Best Therapists in San Francisco, CA of 2025
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Best Therapists in San Francisco, California of 2025
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I. Therapists in San Francisco, CA
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Languages: English
Treatment Approaches: Stress, Anxiety, Grief, Self esteem, Depression, Trauma and abuse, Older, Anger, Career, Non-religious, Liberal counselor
Languages: English
Treatment Approaches: Stress, Anxiety, Addictions, Relationship issues, Trauma and abuse, Parenting issues, LGBT, Family conflicts, Grief, Intimacy-related issues, Eating disorders, Sleeping disorders, Anger management, Self esteem, Career difficulties, Bipolar disorder, Depression, Coping with life changes, Coaching, Compassion fatigue, ADHD
Eileen Beirich
- 20 years of Experience
- United States
- Pasadena, California
- Visit Website
Areas of focus: Adoption, Anxiety, Depression, Marital / Premarital, Relationship Issues
Languages: English
Treatment Approaches: Psychodynamic
State License: California
Steven Garman
- 30 years of Experience
- United States
- Chino, California
- Visit Website
Areas of focus: ADHD, Anxiety, Bipolar Disorder, Codependency, Divorce, Marital / Premarital, Relationship Issues, Self Esteem, Sexual Abuse, Spirituality
Languages: English
Treatment Approaches: Family / Marital, Jungian, Psychodynamic
State License: California
Maelisa Hall
- 11 years of Experience
- United States
- Irvine, California
- Visit Website
Languages: English
Treatment Approaches: Coaching, Cognitive Behavioral (CBT), Multicultural, Psychological Testing and Evaluation, Solution Focused Brief (SFBT)
State License: California
Soad Tabrizi
- 10 years of Experience
- United States
- Mission Viejo, California
- Visit Website
Areas of focus: Addiction, Alcohol Abuse, Anxiety, Behavior Issues, Bipolar Disorder, Borderline Personality, Career Counseling, Codependency, Coping Skills, Depression, Drug Abuse, Dual Diagnosis, End of Life Issues, Faith Transition, Goal Setting, Life Coaching, OCD, Self Esteem, Spirituality
Languages: English, Farsi
Treatment Approaches: Cognitive Behavioral (CBT), Dialectical (DBT), Motivational Interviewing, Narrative, Psychoanalytic, Solution Focused Brief (SFBT)
State Licenses: California, Florida, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Virginia and West Virginia
Nancy Culhane
- 40+ years of Experience
- United States
- Fairfax, California
- Visit Website
Areas of focus: Coping Skills, Divorce, Goal Setting, Grief, Infidelity, Interpersonal Relationships, Life Transitions, Marital / Premarital, Parenting, Relationship Issues, Women's Issues
Languages: English, Finnish
Treatment Approaches: Family / Marital, Integrative, Narrative, Relational
State Licenses: California and Nevada
Melissa Jones
- 11 years of Experience
- United States
- Online, California
- Visit Website
Languages: English
Treatment Approaches: Cognitive Behavioral (CBT), Eclectic, Existential, Family / Marital, Family Systems, Gestalt, Humanistic, Hypnotherapy, Relational
State License: California
Lori Kandels
- 28 years of Experience
- United States
- San Francisco, California
- Visit Website
Languages: English
Treatment Approaches: Coaching, Cognitive Behavioral (CBT), Culturally Sensitive, EMDR, Family / Marital, Feminist, Mindfulness-based (MBCT), Motivational Interviewing, Multicultural, Narrative, Solution Focused Brief (SFBT)
State License: California
Lisa Larsen
- 15 years of Experience
- United States
- Lancaster, California
- Visit Website
Languages: English
Treatment Approaches: Cognitive Behavioral (CBT), EMDR, Humanistic, Hypnotherapy
State License: California
II. The Best Therapists in San Francisco, CA
|
Online Therapy evaluated San Francisco therapists on eight key factors, including credentials, cost, practice focus, availability, and other key elements. Based on these factors, we narrowed down the list to the top 15 therapists in San Francisco. |
Choosing the Best San Francisco, CA TherapistsCredentialsChecking your therapist’s credentials is one of the simplest ways to ensure they are someone you can trust. In California, all licensed therapists must hold a master’s degree from an accredited institution, complete 3,000 hours of post-degree supervised experience, and pass a national and state exam. AccessibilityThe right therapist should be easy to work with and accessible to a broad range of clients. Flexible scheduling, teletherapy sessions, and a selection of different specializations are top factors that make therapists more accessible to their clients. CostFinding a therapist that fits into your budget is essential when receiving long-term care. We looked at therapists based on their monthly subscription or per-session cost, the variety of insurance plans they accepted, and their sliding scale options. |
Maysie Tift: M.A, LMFT | Best for codependency issues
415-295-2150
Website
Maysie Tift approaches therapy as a collaboration between therapist and client. While providing gentle feedback, she creates a safe space where you can discuss the challenges in your intimate relationships. She uses a range of techniques, including mindfulness therapy and hypnosis.
What Patients Say:
“Maysie is exactly the kind of ally you want on your healing journey: She’s honest and ethical and she combines warmth, kindness, and approachability with a practical, no-nonsense attitude.”
| Specializations | Insurance | Cost | Sliding scale | Remote services |
| Relationship Issues Anxiety Codependency |
Claremont EAP Partnership Health Plan |
Cost per Session: $200/55 Minutes | Yes | Yes |
Lisa Pepper-Satkin: M.A, MFT| Best for Women's Issues
415-225-6925
Website
Lisa Pepper-Satkin helps her clients see the narratives that run their lives and explore new ways of thinking. She understands the daily struggles women face in their personal and professional lives and seeks to create a healthy, solution-based conversation.
What Patients Say:
“Lisa is an inspired guide who created a safe, creative environment for me to explore some of the issues that are troubling me in my life.”
| Specializations | Insurance | Cost | Sliding scale | Remote services |
| Life Coaching Women’s Issues Life Transitions |
N/A | Cost per Session: $500 | No | Yes |
Michelle Chia-Ning Chang: M.A, RDT, LMFT | Best for relationship issues
Michelle Chia-Ning Chang provides individual, couples, and family therapy in English and Mandarin Chinese. Her focus is on building healthy boundaries with those closest to her clients. She specializes in working with couples who struggle with communication issues, controlling caregivers, and families with cross-cultural conflicts. Through a process of active listening, she creates a culturally-sensitive space to feel safe.
| Specializations | Insurance | Cost | Sliding scale | Remote services |
| Relationship Issues Anxiety Codependency |
N/A | Cost per Session:
Individual $180/50 Minutes |
Yes | Yes |
Elliott Endre: M.A | Best for sex therapy
628-600 1573
Website
Elliott Endre grounds their practice in affirming their clients’ sexuality while allowing them to explore whatever topics and issues they need. Elliott Endre’s therapy concentrations are broad and include trauma, attachment, gender identity, bullying, loneliness, BDSM, and other issues. With more than 17 years of practice work, Elliott helps clients identify their values and make meaning of the sexual experience.
| Specializations | Insurance | Cost | Sliding scale | Remote services |
| Women’s Issues Sex Therapy Career Counseling |
N/A | Cost per Session: $250 | Yes | Yes |
Michael Quircke: M.A, MFT | Best for trauma
415-820-3943
Website
Michael Quircke has been treating trauma, PTSD, anxiety, depression, and other common mental health issues for 25 years. He helps his clients achieve a balanced emotional life and meaningful interpersonal relationships using EMDR therapy, QEEG brain mapping, and other techniques.
What Patients Say:
“He is friendly and interested in people. His approachable, down-to-earth style makes it really easy to talk to him whenever I have something that comes up.”
| Specializations | Insurance | Cost | Sliding scale | Remote services |
| Anxiety Depression Trauma and PTSD |
N/A | Cost per Session: $250 | No | Yes |
Kavitha Goldowitz: M.A., MFT | Best for anxiety
415-857-1669
Website
Kavitha Goldowitz has over ten years of experience working with individuals and couples, helping them navigate conflicts and transitions as well as anxiety and depression. Her area of expertise includes working with multicultural and immigrant population, addressing issues related to couples in inter-racial marriages, struggles with cultural assimilation and family of origin dynamics. She believes that everyone is capable of positive change and self-growth.
What Patients Say:
“Kavitha is a warm and nonjudgmental therapist. Every time we interact, I feel that I’ve gotten her authentic self, and that she’s invited and welcomed my authentic self.”
| Specializations | Insurance | Cost | Sliding scale | Remote services |
| Relationship Issues Anxiety Codependency Culturally Sensitive Therapy/Cross Cultural Therapy |
N/A | $225 per session | No | Yes |
Jacob Brown: M.A., M.B.A. | Best for infidelity
415-689-8700
Website
Jacob Brown works collaboratively with his clients to craft a strong relationship based on openness and trust. With couples, he has experience working with issues like infidelity and intimacy issues. By using a process rooted in Emotionally Focused Therapy, he can help his clients in all kinds of relationships break free of harmful cycles and start to build more meaningful relationships.
| Specializations | Insurance | Cost | Sliding scale | Remote services |
| Marital and Premarital Infidelity Relationship Issues |
N/A | Cost per Session:
50 Minute Individual Session Is $175 |
Yes | Yes |
Brad Byrum: M.A., M.B.A., LMFT| Best for marriage counseling
650-676-7575
Website
During relationship therapy, Brad Byrum’s goal is to create a safe space where couples can learn who they want to be together. Whether he is working with couples or an individual, he strives to work through well-defined and agreed-upon problems to reach a specific goal.
What Patients Say:
“I am thrilled to be working with Mr. Byrum. When we had our first counseling session, I could see the kindness in his eyes and the care in his voice.”
| Specializations | Insurance | Cost | Sliding scale | Remote services |
| Marital and Premarital Relationship Issues Infidelity |
N/A | Cost per Session: $150 | No | Yes |
Aidan Pelly: LMFT, LPCC | Best for self-esteem
510-698-9096
Website
Aidan Pelly brings an open and non-judgemental style to his sessions, though he also understands the importance of saying what needs to be said. His areas of focus include self-esteem, anxiety, depression, and adverse childhood experiences for individuals, couples, and families. No matter what the focus with a particular client, Aidan always strives to find your authentic self at the center of your discussions.
| Specializations | Insurance | Cost | Sliding scale | Remote services |
| Relationship Issues Self Esteem Stress |
N/A | Cost per Session: $200 | Yes | Yes |
Jamie Goldstein: PsyD | Best for depression
415-843-1185
Website
Dr. Jamie Goldstein is a psychologist who believes in the importance of the three pillars of therapy: connection, authenticity, and language. Together, these pillars can be used to manage life transitions or feelings of depression or anxiety. By encouraging open and authentic communication in her practice, Dr. Goldstein helps her clients resolve feelings of stagnation in their day-to-day lives. She has worked with a variety of clients but specializes in female-identifying teens and adults.
| Specializations | Insurance | Cost | Sliding scale | Remote services |
| Anxiety Depression Trauma and PTSD |
N/A | Cost per Session:
Initial Intake (50 minutes): $195 |
No | Yes |
Anthony Thier: M.A., MFT | Best for PTSD
415-890-3244
Website
Anthony Thier understands how the effects of trauma can make relationships, work, and other aspects of life difficult to manage. By using current neuroscience research, Anthony helps re-pattern problematic tendencies so that his patients can focus on the parts of their lives that matter most.
What Patients Say:
“If you are interested in the intersection between the mind and the body, and you would like to try active therapy, give him a call.”
| Specializations | Insurance | Cost | Sliding scale | Remote services |
| Trauma and PTSD Relationship Issues Anxiety |
POP PPO |
Cost per Session: $250 | Yes | Yes |
Lisa Andresen: ASW--CBT, DBT | Best for stress and anger management
415-890-3576
Website
Lisa Andreson has experience working with a range of high-achievers in business, law, and other demanding careers. She relies on a combination of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy to help clients manage feelings of stress and anger. She also has experience working through issues with self-esteem, domestic violence, grief, trauma, and narcissistic abuse.
| Specializations | Insurance | Cost | Sliding scale | Remote services |
| Depression Anxiety Self Esteem |
N/A | Cost per Session: $150 | Yes | Yes |
Yvonne Guerton: LMFT | Best for holistic aging
415-800-4671
Website
Yvonne Guerton has worked with clients of all ages to manage feelings associated with life transitions, aging, and death. She understands the struggles that come with aging and seeks to explore your experience in a nonjudgmental way through a variety of modalities including bodywork and somatic experiencing.
What Patients Say:
“She is truly a creative guide through the challenges of self-insight, healing, and growth.”
| Specializations | Insurance | Cost | Sliding scale | Remote services |
| Relationship Issues Depression Anxiety |
N/A | Cost per Session: $180 | Yes | Yes |
Samantha Heuwagen: M.A., LMFT | Best for intimacy issues
248-660-0487
Website
Samantha Heuwagen offers therapy in English and Spanish, focusing on sex therapy and intimacy issues. She also has experience helping clients with a broad range of related issues, including arousal issues, sexual trauma, sex-related anxiety, and lack of desire. She believes in creating change through open dialogue, providing a safe space, and challenging her clients when necessary.
| Specializations | Insurance | Cost | Sliding scale | Remote services |
| Sex Therapy Relationship Issues Anxiety |
N/A | Cost per Session: $175 | Yes | Yes |
Tina Staley: LCSW| Best for coping skills
919-699-6816
Website
Tina Staley has nearly three decades of counseling experience working with individuals and couples across the country. She focuses on giving her clients the tools they need to actively address the ups and downs of life while building a future they can look forward to.
What Patients Say:
“Tina is an awesome therapist. She’s so friendly and it allows you to let your walls down and it feels like you’re talking with your best friend.”
| Specializations | Insurance | Cost | Sliding scale | Remote services |
| Coping Skills Anxiety Depression |
N/A | Cost per Session: $200 | Yes | Yes |
III. What You Should Know About San Francisco Therapy
How are San Francisco therapists licensed?
Therapists in San Francisco must fulfill several requirements before they can offer their services independently. The first is holding a master’s degree in therapy from an accredited institution. Second, they must complete 3,000 hours of supervised experience, half of which will require them to work directly with clients. Finally, they must pass the National Counselor Examination and the California Psychology Law and Ethics Examination.
How much does therapy cost in San Francisco?
Therapists in San Francisco cost about $190 per session on average, with prices ranging anywhere between $150 and $500 per 50-minute session. While many of the therapists listed above do offer sliding scale services, these are only available on a case-by-case basis, and you should check with the individual therapist first.
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IV. Sources
- California State Board Information Last accessed January 2025
- National Clinical Mental Health Counseling Examination Last accessed January 2025
- National Counselor Examination Last accessed January 2025