understand that racism still exists in our institutions and society, as well as the practice of psychotherapy. Understanding that silence and inaction equal complicity, we are taking active steps to ensure that are programs and policies are equitable, inclusive, and explicitly anti-racist. Beginning internally by first examining ourselves and our organization, we are committed to dismantling racism and its influences in our operations and practice. Whether within our own sphere of operation and influence or within the broader community in which we exist, we will do all we can to end social, political, and economic disparities based on race as well as the roots and impacts of racial violence and trauma. A Comprehensive Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Action Plan will elaborate the specific steps will be taking once our initial assessment in completed. This plan will be developed inclusively, informed and guided by dialogue with our BIPOC members and stakeholders and other members of our community.
Interim Statement, Grateful Heart Holistic Therapy Center to Be Elaborated in a Comprehensive Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Assessment and Action Plan, August 2020