MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPY TRAINEE IN PRACTICUM AT Western Institute for Social Research
kcheifetz@axismunditherapy.org
510.543.1330
TELEHEALTH
Supervised by Natalie Webster, LMFT #126065
I'm someone who values honesty, warmth, and real connection. I tend to be calm and grounded, and I also bring humor and directness. I believe therapy works best when both people can show up as themselves.
My background in acupuncture taught me to listen beneath words and to notice how experience can show up through the body. The patterns that repeat in your life aren't problems to fix but expressions of what once kept you safe. My approach draws from relational psychodynamic therapy, parts work, Gestalt, and dream work. I'm training in EMDR therapy and may integrate elements of this approach into our work when it feels supportive. These ways of working invite awareness to what's happening in the moment, to the different parts of you that come forward, and to the meanings that rise through sensation, emotion, and imagination.
Many of the people I work with live with the effects of long-term stress and complex trauma, including childhood trauma, attachment wounds, and experiences of neglect, misattunement, or sexual violation. They often describe feeling depleted, anxious, or disconnected from their sense of aliveness. Some notice trauma symptoms that show up in the nervous system or the body, including somatic symptoms, chronic tension, health concerns without a clear medical cause, or patterns of dissociation. Together we explore what happens inside you and between us, and we build the capacity to rest, to trust, and to inhabit yourself more fully.
My work is guided by an awareness of how systems of power, privilege, and oppression shape our sense of safety, identity, and possibility, and how those forces live in the body and in relationships. Therapy is a place to notice that conditioning and to practice something different. It can offer the chance to move at a pace that feels right for you, to let care register in the body again, and to begin feeling more at home in yourself. I welcome people of all identities and lived experiences. I offer therapy in both English and Spanish. I'm committed to creating a space where difference, complexity, and individuality are met with respect and care.
Specialties:
complex trauma and childhood trauma
PTSD and post-traumatic stress
anxiety and chronic stress
boundaries and codependency
relationship anxiety and attachment wounds
recovery from neglect or sexual trauma
burnout and emotional exhaustion
somatic symptoms linked to stress or trauma
dissociation, numbness, or shutdown
low self-esteem and self-worth
Modalities:
relational psychodynamic therapy
parts work / IFS-informed
gestalt therapy
dream work / Jungian-informed
somatic therapy
relational / attachment-based therapy
social justice / anti-oppression framework
EMDR – currently in training
Contact Us
Starting is easy! Use the form on the right to begin our conversation. We'll start with a free, 30 minute consultation to see if we're a good match. If we're not, for any reason, I'll provide you with other referrals that may be a better fit - my commitment is to your well-being first!