I know exactly what it means to feel like an outsider.
I have always felt a little different. I identify as an introvert. As a kid, I was told that I was sensitive, which didn’t exactly feel like a compliment. I eventually began to recognize how that was part of my superpower.
The experience of moving from place to place has helped me understand feeling different or like an outsider. It wasn’t easy. I experienced bullying and depression.
I have always fought for the underdog. I feel it all. Learning about boundaries has been a lifesaver.
- There is mental illness and alcoholism in my extended family system.
- I spent a lot of years uncoupled. I understand loneliness, and blaming oneself for one’s singledom–as well as finding joy in it.
- I’ve had my fair share of not-so-great relationships. I’ve learned a lot.
- I am an artist. The process of being creative can be both exciting and brutal.
- I love to dance, hike, and spend as much time as possible outdoors, while also loving naps, books, and being cozy. I love water, in all its forms.
- Being a perfectionist-in-recovery has included unlearning numbness, learning self-compassion, and accepting my own–and others’–vulnerability. I have found that a great deal of anxiety is generated from the need to be, do, act, or seem a certain way, and I love to help people find their way back from these beliefs, to a more accurately attuned and grounded sense of self and belonging. A compass reset.
- I now live on rightfully Chochenyo and Muwekma Ohlone land, in Oakland CA. I am committed to earth justice and social justice, and to actively reclaiming my humanity by waking up out of the delusion of the patriarchy, white supremacy, and white feminism.
EDUCATION:
- BFA in Painting, College for Creative Studies (2000)
- MA in Counseling Psychology, California Institute of Integral Studies (2006)
INTERNSHIPS/EMPLOYMENT:
- Church Street ICC, Gestalt Therapy training center (2004-2006)
- Opportunity Plus Inc., Group Home for teens (2006-2011)
- Holos Institute, Ecopsychology (2006-2011)
- New Bridge Foundation Admissions Counselor, Substance Abuse Treatment Facility (2008-2018)
- Private Practice (2011-current)
TRAININGS/CONTINUING EDUCATION:
- Gestalt Therapy Course with Gieve Patel (CIIS, 2016)
- Attachment-Focused (A-F) EMDR, Levels I, II, III, with Constance Kaplan of the Parnell Institute (2018)
- A-F EMDR Consultation with Constance Kaplan (2018)
- A-F EMDR Consultation with Lizbeth Hamlin (2018-2019)
- Positionality & Intersectionality training with Gieve Patel (BAGI, 2018)
- IFS Online Circle (2019-2020)
- Somatic Regulation Practices (2020)
- “Pure O” OCD Subtypes (2020)
- IFS Continuity Program (2023)
- Upcoming: IFS Level 1 (beginning May 2024)
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIP:
- Member of CAMFT (SF & East Bay Chapters) (2011-ongoing)
- Member of EMDRIA (2018-ongoing)
- Administrator for Southwest Assoc. for the Advancement of Gestalt Therapy (SW-AAGT) Conference (2017-2019)
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist #50588 (2011)
My Facebook page, Elke Ullmer, MFT