About me
Hello! I am Susanne Ebert-Khosla, and I am a graduate of Santa Clara University with a Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology. I am bilingual in German and English, and have lived in France, England, Switzerland and Germany. Having lived in several European countries provided me with precious opportunities to adjust to new cultures, environments and life circumstances. I am also familiar with raising kids in the Bay Area – as a parent myself, I know what it feels like to be dealing with budding teenagers. Besides relishing time with my family and friends, I also enjoy music, theatre, and dancing.
My approach to psychotherapy:
Emotions are our internal signals that inform us what is going on within ourselves in each and every moment – they tell us what we need. (Paul Ekman: Atlas of Emotions: https://atlasofemotions.org/). Unfortunately, through adverse life experiences such as trauma, abuse, or not having received "good enough" nurturance, we may become detached from our internal signals out of necessity – in order to cope and protect ourselves from emotional injuries. We may no longer detect the accurate and important information from our emotions that we need in order to know what to do and how to harmoniously interact with others and our loved ones.
I offer Intensive Short Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP), an evidence-based psychotherapy approach founded on attachment theory, to help people rediscover and fully experience their emotions so that they can heal from past traumatic experiences and emotional wounds. ISTDP has been demonstrated to be an effective treatment for a wide range of psychological symptoms such as mood disorders, anxiety disorders, interpersonal problems, unexplained somatic symptoms, personality disorders, and more. I have completed the 3-year Core Training in ISTDP with Drs. Allan Abbass and Joel Town in Halifax, Canada.
ISTDP is a collaborative approach. In our sessions we will work together to identify the mechanisms that get in your way of resolving your internal conflicts that keep you stuck. We will work as a team to uncover the hurdles that make your life so difficult, sometimes even unbearable.
For more information on ISTDP, please visit the following websites:
ISTDP Research literature: http://istdpinstitute.com/research/
Allan Abbass: Reaching Through Resistance:
http://reachingthroughresistance.com/intensive-short-term-dynamic-psychotherapy/
For couples, I offer Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT). EFT is also founded on attachment theory and seeks to heal past attachment wounds and emotional trauma. It aims at creating a secure bond between partners and facilitates increased intimacy and emotional connection in your romantic relationship. "Seeking and maintaining closeness with an important other is viewed as the primary motivating principle in humans and an innate survival mechanism, providing us with a safe haven and a secure base in a potentially dangerous world "(Kathryn Rheem & T. Leanne Campbell, in Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy and Trauma, Springer Publication 2018). I have completed the Externship and 1-year Core Training in Emotionally Focused Therapy with Dr. Rebecca Jorgensen in San Francisco.
Here is a video by Sue Johnson and Ed Tronick explaining attachment theory: Love Sense: from Infant to Adult.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyCHT9AbD_Y
For more information about Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), please visit the following website:
The International Centre For Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy: http://www.iceeft.com
Therapy can be a painful process when you realize what you may have missed out on in life. The good news is that emotional wounds and past traumatic experiences can be healed and relationship bonds can be repaired. That's why I am here for you!
The process of psychotherapy is very individual and needs to be tailored to each client's needs. I offer treatment techniques from various modalities, such as Mindfulness, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) for couples, that compliment my ISTDP approach. Depending on your individual needs, preferences, and cultural background, we will work together to select the interventions that would be most effective for you.
“Through feeling, the patient comes face to face with the mystery of her being, something larger than any thoughts or ideas she had before. This direct experience of her being transforms who she thought she was, but, more important, it transforms who she is becoming.”
Memberships:
CAMFT: California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists
ICEEFT: International Center For Excellence In Emotionally Focused Therapy
NCCEFT: Northern California Community for Emotionally Focused Therapy
ISTDP-NorCal : ISTDP therapists in Northern California
Experience:
ACS: Adolescent Counseling Services, Redwood City. Working with tweens and adolescents in a middle-school and high-school setting.
MRI: Mental Research Institute, Palo Alto. Working with children and families.
Kara: Grief Counseling, Palo Alto. Working with youth and adults who were grieving the loss of a loved-one.
Private Practice: Working under supervision of a licensed Therapist (LMFT). Monica Stone and Teresa Scott.
3-year Core Training in ISTDP with Drs. Allan Abbass and Joel Town in Halifax, Canada.
Externship and 1-year Core Training in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) for couples with Dr. Rebecca Jorgensen in San Francisco.
Diplom in Biology (Master’s degree): University of Bayreuth, Germany (see LinkedIn ) LinkedIn profile