The Petaluma Counseling Center welcomes people of every race, ethnicity, culture, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, and ability/disability. Our offices are ADA compliant and wheelchair accessible.
Our therapists are licensed by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences, and have a great deal of experience helping people. Each therapist is in their own private practice, and The Petaluma Counseling Center is solely owned by Jill Silverman, LMFT
Approaches to Therapy
- Psychodynamic psychotherapy for exploration of early relational patterns on current relationships and understanding unconscious processes.
- Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy to help treat depression, anxiety, and compulsions by changing distressing thoughts and behaviors
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy for regulating emotions, and diminishing self-harm and impulsivity
- Experiential processes like Mindfulness meditation, Hypnosis and EMDR for the treatment of trauma and anxiety.
- Alternative approaches to understanding mind states and moods including Eastern psychologies; Buddhist psychology, yoga and wisdom practices are also influences on the work we do.
- Gottman Approach: A research based approach to couples therapy, developed by John and Julie Gottman, incorporating techniques for managing conflict, building intimacy and connection, fostering shared goals and developing better listening and understanding with couples.
- Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy: This approach was developed by Stan Tatkin, based on Attachment Theory. Attachment theory explores how our early relationships affect how we think and feel about relationships. It shapes our expectations of others and how we behave when in relationship. This approach works to understand how your partner is "wired" by their early experiences and how with this knowledge you can be more effective as a partner and create a relationship of safety and security.
Our Therapists
Jill Silverman, MA, LMFT Director of the Petaluma Counseling Center License #MFC31242
Jill Silverman, is the director of the Petaluma Counseling Center. Licensed in 1993, Jill was in private practice in San Francisco for over 20 years. She moved to Petaluma in 1995 and opened the Petaluma Counseling Center in 2004, where she works with clients, collaborates with colleagues and trains intern therapists. She was an adjunct professor in the Masters in Counseling Psychology Department at Dominican University from 2010-2020.
Jill has counseled people from a variety of cultures and backgrounds. She works with individuals, couples and families. She has helped adults and adolescents struggling with depression; anxiety and panic attacks; substance abuse; co-dependency; childhood abuse and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. She works with couples to improve their communication, deepen their bond and bring joy back into the relationship. She has worked with families to increase parenting skills, help with the transition for families going through divorce, remarriage, or step-parenting and works to facilitate better boundaries and communication between parents and their children.
Jill has the ability to hold the depths of the human psyche with understanding, curiosity and compassion. She appreciates that being human comes with many difficulties. She enjoys helping clients explore and discover aspects of themselves and strengthen their sense of self. She has helped many people resolve trauma, become more comfortable with who they are and make positive changes in their lives.
Having a life-long interest in understanding the human mind and emotions, Jill has studied many approaches to counseling and healing. Jill balances a strong grounding in traditional evidence-based practices from Western psychology, such as Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Psychodynamic Therapy with other approaches to healing, such as Buddhist Psychology, Mindfulness Meditation, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Clinical Hypnosis. She has studied the Gottman Method and Stan Tatkin's Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy. She continues to study new approaches in the field to stay current in both her teaching and clinical practice. Clients have expressed their appreciation for Jill's broad knowledge of therapeutic practices, as well as her warmth and sense of humor.
To reach Jill Silverman please call (707) 782-1222 extension 2 or email her at jill@petalumacounseling.com
Alexis Crissey, M.A. Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist License #98533
Alexis provides counseling to teens, adults, couples and families struggling with a wide range of challenges. Her areas of focus include anxiety, depression, relationship issues, trauma, PTSD, parenting, ADHD, grief and loss, and life transitions.
Alexis brings a compassionate, collaborative and creative approach to working with clients. She encourages clients engagement and participation throughout the therapy process and considers it a great honor to travel alongside them in their journey towards personal and relational growth.
Alexis integrates in depth, relational approaches to therapy with short-term, practical approaches to form a comprehensive and flexible treatment tailored to the strengths, needs and goals of each client. Her approach to therapy aims to not only reduce symptoms and problematic behaviors, but also aims for improvements within her clients' insight, self-esteem, relationships, and overall quality of life.
Alexis received her Master's degree in Counseling Psychology from Santa Clara University. Alexis is certified in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), a form of therapy that has been scientifically researched and proven to be effective for the treatment of trauma, PTSD, phobias, anxiety and panic.
Alexis completed Behavioral Tech’s Dialectical Behavior Therapy Foundational Training and has extensive clinicial experience applying Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), a form of therapy that combines cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) with Eastern meditation practices. She enjoys incorporating DBT to help clients learn skills to better manage their emotions and develop more productive ways of thinking and relating to others.
To reach Alexis Crissey please call (707) 782-1222 extension 1 or email.