After a career in business and raising my children, I returned to school to become the clinical psychologist I had always wanted to be and received my doctorate from the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco.  Because I knew I wanted to help people coping with grief and loss, I specialized in grief counseling and received a certificate in this. My interests also included dealing with life-threatening illnesses and women's special concerns. My dissertation focused on the inner, usually unspoken, experience of the mother-of-the bride at the time of her daughter's wedding.

I worked at the Crisis Intervention Grief Project, providing psychotherapy to clients experiencing complicated grief.  For several years, I worked with at-risk infants and parents in the Infant-Parent Program of San Francisco General Hospital and the University of California, and this broadened my insight into parent-child dynamics. I also worked with oncologists, providing counseling for women with breast cancer, and co-facilitated an expressive arts group for women with cancer at California Pacific Medical Center.

Now I am happily in private practice with the following areas of specialization:

Depression, grief and loss.  I offer a place to voice the experience of depression without judgment. Many  depressed people are experiencing grief and loss. Grief and loss may involve the death of a loved one; however, they are experienced in many other aspects of everyday life, as well.

Life stages and transitions. I value assisting older individuals develop positive attitudes toward aging, while at the same time facing the losses that come with the aging of oneself and loved ones. I also relish working with young and middle-age adults who are struggling to find their individuality and reach their full potential within their careers and relationships.

Chronic Pain and Illness. Supporting clients with pain or with chronic or terminal illness is the culmination of much of my training and is profoundly meaningful to me. I offer both individual therapy and group therapy with others who are dealing with similar concerns. (Read more about the group in Topics.)

Parent and child relationships. Of special interest to me is helping parents and adult children work with the emotions and history that make their relationship more conflicted and difficult than they would like. One particular example of this is the relationship of mother and daughter at the time of the daughter's wedding. Of special interest to me is the hidden emotional experience of the mother at this time. Another example is the struggle of daughters whose mothers were either absent or unable to be emotionally available to them as they grew up.

Women in the middle. Women often find themselves with responsibilities to both their children and their aging parents. How do women balance their own needs with attending to the needs of others? If you are struggling with this or any of the other concerns listed above, I would like to be of help to you.

 

Valerie Kay, Psy.D.

Registered Psychological Assistant, PSB 27949, to DeLee Lantz, Ph.D.

My Offices:

2859 Sacramento Street

San Francisco, CA 94115

              and

2424 Dwight Way, Suite 7

Berkeley, CA 94704

My Telephone:

I.P.A. (415) 409-1564, Ext. 4

e-mail: drkay@IPAsite.com