Susan Dusza Guerra Leksander, LMFT
How I Work
I am curious about your whole being – not only your thoughts and mind, but also your emotions, how they show up in your body, your identities and any spiritual or religious beliefs that help you make sense of yourself in the world.
My training as a therapist was grounded in psychodynamic therapy which recognizes:
It also included a relational framework which means that talking about our relationship in the moment can be an especially powerful way to notice old patterns, question whether they are still relevant or useful, and experiment with perhaps trying something new.
My years as a therapist in community mental health settings gave me tools to support individuals and families who were navigating serious mental health diagnoses, substance dependence, traumatic experiences, grief and loss, and the impact of oppressive societal structures on people’s well-being.
Who I See
I am currently providing individual and family psychotherapy to adults. Telehealth sessions only at this time.
I am especially interested in working with all members of the adoption and foster care constellations – adopted people, former foster youth, first/birth family members and adoptive family members – and have extensive experience with these communities.
Therapy for the Adoption and Foster Care Constellations
The impact of adoption and foster care is lifelong. Whether you are an adopted person, a first/birth family member or an adoptive family member, it is critical to work with someone who understands the complex journey you have already been on and can help you navigate next steps. While I hold that your experience is unique, I also know that we are likely to encounter issues such as ambiguous loss, complicated grief, traumatic events, disrupted attachments, identity and belonging, search and reunion, open adoption, and dynamics of multiple families. I am passionate about helping you navigate these waters.
In addition to my work as a therapist, I have already supported thousands of individuals and families and the professionals who serve them through my writings, keynote presentations at adoption conferences and adoption camps, peer support groups, and trainings for schools, health care and social service organizations.
Together we can start to make sense of your life, identify strategies for navigating relationships, and chart a course that brings you a sense of connectedness, fulfillment and meaning.
Why Therapy
“How do I approach this situation? What do I want to say? What are my options? What decision should I make? How do I decide?”
People often seek therapy because they are struggling with questions like these and others, which at the core are a question of “How do I want to live?”
I believe that we are shaped by our nature, life experiences, family lineages (both those we are born into and those we are raised in) and cultural forces. We do the best we can to adapt, survive and hopefully thrive in these circumstances, until we are able to make more deliberate choices.
Yet the choices that we make can often be a reaction to our past, and not actually an expression of our deepest values. Choosing where we live, who we spend time with, our work, our partners, what we do in our free time is a declaration to ourselves and to the universe about who we are and what we value. And saying Yes to something can be an intimidating prospect, if it means saying No to something else.
I believe that therapy can shine a light on the patterns, maps and templates that have served us and gotten us this far. They are A WAY but not THE WAY.
Therapy is about noticing HOW you have been doing things, the assumptions you have made about yourself, about others and about what is possible in life.
Therapy is about viewing yourself with a compassionate and honest lens, finding language for your questions and hopes, and experimenting with different or new approaches, trying them on for size, and seeing what a different way does for your outlook and sense of yourself.
Even in situations where we feel we have very little influence, there is always a choice. We can always shift our perspective to create more freedom, more compassion, more truth.
About Me
I find meaning in my own life by learning to appreciate and be comfortable with ambiguity, to make space for darkness while always remembering the light.
I will approach you, your being and your stories with curiosity, kindness and honesty, while offering opportunities to see things in a new light, create space for complex and sometimes contradictory feelings, so that you can try on new ways of being in relationship to yourself, to others and to life.
As a transracial adoptee and a first/birth mother, my understanding of adoption is deeply informed both by my experiences as well as by being in community with adoptees, first/birth parents and adoptive parent. Professionally, I have specialized in adoption and foster care constellation issues since 2013.
I have been seeing therapy clients in community mental health and private practice settings since 2007. I have a Master of Arts degree in Counseling Psychology for the California Institute of Integral Studies with a focus on Integral Counseling Psychology.
I have been a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist since 2010, License number 47992.
Education
- Master of Arts – Integral Counseling Psychology, California Institute of Integral Studies
- Bachelor of Journalism – University of Missouri
Professional License and Credientials
- California Board of Behavioral Sciences Marriage and Family Therapy LMFT #47992
Relevant Experience
- Agency and Clinical Director
- Pact, an Adoption Alliance – 2015 – Present
- Permanency Clinical Supervisor
- Sierra Forever Families – 2015 – 2017
- Assistant Program Director
- Bonita House Dual Diagnosis Residential Treatment Program 2013 – 2015
- Psychotherapist
- Private Practice 2009 – 2013
- Psychotherapist
- Fred Finch Youth Center – 2008 – 2011
- Psychotherapist Intern
- Marin AIDS Project – 2008-2009
- Psychotherapist Trainee
- Integral Counseling Center San Francisco 2007-2009
Fees
My rate is $200 for a 50-minute session.
I will assist you in seeking reimbursement from your insurance company. Your reimbursement will be based on their out-of-network rate.
Notice of good faith: Under the law, healthcare providers need to give clients who don’t have insurance or who are not using insurance an estimate of the expected charges for medical services, including psychotherapy.
Contact
I welcome an initial free conversation with you, please contact me to discuss working together.
Phone: 415.799.1656
Email: susanleksanderlmft@gmail.com
Request an appointment here:
https://growtherapy.com/provider/oiq1e85be6kr/susan-leksander
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves…Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.”
~Rainer Maria Rilke