In my office you will find a safe and comfortable space where I will follow your lead, and guide you to trust yourself. Somatic cues orient me to get behind my words and ground me into the safety of my body so that I can be present with you. My intention is to deeply listen and take in what you share, being present with you from my whole being and sharing what I experience in response. In service of your therapeutic goals, I will welcome all parts of you, making it easier for you to acknowledge them with loving compassion.

Together we will respect your pace, your nervous system and your sense of safety. We will likely use imagination, body-awareness, curiosity, and your self-knowing to navigate this uncharted path. Your therapeutic process, that takes shape as we get to know each other, can lead us to the YOU you want to be. Along the way, there are unknowns and it can feel vulnerable, an experience that may point us toward something new. You’ll likely find ways to celebrate your resilience, to be yourself in relationship, and to allow that which your body wisdom is designed to nurture.

My somatic training, especially in Relational Somatic Healing, teaches me that healing is possible for anyone who gives true connection a try - a try, even a little bit, in trusting a therapeutic relationship that feels congruent, comfortable and supportive. With time, I believe we’ll notice your “mind of aloneness” release its grip, your body/mind/spirit find more ease, and your fears get out of your own way.

1. Inner parts have longings that point us to a new way of being.

In my role as psychotherapist, I hope you come to see me as your ally, advocating for wholeness and connection between your younger parts and your present-day self. Our inner parts often work harder than they should in order to get what they think they need. I’m here to support you in helping these parts drain less of your energy and feel that their longings are finally understood. Together we can listen to, be with, and make space for your vulnerabilities, the process of which, often results, in decreased overwhelm and stress and increased joy and resilience.

2. Listening to your body and letting its wisdom lead our process, allows your system to
organically find healing.

A more easeful way of being you is possible. Our past challenges and traumas have a way of disconnecting us from our body wisdom and our awareness of our innate life force. The good news, from neuroscience, is that in attuned and caring relationship, we can re-learn how to access and trust our own somatic wisdom and can learn to love parts of ourselves that we didn’t realize needed a different way.

3. Safe Therapeutic Relationship allows creativity and newness to usher us through
experiences of the unknown.

After we have built enough trust together, you’ll likely find more comfort in the present moment and feel more ease when following your curiosity, as compared to your conditioned “shoulds” of relating. With the trust and safety, that we will have built together, less is at stake - decisions are more like creative expression and impulses are important to listen to. From here, it’s easier to explore how you are doing relationship and to take loving risks in order to identify how you want to do it. Together we will attend to your lived experience and bring non-judgement to the healing shifts of change within you.

4. My therapeutic process with clients is an expansive circle with a clear beginning and no
predetermined end.

From one moment to the next, from one thought shared to the next, changes can happen within each of us, which spark learning and the availability of new options. I will bring my experience in trusting the unknown and reading its cues. I invite you to bring your readiness to try to trust and allow me to remind you to prioritize your curiosity.

5. We all have an inner-democracy, with a power to harness

Just as we have to fight for a political democracy in the world, there is also an inner-democracy to fight for. Our inner-democracy is comprised of parts who want a voice and need to collaborate, but do not have much power against outside threats without learning how to listen to each other. The fight, therapeutically speaking, is won through radical love. Together we will practice: 1. listening with awareness, 2. self-compassion. 3. trusting your curiosity, and 4. welcoming all parts of you (or as many as feel ready).

I believe therapy is both about looking inward to identify areas for growth and strengths as well as rightly contextualizing our struggles within the reality of the world’s isms, trauma-perpetuating institutions, and external pressures. As we welcome all parts of you, my hope is that that learned division among them, due to social hardships, micro-aggressions, and oppression, will soften and allow for a collaborative democracy within where you feel in charge of the conversation. The less we are fighting with internally, the more energy and life force we have to support our passions.

I am willing to be wrong and won’t presume to know more about my clients than they know about themselves. I own my own stuff and have no need to be better than others. My intention is to connect authentically with my clients, including being myself while also maintaining appropriate therapeutic boundaries. As your therapist, I listen to what really matters to you with an open mind and a curiosity about who you are and who you want to be.

With a focus on our internal worlds and body wisdom, as well as how we meet in the relational space between us, I prioritize your nervous system and your comfort. We go at the pace of safety and together we modulate the intensity of our process by attuning to your body wisdom. As we sit at what may or may not be your growing-edge, I accompany you there, in the non-doing, together we welcome what is arising rather than looking for what is missing. I will support you in following creative direction from the unknown, including guiding you to notice and listen to what is new that grabs our attention.

I strive to maintain compassionate awareness of the privilege that my white skin and cisgender body give me in this racist, queer- and transphobic world. I grew up Jewish and female. Neither identity fit easily within the dominant culture’s norms. Consequently, my experiences of discrimination have given me a personalized and somatically-imprinted fear of people's thoughts and behaviors. For example, the felt sense in my body, when being othered, has invited a nuanced awareness and a tender attentiveness to the human struggle. To me, being a psychotherapist is synonymous with being somatically-attuned, listening to myself in my skin so I can meet you open-heartedly in the relational space between us.

I am a Somatic Psychotherapist who orients towards what is happening in the therapeutic relationship because it is there, in the present moment together, that we have access to new ways of being. With most clients, sessions include: 1) slowing down to notice what’s happening in the present moment, within you and between us, 2) nervous system regulation to decrease overwhelm and increase your options as well as your tolerance of discomfort in the strong emotions, 3) honing in on specific memories, relationships, and life challenges through ever-adapting lenses of your own self-knowing. I work transparently and collaboratively, as I follow the wisdom of the body as well as its organic healing that naturally wants to happen when our system feels safe and comfortable.

Integrated into our regular process, I also offer EMDR, trauma-healing, and parts-work. EMDR, Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing, is designed to decrease the charge of a specific traumatic event and shift one’s perception of the event/stressor towards one that is less immediate, like an image on a distant screen.

Experience:
* 7 years as psychotherapist servicing individual adults and kids, couples, and families in my Lakeshore office overlooking a garden.
• 6 years as a psychotherapist with kids, ages 5 to 14, servicing families at public school and
clients’ home. Services mostly provided in Spanish.
• Nine years working as a certified teacher in public and private schools (kids ages 5-16)

Training:
*2+ years of studying Relational Somatic Healing with Shirley D’vir.
*Studied the Polyvagal Theory from Deb Dana
*Completed Basic Level EMDR Course.
*Certificate in Process Work at Process Work Institute, Candidate in 2009. Studied Process Work (PW), a process-oriented psychology that has a creative and attuned approach to conflict facilitation among and between countries, groups, families members, couples, and
within oneself. PW has roots in Jungian psychology, quantum physics, and Taoism.

Education:
* Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology with an emphasis in Somatic psychology, John F. Kennedy University, 2012
* Bachelor’s Degree in psychology with a focus in Creativity, Washington University in Saint Louis, 2000

With a strong foundation in somatic psychology, I strive to make our talking more engaging, healing, and useful to you by listening to your lived experience of your nervous system, body memories, mindfulness and self-awareness, movement, and five senses. A somatic approach helps us get to what is traumatizing you from the part of your brain that feels safe. Our brains change through experience of our own bodies and through relationship. I can be your guide in this journey.



I believe therapy is both about looking inward to identify areas for growth and strengths as well as rightly contextualizing our struggles within the reality of the world’s isms, trauma-perpetuating institutions, and external pressures to fit into one mold or another.



As your ally, I aim to be a caring, nonjudgmental person who is willing to sit in these fires with you, while also transforming them, and to help you build a capacity to do so on your own.

• Children: 7 -12
• Adolescent: 13-17
• Young Adult: 18-25
• Adults: 26-65
• Seniors: 65+

• Individuals
• Couples
• Polyamorous relationship groupings
• Families

• African-American / Black
• Asian-American
• Biracial
• Bisexual
• Chicano/a/x
• Children of Immigrants
• Couples/Married/Romantic/Sexual Relationships
• Gay
• Gender Nonbinary / Non-Conforming / Fluid / Agender
• Healthcare Workers
• Highly Sensitive People
• Jewish
• Latina/o/x
• Lesbian
• Men
• Migrants / Immigrants / Refugees
• Neurodivergent
• Queer
• Therapists
• White / European Descent
• Women

• Aging
• Anxiety
• Autism
• Codependency
• Complex Trauma, Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD)
• Depression
• Family Counseling
• Grief or Loss
• Intercultural or Interfaith Relationships
• Intergenerational Trauma and Healing
• Parenting
• Pregnancy, Pre-Natal, Birth, Postpartum Care
• Racial / Ethnic / Cultural Identity
• Self-Esteem/Worth/Compassion
• Social Anxiety
• Socioeconomic Inequity
• Spiritual or Religious Trauma/Abuse
• Stress
• Stages of Life

• Attachment Theory
• Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
• Family Systems
• Humanistic / Existential
• Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR)
• Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
• Somatic Psychotherapy
• Trauma-Informed

• Cisgender
• Jewish
• Queer
• White / European Descent
• Woman

• Buddhism
• Judaism
• Spiritual (non-specific)

Lake Merritt, Oakland, CA

• Designated Parking (Free)
• Fragrance-Free
• Gender-Neutral Bathroom
• Mask-Optional
• Street Parking (Paid)

• Cash
• Check
• Credit Card

$200

$115 - $200

• Weekdays

If you'd like to make an appointment or simply have a chat to help you decide, please send me an email with your contact information. (michellebloombergtherapy@gmail.com)

12/03/2025