Sharifa Freightman PhD

Clients who work with me can expect to have a psychologist that provides a warm, empathic and supportive space, that is appropriately challenging. I welcome and am responsive to feedback throughout the process. I treat my clients as adults who are ultimately responsible for their own lives, but also take my clinical responsibility quite seriously. I should also mention that I find the appropriate use of humor helpful in therapy. Clients should expect to experience having a space to process, but also take away practical solutions and suggestions for their problems.

My first method is to get a solid history in a clinical interview at the outset. I love the exploratory toolkit that psychodynamic psychotherapy provides in treatment planning and interventions. In therapy I like to use processing, exploration of defenses, CBT tools such as exploration of cognitive style and schemas/beliefs, and communication, time management, and social skills training. I find that I enjoy using psycho-education in a practical, but also reparative way: often clients benefit from having aspects of their experience explained in new ways. Session-by-session, I focus on the treatment goals, but also the concerns that come up week-by-week.

• California, PhD, 27207