About Anika Doherty, LMFT

I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist specializing in couples therapy, with practices in Los Gatos and San Francisco, California, and online throughout California. I also work with individuals in depth-oriented, relational therapy. I view each person as a whole: the mind, the body, personal history, and the larger culture all matter.

I received my Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology from John F. Kennedy University in 2015. Before establishing my private practice, I had a career in healthcare. I also worked at Hospice of Santa Cruz County, doing grief work with individuals and families, and at Family Services of the Central Coast with individuals, couples, families, and children.

These were valuable experiences that shaped how I work: with warmth, directness, and a belief in the deep worth of every person who walks through my door.

What Drives This Work

There is a moment in good therapy when someone feels safe enough to stop performing, stop protecting, and simply become real: to say what’s actually true, or show who they actually are. That moment is often frightening. But it is also, in my experience, where the most important things happen. Where something new becomes possible that wasn’t available before. And what begins in the therapy room doesn’t stay there. It finds its way into how you live, how you love, and how you relate to yourself.

That is what I am working toward, in every session.

My Approach

I work in an integrative way, drawing on research and clinical wisdom. I pay attention to the whole of who you are: what you say, what lives in the body, what comes from your history, and what the larger culture around you has shaped.

Self-compassion and mindfulness run through everything I do. That means slowing down, paying attention to what is actually present, and learning to meet yourself with the same patience and kindness you would offer someone you care about.

I take seriously everything you bring into the room: your history, your culture, your identity, your family of origin, and the lived experiences that have shaped how you relate to yourself and others. I also pay attention to what lives beneath language. The nervous system, the body, the patterns that words alone don’t always reach.

I am diversity-aware and LGBTQ+ affirming.

My goal is to help you build real capacity: for insight, for self-regulation, and for connection with yourself and others. So that you leave with more than you came in with.

Specialized Training

To support both couples and individuals in complex and depth-oriented work, I have completed advanced clinical certifications and specialized training programs:

• Level 1 and Level 2 Training in Gottman Method Couples Therapy
• Externship in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
• First Year of Training in the Developmental Model of Couples Therapy (Bader/Pearson)
• ADHD-Certified Clinical Services Provider (ADHD-CCSP)
• Advanced ADHD Certification Course: Strategies to Customize Treatment for Every Client — Evergreen Certifications
• Trauma-Informed Stabilization Treatment (TIST) — Janina Fisher
• Internal Family Systems (IFS) for Trauma, Anxiety and Grief (Seminar)
• Clinical Applications of Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy (Seminar)
• Hakomi (body-centered psychotherapy) — Level 1
• Brainspotting — Level 1
• Sensorimotor Psychotherapy — Level 1
• Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) for OCD
• Religious Trauma Treatment: Clinical Interventions for Survivors of High-Control Religion and Spiritual Abuse (Intensive Training)
• Grief and Loss Psychoeducation — Hospice of Santa Cruz County
• Betrayal Trauma — clinical study and consultation
• The Art and Science of Mindfulness, Compassion and Awe — Esalen Institute, 2018 (Faculty: Daniel Siegel, Jack Kornfield, Shauna Shapiro, Dacher Keltner)

A Little More About Me

I was born and raised in Europe. Navigating between cultures, languages, and ways of understanding the world informs how I think about identity, belonging, and the complexity of being human. I bring that perspective into the room with curiosity and respect.

My goal is to help you build real capacity: for insight, for self-regulation, and for connection with yourself and others. So that you leave with more than you came in with.