Our Team
Christy Tadros is a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor who has always loved connecting with, learning about and providing care for other people. Her journey as a therapist started during college summers working at Ramapo for Children, the oldest residential summer treatment program for children and adolescents with special needs. There, she discovered the tremendous joy that comes from helping children and families thrive. After over 10 years of working in different medical and clinical settings, teaching yoga and developing her own programs, Christy founded WestCoast Therapy and Wellness, a Bay Area clinic devoted to supporting people in living their most full and meaningful lives.
More About Christy
Christy started her career working with children and families. She believes that in order to make sustainable change in the life of a child, it often takes a village - caregivers, educators and adults in a child’s life are a part of the therapeutic process. She works to ensure a child is successful at home, in school and in other significant environments. Her areas of expertise include working with children and teens with selective mutism, social anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), autism, ADHD, oppositional defiant disorder and developmental delays. She has helped develop and lead nationally-recognized, therapeutic programs for young children and teenagers with selective mutism, anxiety and ADHD.
Christy also finds great joy in working with adults struggling with relationship issues, acculturation challenges, life transitions, and body image/food challenges. Also a 200-hour certified yoga instructor, Christy knows mental health is connected to every aspect of our self and our community, including our relationship with and awareness of our body. Christy incorporates mindfulness and the mind-body connection in her work, especially when supporting individuals with eating disorders and body and food challenges. As a first generation immigrant and a bay area native, Christy is familiar with how intersectional identities and culture play a role in mental health. She especially connects with womxn of color and is in the process of developing a wellness group devoted to womxn thriving.
In addition to her years of experience providing individual and family counseling, Christy partners with corporations to provide wellness and social justice based workshops and trainings. In this work she incorporates evidence-based wellness interventions to support employees in showing up to work as their best self. She has partnered with several companies and organizations along the West Coast to incorporate mental health and social equity values into their structure and practices.
Outside of the therapy room, Christy loves to spend time with her family and stay active, whether it’s hiking in the Marin Headlands or running marathons in the redwoods of California.
Education
• Bachelor of Arts, Psychology; University of California Berkeley
• Masters of Education, Counseling Psychology; Columbia University
• Masters of Arts, Psychology; Columbia University
Professional Organizations
• Selective Mutism Association
• The California Association for Licensed Professional Clinical Counselors
• Northern California Association of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapists
• International OCD Foundation
• Association for Contextual Behavioral Science
About Daphne
Daphne Ng (she/her) is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who earned her Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology from Santa Clara University. As a second generation Asian-American, she is passionate about working with acculturation issues around loss, emotional attunement, intergenerational shame, and achievement-focused stress.
Daphne is also a Certified Grief Recovery Specialist and aspires to normalize talking about grief, which is a natural emotional response to losses that are tangible and intangible. She works with clients to lessen the pain of their loss without diminishing its significance. In addition to grief work, she has received specialized training for treating anxiety, in particular selective mutism and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). She helps clients examine and recontextualize unhelpful patterns in order to get unstuck and to live fuller lives.
Daphne’s path as a therapist started on the receiving end as a client herself, and she recognizes that asking for help is hard and receiving it may be harder still. She supports clients in a non-stigmatizing, trauma-informed approach, and her priority is to facilitate a brave and compassionate space for clients. Her clinical experience includes providing individual and family therapy, leading group therapy for kids and teens in school-based settings and residential care, facilitating workshops for teens on the intersectionality of their cultural identities and mental health, and parent coaching.
Daphne sees clients virtually and in person at our office in Berkeley as well as our satellite office in San Francisco. Outside of the therapy room, Daphne enjoys reading for hours at a time and planning detailed theme parties.
About Olivia
Olivia Rivera (she/her/hers) is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. She enjoys working with individuals and families to develop their inner strengths and resources to navigate difficult times and live a more fulfilling life. Olivia received her Master’s Degree in Social Welfare from UC Berkeley. She has worked for over 10 years in community agencies and school settings in grades K-12 across the Bay Area, developing programs, providing individual and group therapy, and partnering with students and families to ensure they can be successful in the educational setting.
She has specialized training in Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) to treat anxiety and OCD. Olivia also specializes in working with children, their families, and school staff to treat Selective Mutism. As a parent herself, she is passionate about providing parent coaching to help parents develop skills and tools to support their children, and she is trained in Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotions (SPACE). She draws from CBT, ACT, and DBT modalities in her work. Olivia is a Certified Mindfulness Instructor and offers mindfulness practices in her work with clients as a lifelong tool they can access.
Olivia supports individuals on their journey to becoming parents and during the postpartum period. She treats perinatal mood disorders, supports parents with identity changes that come with being a new or expecting parent, and works with parents to develop sustainable support networks for their overall well-being. She has completed the Perinatal Mood Disorders: Components of Care training through Postpartum Support International.
Olivia is a Bay Area native and identifies as mixed race. She welcomes clients to bring all of themselves and their identities into the therapy room, and she creates a trusting space for clients to understand themselves better. She is particularly passionate about working with BIPOC and LGTBQQI+ populations. She partners with her clients to draw upon and develop their strengths and uses a collaborative and compassionate approach to help clients determine what well-being looks like for them in all areas of their lives.
Outside the therapy room, Olivia enjoys spending time in nature, seeing live music, and spending time with her family and son.
About Joanna
Joanna (she/her) is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT # 141123). She enjoys helping youth and adults work toward getting ‘unstuck’ and reconnecting with their lives and loved ones. As a first-generation Polish immigrant, Joanna is passionate about supporting individuals and families whose lives bridge multiple cultures.
Joanna earned her degree in Marriage, Family, and Child Counseling at San Francisco State University, and since then has provided therapy for youth and adults navigating anxiety, OCD, selective mutism, mood disorders, post-traumatic stress, and peer issues, as well as ADHD and Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnoses. Joanna loves working with teens and their families as they adapt to change- whether it’s a better understanding and celebrating a teen’s gender identity, knowing how to discuss family separation, or finding healthy ways to cope with an unexpected loss.
Joanna believes that therapy and healing are based on a strong relationship between client and therapist, and the ability of each client to bring their intersecting identities into the therapy room without having to filter. Her approach frequently incorporates tools from Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Acceptance, and Commitment Therapy.
When she’s not in the clinic, Joanna enjoys spending time outdoors, hiking, and camping with friends and family. She is a lover of music and music videos, and can almost always be found enjoying a new playlist.
About Karla
Karla Ulloa (she/her/ella) is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California. She earned her degree from the University of San Francisco in Counseling Psychology with a concentration on Marriage and Family Therapy. Karla is a San Francisco Native and has many years of experience working with diverse multicultural backgrounds and serving various communities in the Bay Area. Karla is bilingual (English/Spanish) and identifies as Latina.
Karla specializes in working with teens and adults who are impacted by Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), depression, and various anxiety disorders including specific phobias, panic disorders, and generalized and social anxiety disorders. She has extensive training in evidence-based therapies, such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). Her clinical experience also includes working in an Intensive Outpatient Program as part of the treatment team in supporting clients with severe OCD and anxiety. Additionally, Karla has many years of case management experience working with non-profit agencies.
Karla is committed to supporting her clients by helping them identify patterns that are no longer serving them and assisting them in creating new pathways of living through the influence of their values. She uses a collaborative, compassionate, and transparent approach to her work.
Outside of the therapy room, Karla enjoys discovering new music, strength training, spending time with family, and going to local events with friends.
About Avani
Avani (she/her), is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who has spent many years working with youth and families from diverse communities in the Bay Area and abroad. Spending almost a decade in environmental and racial justice organizations before transitioning to social work, she takes a systemic, holistic, and decolonized approach to therapy and works with adults and children.
She has received specialized training for treating anxiety, in particular obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and Selective Mutism. Avani employs family interventions, school collaboration, and individual work with children. Treatment includes exposure sessions in the office, community, and school, depending on the child’s needs.
She enjoys supporting clients in disrupting harmful narratives about themselves to find alignment between their lives and values and create healthier relationships. She also enjoys co-working with the client to create therapeutic spaces that are playful, peaceful, and non-judgemental for clients to potentiate their imaginations about their lives. She encourages clients to consider their mind-body connection when it comes to mental health and incorporates elements from narrative therapy, solutions-focused therapy, play therapy, and somatic mindfulness into conversations.
Avani has a Master in Social Work from UC Berkeley, and a Bachelors in Literature and International Relations from UC Davis. She also completed a three-year herbal medicine training program where she was able to nourish her passion for mind-body and human-nature connections. Outside of work, she likes to sing, dance, and practice doing henna.
About Dr. Youssef
Specialties:
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Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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General Psychiatry
Issues:
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ADHD
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Anger Management
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Anxiety Disorders / OCD
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Autism Spectrum Disorder
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Grief and Bereavement
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Bipolar Disorder
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Chronic Illness
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Cultural Issues
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Depressive Disorders
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Divorce/Blended Family Issues
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Eating Disorders
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LGBTQ Related Issues
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Mood Disorders
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Personality Disorders
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Postpartum Issues
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Schizophrenia/Schizoaffective disorder
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Sleep Disorders
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Stress and Adjustment Disorder
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Spiritual Care
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Substance Abuse
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Trauma
Languages:
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English
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Conversational Spanish
Dr. Mina Youssef (he/him) is a double board-certified psychiatrist of adults, children, and adolescents. (License # A12205). I am grateful to have the opportunity to serve the community through the field of psychiatry. It is the biggest honor to watch the healing process and to be a part of one’s growth and recovery. I intend to give you a space where you feel safe and understood but also the tools and encouragement to be challenged and grow. I approach each
patient with an open mind and an open heart.
Professional Background:
I am a second-generation Egyptian American. I was born in Chicago,
Illinois but both of my parents are from Cairo, Egypt. My work with
the American Indian Counseling Center has given me a background
in cultural psychiatry that allows me to be sensitive to the diverse
needs of my patients. I also have extensive experience working with
youth who have been adopted or are in the foster care system as
one of the clinics I am staffed at specializes in this population (TIES
for Families). I received my Bachelor of Science in Biology from
Harvey Mudd University where I published several papers about
the ecology of several lizard species. I completed my medical
degree from Loma Linda University School of Medicine. I received
my training in general psychiatry residency at Loma Linda
University and went on to obtain a child and adolescent psychiatry
fellowship at Harbor UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles),
where I continue to teach fellows in training. I have spent over 13
years practicing psychiatry and it gives me great satisfaction to
walk alongside my patients in their road to whole-person recovery.
Outside of my clinical work, I enjoy traveling to new to places,
reading fiction, spending time with my lovely family, baking, and
composing music on the piano.
Treatment Approaches:
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Psychoeducation
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Medication Management
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Motivational Interviewing
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Behavioral Management
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Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)
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Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT)
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Supportive Therapy
About Dr. Brown
Physician of Internal Medicine.
Bachelors from San Francisco State University.
Studied medicine in Havana, Cuba.
Completed residency in Brooklyn, New York.
Born and raised in the Bay Area, so I am happy to be home. I am Black American, fluent in Spanish and English, queer, nature lover, Black feminist, and abolitionist.
Currently working as a prescriber, collaborator, and coconspirator in the psychedelic space. With the aim of increasing accessibility, education, and safety for people who look like me. Started my medicine journey in my teens, and this relationship has matured as I have matured. I have found an increased awareness of my inner knowing, greater community, connection to spirit, and fun with these medicines and I hope you can too.
Our Space
Feel at Home.
Designed to do interactive parent-child coaching.
Conveniently located, light-filled offices.
