Isaac Sussman
I am an existential-humanistic therapist practicing in the San Francisco Bay Area and serving all of California. My approach to therapy is deeply experiential and relational, imbued with the values of authenticity, presence, and acceptance. I work with a wide range of individual adults from various backgrounds with a focus on young adults and I help my clients to develop more awareness of themselves and a sense of empowerment and meaning in their lives.
First session
During an initial session, I use my curiosity and intuition to ask questions that help me to understand my clients' needs, desires, and struggles. In addition, I often make several observations and reflections intended to spark my clients' curiosity about themselves. I also welcome questions about me or the therapy process. The first session gives my clients an actual experience of what they can expect working with me to feel like.
Strengths
One of my main strengths as a therapist is my authenticity in session and my genuine desire to connect with and understand my clients on a deep level. This strength has been bolstered by ample practice being simultaneously present to both myself and to others. I bring an extremely open and exploratory attitude to my work and find that this helps clients to make profound changes in their experience of themselves and the world. I also have the ability to engage with clients in a way that is both direct and warm, challenging and supportive. I have had the opportunity to develop these skills and attitudes on a regular basis within my own community of like-minded therapists.
Ideal clients
I work well with people who yearn to understand and experience themselves and their lives more richly and on a deeper level as well as artistic and creative people who value and enjoy a sense of spontaneity and playfulness.
Treatment methods
Existential
I focus on my clients' ways of being in relation to themselves, to others, and to the world in which they live. This involves attending to their moment-to-moment experience in session and closely following their processes of feeling, thinking, and behaving. I often use observations about these processes to help clients to deepen their awareness of themselves with the intention of helping them to gain a greater sense of freedom and authenticity.
Humanistic
I hold the values of personal autonomy and respect for the individual in the highest regard. This involves encountering my clients as whole people rather than collections of symptoms, behaviors, etc.
Relational
I make use of the therapeutic relationship in a very concrete way by focusing on the patterns of relating that arise in session between my clients and myself. This gives me insight not only into relationship issues that clients bring in but also into the way in which clients operate more generally in their lives. Often I will point out certain ways of relating to me that the client is engaging in and also share my own experience of the interaction.
Person-centered (Rogerian)
This approach involves ample reflection to clients of what I am hearing them express and helps to foster a sense of being deeply understood and accompanied in the process of growth. In this mode, there is an opportunity to directly convey acceptance, positive regard, and empathy to clients.
Location
Virtual sessions
In-person sessions1304 Solano Ave, Albany, CA 94706, #3
Identifies as
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Serves
Licensed in
- CaliforniaLicense 114985