Financial Therapy
in Pleasant Hill and Alamo, CA
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Explore Our Specializations
Money can stir up strong emotions because it’s closely tied to security, self-worth, and control. It can trigger shame and entitlement, or deep fears of loss, failure, and judgment.
Financial therapy helps navigate the emotional and psychological side of money. In family dynamics, money might fuel conflicts about fairness, responsibilities, and expectations. In business, it may be sparking tension over values, decisions, profit sharing, or spending. We explore the underlying thoughts and beliefs that shape the financial decisions and struggles you've been experiencing. We can address mental roadblocks or relationship conflicts stemming from inheritance issues, investments, or sudden wealth syndrome. We work towards transforming your relationship with money, while building healthy habits for long-term financial stability and overcoming beliefs that cause unnecessary stress or stagnation.
Building a healthy relationship with money or spending habits
Overcoming guilt, shame, or fear around money decisions
Making financial decisions with confidence instead of overwhelm
Shifting from anxious avoidance to confident wealth management
Managing the complexities of wealth from windfalls or inheritances
Navigating dealing with people who seek to exploit your wealth
Protecting from greed-driven demands or manipulative behavior
Navigate financial infidelity, secrecy, or power imbalances
Setting boundaries around spending, saving, or financial support
Building healthier habits with budgeting, debt, and spending
Addressing impulsive or compulsive spending
How We Help:
What we help with:
Building a healthy relationship with money or spending habits
Overcoming guilt, shame, or fear around money decisions
Making financial decisions with confidence instead of overwhelm
Shifting from anxious avoidance to confident wealth management
Managing the complexities of wealth from windfalls or inheritances
Navigating dealing with people who seek to exploit your wealth
Protecting from greed-driven demands or manipulative behavior
Navigate financial infidelity, secrecy, or power imbalances
Setting boundaries around spending, saving, or financial support
Building healthier habits with budgeting, debt, and spending
Addressing impulsive or compulsive spending
Linda Smith
financial wellness requires
understanding emotions around money
In-Network With:
Our Preferred Evidence-Based Treatments
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is an empirically supported treatment that helps change distressing thought patterns that contribute to anxiety and depression. Through CBT, you'll learn to identify and challenge negative thoughts, reframe irrational beliefs, and replace them with healthier, more realistic perspectives. CBT also focuses on breaking patterns of self-doubt and worry by learning how to re-evaluate situations and adopt more constructive thinking. These tools empower you to make lasting changes in how you think and respond.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) combines cognitive-behavioral techniques with mindfulness principles to help individuals manage emotions, navigate challenges, and improve relationships. It focuses on four key areas: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. By building these skills, DBT empowers individuals to replace destructive patterns with practical, lasting strategies that promote resilience, balance, and a greater sense of control in daily life.
TF-CBT helps by combining practical coping skills with gradual exposure to difficult memories. It starts by teaching relaxation techniques, emotional regulation, and ways to challenge unhelpful thoughts. Once a strong foundation is built, individuals slowly and safely process their trauma with the support of a therapist. This approach reduces fear and distress, strengthens personal resilience, and fosters healthier ways of thinking and relating to others.
Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a proven, client-centered approach designed to help individuals overcome ambivalence and create lasting change. It focuses on exploring personal motivations and values, guiding clients to take actionable steps toward their goals. MI is highly effective in treating issues like addiction, unhealthy behaviors, and low motivation by strengthening confidence and commitment, empowering clients to drive their own positive transformations.
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) is a proven approach that that helps couples break negative cycles and strengthen emotional bonds. In therapy, partners identify patterns of conflict and learn techniques like emotional validation and replacing reactive behaviors with empathetic responses. EFT targets underlying emotional triggers, promoting healthier attachment while deepening intimacy. It’s particularly effective for couples facing disconnection, insecurity, and trust issues, leading to genuine understanding and lasting change. This therapy is effective with treating emotional withdrawal, fear of abandonment, and attachment wounds, creating stronger, more secure relationships.
EMDR helps your brain reprocess stuck memories so they no longer feel overwhelming or intense. Unprocessed experiences can trigger or worsen anxiety, shame, distress, and physiological reactions. After EMDR, difficult experiences often feel neutral, distant, or easier to manage. We use techniques like eye movements or handheld tappers to activate both sides of the brain, supporting your brain’s natural ability to heal and make sense of the distressing experiences. Sessions follow a structured 8-phase protocol to help you build resilience and process memories, while fully awake and alert. EMDR is effective for distress related to loss, illness, trauma, childhood wounds, and relationship pain.
ERP is a structured therapy that helps reduce distress from obsessive thoughts and compulsive behaviors. It involves gradual, guided exposure to feared situations or thoughts without doing the habits or rituals you usually do to feel better. This process helps decrease anxiety over time and breaks the cycle of obsessions and rituals. You remain fully present and supported throughout, learning new ways to tolerate discomfort and regain control. ERP is especially effective for OCD, skin picking, hair pulling, and related anxiety challenges. Sessions are available in person and via telehealth throughout California.
Let's Connect
395 Taylor Blvd
Pleasant Hill, CA 94523
3189 Danville Blvd
Alamo, CA 94507
925-830-7900
financial instability
decision resistance
guilt or pressures
imposter syndrome
overspending
fears & insecurities
Money can stir up strong emotions because it’s closely tied to security, self-worth, and control. It can trigger shame and entitlement, or deep fears of loss, failure, and judgment.
Financial therapy helps navigate the emotional and psychological side of money. In family dynamics, money might fuel conflicts about fairness, responsibilities, and expectations. In business, it may be sparking tension over values, decisions, profit sharing, or spending. We explore the underlying thoughts and beliefs that shape the financial decisions and struggles you've been experiencing. We can address mental roadblocks or relationship conflicts stemming from inheritance issues, investments, or sudden wealth syndrome. We work towards transforming your relationship with money, while building healthy habits for long-term financial stability and overcoming beliefs that cause unnecessary stress or stagnation.