Laya Jamali, AMFT
Associate Marriage & Family Therapist
Offering Individual & Partners Therapy for Adults
License #121906 (Supervised by Liz Tong, LMFT)
How I Can Help
Within all of us lives an inner healing intelligence that is unique to each individual, but sometimes internal or external barriers prevent us from connecting with this internal resource. As a therapist, I am committed to creating a safe container where you can get in touch with your own inner wisdom. I will be a collaborator with you on your journey of self-discovery and meaning-making, to examine and explore these barriers and patterns that contribute to feelings of stuckness.
Educated & Experienced
MA in Marriage and Family Therapy - St. Mary's College of California
MRes in Brain Imaging and Cognitive Neuroscience- University of Birmingham, UK
BS in Psychology- University of Marvdasht- Iran
Women’s Therapy Center- Berkeley
Sage Institute- Oakland
St. James Infirmary- San Francisco
Sage Integrative Health- Berkeley
My Specialties
Theoretically, my work is embedded in depth-oriented psychology. I am also attuned to the ways that systemic oppression impacts our experience of life in our mind and body, and contributes to certain patterns of thoughts, feelings, and actions. I draw from internal family systems, mindfulness-based, somatic and anti-oppressive practices, as well as Jungian and archetypal studies to bring a more nuanced dynamic to our work. I have experience working with LGBTQ+, BIPOC, immigrant and sex worker populations, and embrace diversity while paying attention to the intersections of identity.
I help individuals navigating
Grief
Shame
Stress
Depression/creative depression
Life purpose and cultivation of meaning
Identity development
Trauma
Religious oppression
Dissociation
Psychedelic integration
My Style
My approach is relational, which means I highly value the therapeutic relationship between us. I am trauma-informed, empathic, and non-judgmental- seeing you as fully capable.
My aim primarily is to extend an invitation to the parts of you that have been neglected, unwelcomed, and disowned. Holding them with gentle compassion to reintegrate them back into your psyche and facilitate movement towards a sense of aliveness, self-acceptance, and better connection with the world around you. I enjoy using images, metaphor, myth, and stories that often come forth through dreams, imagination and language.
With couples, I can assist you to identify and reframe the old dynamics that contribute to conflict as well as help you to develop healthier strategies of communication that will lead to deeper intimacy and more nurturing relationships.
I work best with individuals who are curious about themselves and their inner lives and are willing to actively engage with the therapeutic process.
tools we may use
Psychodynamic psychotherapy: Psychodynamic therapy focuses on the psychological roots of emotional suffering. Its major ingredients are self-reflection and self-examination, and the use of the relationship between therapist and client as a window into problematic relationship patterns in the client's life.
Dreamwork: Dreamwork is a self-exploration process through which transformation and healing can be made possible. Dreams are formulations and continuations of waking thoughts, concerns, emotions, and memories and are thus unique to each individual. Through the use of images, metaphors and symbols dreamwork can decode the purpose, message, or meaning of the dream and enhance the efforts towards development of insight and change.
Active Imagination: Active imagination is a method of assimilating unconscious contents (dreams, thoughts, fantasies...) through some form of self-expression. The goal of active imagination is to give a voice to parts of the personality that are normally not heard, thereby opening an intentional dialogue between consciousness and the unconscious.