Psychotherapy, Psychoanalysis and Consultation
in Oakland and Online
About Kara
The power of a connected and reliable therapeutic relationship in one’s life is invaluable, as it can be a vehicle to enable safe exploration of difficult emotional terrain, and serves you to explore and understand patterns in your relationships that continue to have similar, frustrating outcomes. In our work together it is my sincere hope to help you transform self-judgment into inquiry and to welcome all parts of your experience with curiosity.
As a therapist, I hold a frame for working that is related, grounded, warm, and focused. Since therapy involves some difficult disclosure, I embody an open and curious approach that makes discussing sensitive topics more comfortable.
In addition to my work as a therapist, I have a lively connection to creative processes such as art, music, and writing, and find that creative work has natural tendency to facilitate and integrate growth.
Background and Approach
The process of a successful psychotherapy, I believe, sheds new light on your experiences and gives you more freedom to respond to life with flexibility, compassion for yourself and others, and even humor. When therapy works, people generally are more comfortable and at ease with themselves, with more energy and capacity to reflect on feelings and experiences.
My approach to the process of therapy is guided by a strong ethical grounding that acknowledges one’s unique individual life experiences and circumstances within a familial and socio-cultural context, and pays close attention to relationships of power and difference. While discussing your current and historical life experiences, feelings, and impressions in our sessions, I place an emphasis on listening to the language of the body, the exploration of dreams and dream-like material, and on the naturally integrative capacities of creative practices.
I work with an interdisciplinary lens, integrating depth psychology with critical studies, philosophy, attachment, and relational psychoanalysis. I am particularly influenced by analytic traditions which contain a focus on trauma, and studies in contemporary neuroscience, which show how our brains process our affective (emotional) experience, particularly in the context of relationship.
Professional Experience
I have over two decades of training and experience working with individuals from widely varied backgrounds. My specialties include working with sexual abuse and trauma, shame and self-esteem, anxiety, and depression. I am particularly skilled with needs unique to artists, performers, and political and social activists.
After obtaining my clinical license, I furthered my education with a PhD in Depth Psychotherapy, a clinically focused doctorate emphasizing psychoanalytic and Jungian perspectives. I then went on to complete psychoanalytic training at the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California (PINC), where I now teach, work on curriculum revision and development, and serve on the steering committee for the Community Psychoanalysis Track (CPT). For candidates completing their studies at PINC, I am also credentialed as both a Personal and Supervising Analyst, and a Community Psychoanalysis Supervising Analyst.
Kara Swedlow, PhD, MFT is licensed to practice psychotherapy in the state of California, license #MFC52221, holds a doctorate in Depth Psychology and Psychotherapy, and is a certified psychoanalyst. She provides individual psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, and supervision and consultation services virtually throughout California and in-person in Oakland.