Carla Kleefeld PhD, LPCC

I grew up in a family of artists, rabbis and poets, and have always been interested in psychology, in dreams and images, and the meaning that comes from developing a growing relationship to creative and unconscious processes. My early experiences primed me for asking meaningful and evocative questions.

It was invaluable to study existential philosophy and apply it to the practice of psychotherapy early on in my graduate studies and practice. I value being with clients in the here and now without preconceptions and with each person uniquely.  I believe our stories are both uniquely meaningful and also collectively relevant.  The images we carry within those stories, in the context of depth psychotherapy, often help transform our lives personally and relationally. I was impressed with how much existential philosophies helped me to sit with and find meaning with clients who were suffering through grief, addiction, trauma, and loss.

Later in my studies and practice, yearning for more depth and inspired by the desire to enrich my psychotherapy practice, I pursued a PhD in depth clinical psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute. I was particularly impressed with how our early relationships shape our resiliency, and patterns of relating with others, including the here and now. My training at Pacifica refined my broader skills and understanding of a range of analytic perspectives surrounding our early relationships and how they come to live within us. After my doctoral degree, I pursued further training in Dreamtending and to recognize dream images as gifts and messages from the psyche to be realized.

I am interested in the complicated intersections between politics and depth psychology with a deeply held belief that the relationship we develop within ourselves extends to how we relate to others with diverse communities and the Earth. The work we do with ourselves in psychotherapy has a ripple effect, within this precious and interdependent web of life.

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