ELIZABETH EHRENBERG, LCSW
Psychotherapist | Somatic Therapist 

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BACKGROUND, EDUCATION, AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

I received my Masters in Clinical Social Work from Smith College School for Social Work. To further my training, I completed an additional year-long clinical fellowship at The University of California San Francisco’s Alliance Health Project where I provided brief dynamic psychotherapy to LGBTQQIA folks and individuals living with HIV. From 2013 to 2015, I served as a staff clinician in the Adult Psychiatry Department at Kaiser Permanente in South San Francisco. In this role, I provided psychosocial assessment and therapy to adults struggling with depression, anxiety, and interpersonal issues. At Kaiser I also served as the Eating Disorder Specialist, providing individual and group therapy to clients struggling with eating disorders and body image issues. I have extensive experience facilitating group therapy, including process groups, support groups, dialectical behavioral therapy groups and binge eating disorder groups. Additionally, I have worked in various community mental health and non-profit settings, providing case management and counseling to racially and socio-economically diverse populations. I completed my Bachelor’s degree at Vassar College where I majored in Political Science and Women’s Studies with a focus on feminist political theory, queer theory, and critical race theory.

I am licensed as a clinical social worker with the California Board of Behavioral Sciences (LCS# 64143).

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my approach

In my practice, I weave together traditional talk therapy with somatic therapies. My training is grounded in psychodynamic psychotherapy, an insight-oriented technique that examines unconscious processes and how difficulties in the present moment may stem from early experiences.

I couple this approach with somatic therapy, which is based in the understanding that the mind and body are interconnected. Somatic therapy is experiential and involves grounding in the body in the here-and-now. I am trained in the following somatic modalities:

Attachment-Focused EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) - a modality that can help alleviate trauma symptoms and anxiety.

IFS (Internal Family Systems) - a therapy that can help one access and heal their protective and wounded inner parts.

I have been a practitioner of yoga and meditation for over 15 years and completed a yoga teacher training certification at BeYoga (now YogaWorks) in New York City. I have also taught Buddhist insight and compassion meditation. Research has shown that attunement to the body and the present moment can enhance self-awareness, relieve anxiety and depression, decrease compulsive behaviors and addictions and even allow us to process past traumas that reside in the body.

As a social worker, I have a deep and abiding commitment to anti-oppression work and social justice movements. I believe that systemic oppression in all forms manifests as trauma on the societal, community and individual levels and I strive to work with individuals to heal from that trauma and live their lives in embodied and empowered ways. 

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