As a client, you have the right to know what your mental health costs are going to be before you pay for them out of pocket. In fact, legislation protects you from surprise medical bills. For example, therapists will provide you with a Good Faith Estimate to help you clearly understand what therapy is going to cost before you begin...
Mindfulness is a practice of paying attention to the current moment. If you're suffering from the symptoms of a chronic illness, then you might think that the last thing you want to do is focus on the moment. However, there are surprising benefits of mindfulness for chronic illness. The practice can help you in a wide variety of ways. What...
Have you ever wondered what kind of client a therapist loves to work with? Don't worry; there's no such thing as a "perfect client." (And, we hate to spoil the illusion, but there's no such thing as a "perfect therapist" either.) Instead, there's sometimes the perfect match between your needs and their skills. Much of therapy happens in the relationship...
Many therapists here at the Center for Mindful Psychotherapy draw upon mindfulness practices as a part of their client work. However, what does that really mean? What is mindfulness in therapy? What will it look like to speak with a therapist who incorporates this technique? Moreover, is it the right approach for you? Mindfulness in therapy means more than you might...
Many people shiver negatively at the idea of creating New Year's Resolutions. There is something too hard, too rigid, too filled with expectation about that age-old practice. And yet, beginning the new year with an eye towards what you want to see develop can be immensely powerful. Instead of holding yourself to a resolution, consider opening yourself up to the...
“Learning to pause is the first step in the practice of Radical Acceptance. A pause is a suspension of activity, a time of temporary disengagement when we are no longer moving toward any goal. … You might try it now: Stop reading and sit there, doing "no thing," and simply notice what you are experiencing.” ― Tara Brach When I...
Making Therapy More Impactful: Focusing Your Attention On Your Intention Yes, this blog post is about therapy homework Hi! I’m Stephanie Bain, an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist. I believe therapy can be a space for insight, a space for feeling heard and understood, a space to process certain experiences, a space for you to be you. Therapy...
“It was always you I loved, not your elegant strategy. I will love you still, if you now outgrow it. I will love you more whether time moves forward or backwards. Whether ice melts or water freezes back. Whether your next move is protection, breakthrough, shift, or any combination. There are at least three ways to love you: as you...
Hi, I am Stephanie Bain, an Associate Marriage and Family Therapist who wants to give more love to people who have or think they might have Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Why? I conceptualize BPD as what can happen when a person suffered from attachment trauma, trauma related to childhood experiences with attachment figures, aka parents, guardians, adults in charge...
How can people contact you? Name: Stephanie Bain License #: AMFT #126452 Supervisor: Dennis Reno, PhD.Lic #PSY9896 and Erin Harrell, Psy.D Lic #PSY27303 Phone number: 1-510-545-9329 Website: http://www.stephaniebaintherapy.com/ Email: [email protected] Where is your office located? City and neighborhood? Virtual therapy, located in Oakland, CA. What is your therapeutic orientation? I work with an existential-humanistic, psychodynamic, attachment-based, social...