Our clinicians provide compassionate, caring therapy for teens & adolescents The Bay Area Center for Adolescents is a multidisciplinary group of clinicians who provide treatment for adolescents across the San Francisco Bay Area, and is a specialty center of the Institute for the Advancement of Psychotherapy. We provide assessment, medication management, therapy, and educational counseling in order to provide our clients with the best treatment possible. Our work is guided by the latest research on adolescents and we use effective treatment interventions. Below is a list of the psychologists, psychiatrists, and educational therapists who are part of the practice.
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W. Keith Sutton, Psy.D. - Psychologist Director
Dr. Sutton is a clinical psychologist with offices located in San Francisco and Corte Madera. He provides individual and family therapy to adolescents and also provides psychological assessment. Dr. Sutton has been working with adolescents since 1998 in various settings including schools, teen shelters, a residential treatment program, a wilderness program, a drug and alcohol outpatient program, community clinics, a home-based therapy program, and in his private practice. email: KeithSutton@bayareaadolescent.com |
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James Keim, MSW, LCSW - Licensed Clinical Social Worker
James Keim, MSW, LCSW is a psychotherapist, author, and clinical supervisor who specializes in therapy for oppositional-defiant difficulties. He is co-author of one book and a contributor of chapters to eight others on topics including family therapy, child and adolescent behavior disorders, and marriage therapy. He previously served as the Director of Training for Jay Haley at the Family Therapy Institute of Washington, CD, worked at the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto, and directed a small conference series, including the conference Oppositional Youth, which was hosted at the Bethesda campus of the National Institutes of Health. email: JamesKeim@bayareaadolescent.com |
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Davida Cohen, MFT
Davida Cohen works with families, couples, children and adults and has been teaching, training and supervising for 20 years. She has worked at the Family Institute of Pinole in the positions of Director of Training, and Clinical Director. She also holds an MA in Art and works with adults and children to bring out their potential in mindfulness, creativity and relationships. Her specialties include ADHD, spirited, acting out children as well as overly constricted, anxious or depressed children. Additionally, she works with trauma and stress, adoption issues, and children and teen's behavioral difficulties. email: DavidaCohen@bayareaadolescent.com |
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Casey Brodhead, Psy.D.
Dr. Casey Brodhead is a licensed clinical and assessment psychologist who graduated from the Stanford-PGSP Psy.D Consortium. He does psychological assessments for ADHD and other learning disabilities as well as testing for mood disorders. He has been in the field for over 15 years in a variety of clinical and academic settings, including but not limited to Stanford University, Palo Alto University, local high schools and middle schools, and hospital/medical settings. Other roles he has experience with are as an educator, consultant, assessment psychologist, assessment supervisor, primary/delegated clinical supervisor, mentor, and department technology and efficiency trainer. email: caseybrodhead@bayareaadolescent.com |
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Helen Shamis, LMFT
Helen has been licensed as a marriage family therapist since 2005. She has worked with children with learning differences including ADHD, Autistic Spectrum Disorders, Anxiety and Depression for over twenty years, within the school system and in collaboration with their families. Helen has held clinical positions in public and private schools, non-profit organizations and community mental health programs. Working with transitional age youth is one of her specialities. Also, she has extensive experience with treating clients with eating disorders, and was Clinical Director of Beyond Hunger, a non-profit providing support groups for those in recovery. email: helenshamis@bayareaadolescent.com |
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Max Farber, Psy.D.
Dr. Max Farber is a licensed clinical psychologist who helps foster positive change in people’s lives. He listens and co-creates therapy goals. Dr. Farber’s work often involves helping people to identify and live by the values that give their lives meaning and vitality, become more aware and accepting of emotions, worry less, problem solve with more flexibility, be more resilient to stress, change emotion driven behaviors to behavior choices that are more in line with core values, and to make new and enhance existing relationships, be they personal or professional. He feels that it is a tremendous privilege to help people in this way. He is politically liberal and queer positive. His education, training, and experience include a doctoral degree from the APA-accredited Wright Institute, predoctoral and postdoctoral residencies at Kaiser Permanente in Walnut Creek, and supervising student-clinicians at the Berkeley CBT Clinic. email: MaxFarber@bayareaadolescent.com |
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Jessica Yu, Psy.D.- Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Jessica Yu is a licensed clinical psychologist who provides therapy in English, Mandarin, and Taiwanese. Dr. Jessica Yu spent two years training at Kaiser Permanente and practicing in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. She also practices family system therapy, psychodynamic psychotherapy, and Christian faith-based counseling. Dr. Jessica Yu has specific training and interests in assessment (psychological, psychoeducational, neuropsychological) and interventions for ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorder, anger management, chronic depression, anxiety, attachment trauma, and adolescent/child behavioral problems. email: JessicaYu@bayareaadolescent.com |
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Jason Azicri, LMFT - Marriage and Family Therapist
Jason Azicri, MFT works with families, adults, children and couples including anxiety, depression, attachment, self-esteem, parenting, life transitions and relationship challenges. He has experience with children and teens dealing with abuse, oppositional defiant disorder, ADHD, and those on the autism spectrum disorder. He has extensive experience with both individuals and group therapy. Past clinical positions held include the Community Health Awareness Counsel (CHAC) in Mountain View, Los Gatos High School, and STARS Behavioral Health Groups in both San Leandro and Los Angeles. Jason also has a background in the technology and entertainment industries. He holds an MA in Counseling Psychology from Santa Clara University and BA in Psychology from the University of Central Florida. email: JasonAzicri@bayareaadolescent.com |
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Loretta Sun Nam, LCSW
Loretta Sun Nam is a California Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW). Loretta will again see clients in her office in Oakland when safe to do so and is currently seeing patients via teletherapy. Loretta has worked for many years as a medical social worker with young to older adults struggling with complex mental and physical health issues, including ADHD and addiction, coupled with challenging psychosocial circumstances. As a former inpatient psychiatric social worker, Loretta worked with adolescents and teenagers with anxiety and Oppositional Defiant Disorder, and their families to formulate viable treatment and discharge plans. Loretta utilizes Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), as ACT aligns with and draws from the client's values. For those ready to engage in change, Loretta implements Motivational Interviewing to affirm the client's value system, which elicits the drive for change. Other therapy modalities used in practice are psychodynamic psychotherapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Solution-Focused short-term and mindfulness-based techniques, all from culturally sensitive perspectives. email: LorettaSunNam@bayareaadolescent.com |
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Laura Petracek, Ph.D.
Dr. Laura Petracek is the best-selling author of The Anger Management Workbook for Women (New Harbinger Publications Press, 2004.) She received her Doctorate in Psychology from California Institute for Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco and her Master’s in Social Work (MSW) from Yeshiva University in New York City. She has worked in the field of Psychology and Social Work for over thirty years. She has served as Executive Director, Clinical Director, and held the positions of Psychologist/LCSW at many different non-profit agencies including New Leaf: Services for our Community, Centerpoint, Inc., and A Women’s Path. She has supervised Ph.D. Post-Doctoral, ASW, and MFTi students. She has also held the position of Associate Professor, Assistant Professor, and Adjunct Professor at Bay Area Graduate Institutions such as Alliant University, Dominican University, and National University. Her areas of interest are injustice and racism in the Criminal Justice System, Feminist/Women’s Issues, Gender Issues, LGBT Issues (specifically drug and alcohol abuse in the LBGT community, suicidality in LGBT teenagers), and trauma (specifically complex trauma). Alcoholism/Drug abuse among women, Meditation, and Yoga. She has worked exclusively with Children and Adolescents, who have been diagnosed with ADHD, anxiety, depression, and/or Oppositional Defiant Disorder at local elementary and middle schools in the Bay Area for the past 5 years. Dr. Petracek specializes in helping people with anger dyscontrol issues and recovery from alcohol and other addictions. She currently maintains a private practice in the San Francisco Bay Area. email: LauraPetracek@bayareaadolescent.com |
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Lianne Warren, MFT - Marriage and Family Therapist
Lianne Warren, MFT is a Marriage and Family Therapist who received her Master’s in Counseling Psychology from University of San Francisco and Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from University of Oregon. Her experiences as a school based therapist have provided her opportunities to work with children, families, couples, and adults. During her clinical experiences, she has addressed a wide variety of concerns, including troubled relationships, parenting, behavioral modification, anxiety, depression, loss and life transitions. Lianne’s own life experiences have provided her with an understanding that life at times can be challenging, and that having support during difficult times can be helpful. As a result, she strives to develop therapeutic relationships that are based on trust and empathy in order to assist clients to identify solutions and to make positive change in a collaborative manner. In recognition that clients enter therapy with their own unique set of experiences, strengths and goals for therapy, she utilizes an integrative approach that includes evidence based practices such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Structural-Strategic Family Therapy, Solution Focused Therapy, Emotionally Focused Therapy, Gottman’s Couple Therapy, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), and Mindfulness based psychotherapies. Email: LianneWarren@bayareaadolescent.com |
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Avrille Birnbaum, Psy.D. - Clinical Psychologist
Dr. Avrille Birnbaum, PsyD (she/her/they) is a licensed clinical psychologist who graduated from the Wright Institute in 2015. Early in her education, Avrille adopted a theoretically integrationist approach, using CBT, Attachment Theory, Systems, and awareness of neurodiversity to inform her individualized approach to therapy. Her training has provided her the experience of working with issues of depression, anxiety, OCD, substance abuse, neurocognitive disorders related to aging and to traumatic brain injuries, difficulties within family dynamics, and issues related to incarceration/post-incarceration. Throughout her training, Dr. Birnbaum has worked with ADHD clients, clients struggling with emotional affect regulation, clients with sleep disorders, and phobias and anxiety. Employing the principles of respect, collaboration, cultural affirmation, compassion, and humor, Dr. Birnbaum focuses on individual needs to develop a communicative client-therapist relationship and to help clients meet their desired goals. Dr. Birnbaum has clinical experience with a variety of cultures, family configurations and communities including LGBTQ+, BDSM/kink community, and polyamorous families. In her intern/post-doctoral work, Dr. Birnbaum has worked with clients from many religions including: First Nations/Indigenous religions, members of Muslim, Jewish, African Traditional Religions and more. Email: AvrilleBirnbaum@bayareaadolescent.com |