About Dr. Adrian Scharfetter, PhD
Dr. Adrian Scharfetter, PhD, MFT
San Francisco Bay Area Couples & Sex Therapist & Professor of Human Sexuality at California Institute of Integral Studies specializing in:
Holistic psychotherapy, Individual therapy, relationship and couples counseling, sex therapy, and integration of the body and mind, issues around sex and sexual functioning, trauma, abuse, and spiritual emergence for both the individual and couples in the San Francisco Bay area. Bringing depth, emotional connection and intimate awareness back to partnership, sex, & attachment and sexual healing. Currently accepting clients in Napa and Berkeley locations.
San Francisco Bay Area
Sex Therapy, Couples Counseling & Individual Psychotherapy
Bringing depth and awareness back to emotional and sexual intimacy and healing.
Hi, my name is Dr. Adrian, and I am very happy to connect with you!
I am here to walk with you towards finding healing through stress, anxiety, depression, and life transitions, as well as difficulty around communication, emotional intimacy, relationships, sex and sexuality. I am happy to be a present and focused ally during these moments of doubt, frustration, and uncertainty.We all have to face numerous challenges that life throws at us. Whether it is difficulty with a loved one, challenges around life transitions or upsetting life circumstances, difficulty around intimacy, sexuality, and feeling “othered” due to these circumstances and identities, or difficulty with our own emotions, we all only have three options: resisting the change, just getting through it, or learning from the challenge and growing a bigger life as a result. My goal is to help you uncover your true potential, listen to your own wisdom, and start leading a life that is more of your own making.
I offer attachment-based couples therapy, holistic individual psychotherapy, sex therapy, and integration of the body and mind. Dealing with issues around sex and sexual functioning, trauma, abuse, and spiritual emergence for both the individual and couples in the San Francisco Bay area. I am currently accepting clients in my Berkeley and Napa offices.
What I specialize in:
Couples Communication, Stopping Negative Cycles & Deepening Emotional Connection and Intimacy
Sexuality and Sexual Health and Functioning
Depth Psychology as applied to: personal transformation, grief, healing, life transitions, healing from abuse, increasing self-awareness and overall holistic health and wellbeing.
Personal spiritual growth within the realms sexuality
Self-Esteem around Sex and Communicating Needs
Art Therapy
Issues around Sexual Abuse & Sexual Trauma
Male sexuality and intimacy issues
Poly, Non Monogamy, and Open Relationship Issues
Kink, BDSM, and Poly Issues
LGBTQ issues and unique needs
Work with Sexual Narcissism and Sexual Power Dynamics
Integration of Experiences around Spiritual and Psychedelic Explorations
I build with you a space of safety, understanding, and curiosity.
In short, I do a lot of listening. I hold space for you to explore, without getting in your way. I hear your story, and I am a companion beside you on your journey towards wellness. I also am willing to hold witness to and help in therapeutic issues such as depression, anxiety, grief, trauma, sexuality and relational struggles. I support couples, partners and individuals in deepening emotional and sexual connection. I value and support diversity issues and strive to create a safe and welcoming space in our work together.
Jungian and Depth Therapy / Expressive Art Therapy / Human Sexuality and Sex Therapy
San Francisco Bay Area Couples Therapy & Sex Therapy
How can I help? Benefits of working together can be:
Learning to navigate life transitions
Developing the freedom to express your authentic self
Recognizing barriers to romantic love and removing them
Finding your voice and becoming freer to speak your mind
Connecting and/or reconnecting to your creative self
Having more access to pleasure
Building self-esteem
Feeling less isolated
Healing from loss (death, break-ups/divorce, painful life transitions)
Replacing depression with a wider range of feelings and experiences
Developing skills to cope with anxiety
-Transpersonal Approach to Therapy, Sexuality, and Spiritual Awareness-
Transpersonal psychology broadens the traditional theories about the psyche to include the spiritual dimensions of our being. Incorporating both empirical and esoteric perspectives from global traditions, it provides a powerful model of personal growth, human development, and individual healing.
Sometimes spiritual practices unleash powerful inner forces that can be unsettling, or even frightening. In western society these events are often misconstrued as pathological and out-of-place. I have both personal and professional experience with the issues involved in spiritual emergence.
Knowledge and Expertise around Spirituality: Kundalini experiences, spiritual bypass, spiritual recovery, integration, psychedelics, unitive consciousness, existential crisis, near-death experiences, loss or change of faith, existential crisis, religious wounding, betrayal by a spiritual teacher, dark night of the soul.
Additional services:
· Coaching in: Career, Creativity, Relationships and Life Transitions
· Mindfulness Practice
· Workshops & Intensives on Spiritual Emergencies
· Workshops & Private Intensives on Relationships & Sexuality
· Workshops on Creativity and Life Path
Education
Ph.D. in Transformative Studies, with a concentration in Human Consciousness
—California Institute of Integral Studies, 2017
Masters in Counseling Psychology with a concentration in Expressive Art Therapy:
— California Institute of Integral Studies, 2012
Certification for Psychedelic Therapies and Research
— California Institute of Integral Studies, 2016
Certification in Sex Therapy and Education
— California Institute of Integral Studies, 2017
BFA Fine Art
— Memphis College of Art, 1997
Professional Affiliations
-National Coalition for Sexual Freedom
-Bay Area Open Minds
-California Association for Marriage and Family Therapists
-Jung Institute of San Francisco
Dr. Adrian Scharfetter, PhD, AMFT#IMF78210
