Debra Gajer, M.S.W.

Individuals · Couples · Clinical Consultation · Young Adults · Adults · Older Adults

Licensed Clinical Social Worker
License No: LCS 18365

About My Practice

In the struggle to find connection and intimacy or to get out of a familiar and painful place, finding a safe space to share your feelings and a caring, responsive, and nonjudgmental person to help understand them can be just what you need to begin moving forward. Because our health and well-being are affected by our ability to develop and maintain meaningful connections, the therapy relationship itself can be the container where profound and lasting healing can occur.

I offer individual and couples therapy for straight, gay and bisexual clients. I bring warmth, compassion, openness, and a deep respect for each client’s unique experience. It is very important to me to understand my client’s social and cultural context, including race, class, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity.

Professional Interests:

• Empowering individuals to heal from trauma, depression, crisis and loss, to resolve pain and grief, and to transform vulnerabilities into areas of strength and growth
• Assisting couples in resolving conflict and building greater intimacy.
• Exploring issues of self-image, identity, and sexuality and cultivating greater self acceptance and compassion.
• Helping people cope with life-threatening illness, infertility and pregnancy loss.
• Facilitating change through life transitions and helping individuals manage their anxiety and remain hopeful about the future.

To learn more about me, and to schedule an appointment, please visit my website.

Education:

• Bachelor of Social Work (B.S.W), State University of New York, at Albany, 1981;
• Master's of Social Work (M.S.W.), New York University, 1984

Experience / Training:

More than 25 years of clinical experience in the fields of Mental Health and Women’s Health. I have been licensed as an L.C.S.W. (Licensed Clinical Social Worker) since 1990 and have had a private practice in Berkeley since 1998. I trained at the Psychotherapy Institute in Berkeley, The Women’s Therapy Center in El Cerrito and the D.C. Institute for Mental Health in Washington, D.C. I have training in Psychodynamic and Relational Therapies, including Self Psychology, Object Relations, and Attachment. I have also completed the Advanced Training Program in Couples Therapy at the Women’s Therapy Center. In addition to my therapy work with clients, I teach and supervise interns in training and offer consultation to licensed therapists.

Professional Affiliations / Activities

• Faculty, The Women’s Therapy Center, El Cerrito
• Faculty, The Psychotherapy Institute, Berkeley
• Former Faculty, The Pacific Center, Berkeley
• Graduate, The Supervision Study Program, TPI
• Academy of Certified Social Workers
• California Society for Clinical Social Work
• National Association of Social Workers