CONSULTANTS
Debra Gajer, LCSW, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a private practice in Berkeley offering Individual and Couples Therapy, Supervision, and Consultation. She integrates psychodynamic and relational theory, an attachment focus, mindfulness, and sociocultural awareness in her clinical and supervisory work. She has been supervising since 2003 at the Pacific Center and Women’s Therapy Center in Berkeley and in the Post Graduate Training and Supervision Study Programs at The Psychotherapy Institute. Debra is a former co-chair of the SSP. She has also taught seminars on Relational Supervision in the SSP and is a proud graduate! Debra deeply values the privilege of working in the intimate, depthful process of relational supervision.
Caroline McDowell, MA, MFT, has a private practice in Berkeley, CA where she works with adult individuals, couples of all configurations, and occasional adult children and their parent(s). She has been supervising since 2014. She has supervised for The Wright Institute, Alameda County Crisis Support Services, St. Mary’s College, The Psychotherapy Institute, and in her private practice. She is a graduate of The Women’s Therapy Center individual and couples training programs and the Supervision Study Program at The Psychotherapy Institute. She joined as a Consultant for the SSP in 2021.
Noreen O'Brien, LMFT, is currently co-chair and consultant with the Supervision Study Program, past member and co-chair of the DEI Committee, and a graduate of the SSP program at The Psychotherapy Institute (TPI). She has a private practice in psychotherapy, spiritual direction, supervision, and consultation in Berkeley. She supervises at TPI, The Wright Institute, and Blue Oak and is an advisory board member and consultant with the chaplaincy program at UCSF. Drawn to the work of justice and change within the community, Noreen seeks out conversations about psyche and culture toward a deeper understanding of how psychoanalytic insights and social processes influence approaches to reparative justice and healing among culturally different groups.
Rainbow Schwartz, LMFT, has been practicing psychotherapy for 15 years. She has a private practice in Oakland, where she conducts therapy, supervision, and consultation. She has been supervising since 2014. She has supervised at The Wright Institute, the California Institute of Integral Studies, The Women’s Therapy Center, and the Psychotherapy Institute. She has taught classes for the advanced Therapy Training Program at the Women’s Therapy Center, as well as for the students in SF State’s graduate psychology program. Rainbow is deeply interested in the theory and practice of supervision, utilizing psychoanalytic, psychodynamic, and relational theoretical models to inform her thinking. Rainbow is attuned to differences in the clinical and supervisory dyads, attending to dynamics of power and privilege. She is in active study to deepen her insights into the impacts of whiteness and how to work personally and professionally to better understand and dismantle white supremacy culture
Marla Shephard Lev, LMFT, has been in private practice since 1992 where she sees individuals, couples, families and adolescents. She has been supervising and consulting since 2002 and is a graduate of the Supervision Study Program at the Psychotherapy Institute. Marla specializes in psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy with an attention to how culture, race and socioeconomic factors influence the development of the self. Marla’s early training was in body-oriented psychotherapy and she continues to be interested in how the psyche is expressed through bodily experience. What Marla loves most about supervision is helping each person find their own way of seeing and thinking while creating an environment of play in the process of this exploration.
Whitney van Nouhuys, PhD, LMFT, is currently co-chair of the Supervision Study Program, together with Debra Gajer. She has been supervising in TPI’s Post Graduate Training Program since 2005 and is a member of the Supervisors Committee. She supervised previously at The Women’s Therapy Center, The Wright Institute, University of Santa Clara MFT program, and her private practice setting. Whitney was on the faculty and served as academic dean at The Sanville Institute for Clinical Social Work and Psychotherapy. In 2020 she retired from private practice, after 40+ years in Berkeley, Palo Alto, and Menlo Park. At that point she expanded her involvement at TPI, including serving for several months as interim clinical director. She is very committed to being a part of TPI’s efforts to de-center whiteness throughout its organization and training programs.
Cara Zeisloft, LCSW, has a psychotherapy and consultation practice in Berkeley, where she sees adults and adolescents. She received her MSW from Smith College in 2000 and has worked with children, teens, and families in psychiatric hospitals, residential treatment, day treatment classrooms, high schools, the foster care system, and acute medical settings, prior to opening her private practice in 2006. She is a graduate of the Post-Graduate Training Program at TPI, as well as the Supervision Study Program. She has supervised and taught since 2003 and has served as supervising faculty at The Psychotherapy Institute, The Wright Institute, Women's Therapy Center, and California Institute of Integral Studies.
SEMINAR LEADERS
Claire Allphin, PhD, LCSW
Ellen Becker, MA, LMFT
Leslie Bell,PhD, LCSW
Norma Campbell, MSW, LCSW
Stephanie Chen, PhD
Sherry Crandon, PhD
Susie Fefferman, MA, LMFT
Jim Fishman, LCSW, CGP
Lynn Franco, MSW, LCSW
Debra Gajer, MSW, LCSW
Amy Glick, LMFT
Judy Greene, MA, LCSW
Howard Hamburger, MA, LMFT
Emily Johnson, LCSW
Zonya Johnson, PhD
Rita Karuna Cahn, MSW, LCSW, LMFT
Andrea Lappen, PhD
Sheila Longerbeam, PhD, LMFT
Laura McCormick, PhD
Elena Moser, MSW, LCSW
Yael Moses, MS, LMFT
Mahima Muralidharan
Jane Reynolds, PhD
Terri Rubinstein, MA, LMFT
Joan Sarnat, PhD
Rainbow Schwartz, LMFT
David Smith, M.A., MFT
Nancy Ulmer, MSW, LCSW