An integrative approach to anxiety, depression, trauma, OCD, ADHD, mindfulness, self-compassion, and somatic healing.
If you’re considering therapy, you may be wondering what working with me is actually like. While conversation and connection are important parts of therapy, my approach goes beyond traditional talk therapy. I integrate somatic awareness, mindfulness, self-compassion, experiential techniques, and evidence-based approaches to help clients create meaningful and lasting change.
Whether you are struggling with anxiety, depression, trauma, OCD, ADHD, relationship challenges, life transitions, or simply feeling disconnected from yourself, my goal is to provide a warm, compassionate, and nonjudgmental space where healing and growth can unfold. Below, I share more about how I work and what you can expect from our therapeutic journey together.
Therapy Begins With Connection
The therapeutic relationship is one of the most important parts of the healing process. Many people come to therapy carrying pain, self-doubt, fear, shame, grief, or overwhelm. Often, they have spent years trying to manage these struggles on their own. I believe healing begins with feeling seen, heard, and understood.
My role is to create a safe, supportive, and compassionate environment where clients can explore their inner experiences without judgment. Together, we build a relationship based on trust, curiosity, collaboration, and respect. Therapy is not about fixing what is wrong with you. It is about helping you reconnect with your strengths, your resilience, and your authentic self.
Why I Go Beyond Talk Therapy
Talking is important. It helps us understand our story, identify patterns, gain insight, and make meaning of our experiences. However, many clients discover that even after they understand why they feel anxious, overwhelmed, depressed, or stuck, the emotional reactions continue.
You may know logically that you are safe, yet your body still feels anxious. You may understand that a painful experience happened years ago, yet your nervous system continues reacting as if the danger is still present. You may recognize self-critical thoughts, yet still feel trapped by them. This is because healing does not happen only through the mind.
Healing also happens through the body. For this reason, I integrate somatic therapy, mindfulness, self-compassion, and experiential approaches that help clients create change not only intellectually, but emotionally, physically, and neurologically.
What Is Somatic Therapy?
The word “somatic” comes from the Greek word soma, meaning “the living body.”
Somatic therapy recognizes that emotions, stress, trauma, and life experiences are often carried not only in our thoughts but also within our bodies.
Our bodies continuously communicate important information through sensations such as:
- Tightness
- Tension
- Warmth
- Heaviness
- Numbness
- Restlessness
- Expansion
- Relaxation
These sensations often provide valuable clues about what we are feeling emotionally.
In therapy, I help clients become more aware of these bodily experiences and learn how to listen to the wisdom of their bodies rather than ignoring, suppressing, or fearing what they feel. For many people, reconnecting with their bodies becomes an essential part of healing.
Why the Body Can Be a Powerful Pathway to Healing
Sometimes we work from the “top down,” using insight, reflection, and understanding. Other times we work from the “bottom up,” beginning with the body’s sensations and nervous system responses.
When anxiety, trauma, panic, or overwhelm are present, the nervous system often reacts before the thinking part of the brain has time to intervene. In those moments, insight alone may not be enough. Learning how to regulate the nervous system can create the safety and stability needed for deeper healing.
When we help the body feel safer, calmer, and more regulated, thoughts and emotions often become easier to manage as well. Rather than trying to think our way out of distress, we learn how to support the whole person—mind and body together.
Mindfulness: Developing Awareness Without Judgment
Mindfulness is a central part of my work. It is the practice of paying attention to our present-moment experience with curiosity and compassion rather than judgment. Many people spend much of their lives worrying about the future or replaying the past. Mindfulness helps us return to what is happening right now.
In therapy, mindfulness helps clients:
- Reduce anxiety and overthinking
- Improve focus and attention
- Manage ADHD symptoms
- Increase emotional awareness
- Develop greater self-understanding
- Strengthen emotional regulation
- Respond rather than react
Mindfulness creates space between our experiences and our automatic reactions, allowing us to make more intentional choices.
The Importance of Self-Compassion
One of the most common struggles I see is the harsh way people speak to themselves. Many clients carry an inner critic that constantly tells them they are not doing enough, not healing fast enough, or somehow falling short.
Self-compassion is the practice of relating to ourselves with kindness, understanding, and patience during difficult moments. It means learning to treat ourselves with the same care we would offer a close friend.
Self-compassion is not self-pity. It is not lowering standards. It is not making excuses. Instead, it creates an internal environment that supports growth, healing, and resilience. Research consistently shows that self-compassion is associated with lower anxiety, reduced depression, greater emotional resilience, and improved overall well-being.
Why We Pay Attention to Breathing
Breathing is one of the most powerful and accessible tools we have for regulating the nervous system. When we feel anxious, stressed, overwhelmed, or triggered, our breathing often becomes shallow and rapid.
The body interprets this as a signal that danger may be present. Intentional breathing practices can help communicate safety to the nervous system and support emotional regulation.
Breathing exercises can help:
- Reduce anxiety
- Manage panic symptoms
- Improve emotional regulation
- Increase present-moment awareness
- Calm the nervous system
- Build resilience during stressful moments
Breathing is not about making difficult emotions disappear. It is about creating enough safety and stability to stay present with those emotions without becoming overwhelmed.
Learning the Language of Body Sensations
Body sensations are often the first language of emotion. Before we consciously recognize sadness, fear, anger, shame, joy, or excitement, our bodies often communicate these emotions through sensations.
By learning how to notice and understand these signals, clients develop greater awareness and choice.
- Rather than becoming overwhelmed by emotions, they learn how to understand them.
- Rather than avoiding discomfort, they develop confidence in their ability to stay present with difficult experiences.
This awareness becomes a powerful resource both inside and outside of therapy.
Experiential Therapy: Creating Change Through Experience
Insight alone does not always lead to transformation. Experiential therapy helps clients actively practice new ways of relating to themselves during sessions.
- Rather than simply talking about self-compassion, we practice it.
- Rather than discussing mindfulness, we experience it.
- Rather than analyzing emotional regulation, we develop it.
Experiential work may include:
- Mindfulness exercises
- Somatic awareness practices
- Guided imagery
- Nervous system regulation techniques
- Emotional processing
- Parts work
- Compassion-focused exercises
- Body-centered interventions
These experiences help create new neural pathways and support lasting emotional growth. The goal is not simply to understand change intellectually but to experience it directly.
Therapy Continues Beyond the Therapy Room
One of the most important things I tell my clients is that I am not here to fix them. I am here to guide them. I provide support, tools, education, insight, compassion, and a safe space where healing can unfold. At the same time, the deepest changes often occur between sessions.
Healing happens in everyday moments:
- The moments when you pause and take a breath.
- The moments when you choose self-compassion over self-criticism.
- The moments when you become aware of a familiar pattern and respond differently.
- The moments when you practice what you are learning outside of therapy.
Clients who actively engage in the process often experience the most meaningful growth because therapy becomes something they live rather than something they simply attend. At the same time, I understand that healing takes time.
Growth is not linear. There is no perfect timeline. Every person’s journey unfolds in its own way and at its own pace.
A Personalized Approach to Healing
There is no one-size-fits-all approach to therapy. Each client brings unique experiences, strengths, challenges, cultural backgrounds, relationships, goals, and needs. Because of this, I tailor therapy to the individual sitting in front of me.
I draw from a variety of therapeutic approaches including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), mindfulness-based approaches, psychodynamic therapy, somatic therapies, Hakomi, Gestalt, and experiential therapies.
Together, we create an approach that best supports your healing and growth. Whether you are seeking therapy for anxiety, depression, trauma, OCD, ADHD, relationship challenges, life transitions, or personal growth, my goal is to help you develop greater awareness, emotional resilience, self-compassion, and trust in yourself.
Healing is not about becoming someone different. It is about reconnecting with the person you have always been underneath the anxiety, trauma, self-criticism, and survival patterns. And that journey begins one breath, one moment of awareness, and one step at a time.
Gabriela Breton, LMFT
Individual Therapy for Anxiety, Depression, Trauma, OCD, ADHD, and Life Transitions
Somatic Therapy • Mindfulness-Based Therapy • Experiential Therapy • Self-Compassion Practices
Redwood City, California
Serving clients throughout California via Telehealth
