(510) 497-1516
COMELO COUNSELING
Suzanne Fischer Comelo
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (CA MFT 131314)
Providing a Welcoming, Non-Judgmental Space for Healing
Are you struggling with the impact of anxiety, depression, grief, trauma, relationship difficulties or major life changes? We all can use support to navigate life at times. I’d love to help you on your journey toward healing and self-discovery. I have experience working individually and in groups with people of varied ages (children ages 6 +), pre-teens/teens, adults, older adults/seniors and from diverse cultural backgrounds. I have supported clients with a wide range of issues and my focus areas include: anxiety, trauma, depression, grief and loss, work stress and burnout, life transitions, and Highly Sensitive Persons (HSPs).
Life can be overwhelming and sometimes exhausting. My goal is to help you understand yourself and your relationships more deeply and find more effective ways to cope with life and relationship changes, whether planned or unexpected.
About Me
As an HSP myself, I have navigated my life with gifts of deeper processing that also come with unique capacities and limits that need to be honored to maximize the strengths of my trait. My own journey led to a career change, from a profession riddled with boundary-less overwork and burnout to my private practice counseling career, which enables me to use my strengths to support others, while honoring the human need to maintain overall health and well being in order to thrive.
PROFESSIONAL CREDENTIAL
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (131314), California
NPI: 1982126314
EDUCATION
MA in Counseling Psychology
Golden Gate University
ADDITIONAL TRAININGS, SEMINARS & EXPERIENCE
Trauma Focused CBT (TF-CBT) (training)
Attachment-Focused Play Therapy (training)
Psychotherapy & Highly Sensitive Persons (HSPs)
Mindfulness (four 10-day silent Vipassana meditation retreats)
"Effectively Supporting Safe & Inclusive Spaces for LGPQ-TI Clients & Colleagues" (training)
"Crisis De-Escalation & Safety in the Field-Working with System-Involved Families"
"Transforming Stress & Trauma: Fostering Wellness & Resilience" (training)
Grief Recovery Method (group participant)
"Mindfulness & Grief" (San Francisco Zen Hospice Center)
"Awakening Our Hearts: Exploring White Privilege to Build Authentic Relationships Across Difference"
"Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love & Wisdom" (Seminar)
"Connection Practice & Connection Experience" (Rita Marie Johnson)(Seminar)
Family Paths Parent Support Hotline (training & past volunteer)
AFFILIATIONS:
California Association of Marriage & Family Therapists, East Bay Chapter
Included on Dr. Elaine Aron's List of HSP-Knowledgeable Professionals
Services Offered
I have experience providing clients in the East Bay with a wide range of psychological and counseling services to suit their needs. Whether you’re seeking help for yourself, your child, or an older relative and whether you are looking for individual, couple or family support - my therapy sessions are designed to increase awareness, strengthen your confidence, and support your healing process and improved relationships. Take a look at the services I offer, and reach out for a free phone consultation today.
Individual Therapy
A Healthier, Confident You
In our therapy sessions, we’ll work to solve current problems and improve positive thinking and behavior. I can help you explore coping skills you've developed to navigate life and help you decide which ones are of benefit, can be modified, or no longer serve you. We can find valuable tools to give you more choice in how you cope with life’s obstacles. I specialize in clients who have or think they may have the normal genetic trait of sensory processing sensitivity (also called "Highly Sensitive Person or Child" by Dr. Elaine Aron, www.hsperson.com). Get in touch to inquire about current availability.
Group Therapy
HSP, Anxiety, Grief & Older Adult Groups Offered
Sharing a part of our healing journey with others who may have some common experiences can help us know we are not alone and offer another avenue for healing through connection and experiencing mutually supportive relationships.
For current Group Offerings, click on the Group Therapy under "More" at the top right of the website's wecome page.
Couples Therapy
Support for Your Relationship
I support couples in improving their communication and understanding of each other and the strengths and needs of their relationship. With the help of various therapeutic methods, you can develop new understandings, new attitudes, and new hopes for your relationship. Developing knowledge and skills to navigate complex relationship topics in respectful, loving ways can be of great benefit. Schedule an appointment today to begin your journey toward stronger connection.
Family Therapy
Strengthening Your Family Connection
Family Therapy can be an invaluable way to increase awareness and understanding of your particular family system and the subsystems and individual roles that sustain it. It can help you learn to better communicate, connect and support one another and your family unit. Contact me today to learn more about how family therapy can help you and your loved ones thrive.
Children and Adolescents
Creative Art, Play, Sand & Narrative Therapy
Children and teens face multiple changes and challenges at these key developmental stages, which can result in increased anxiety (social and general), depressed feelings, decreased self esteem, and peer rejection that may negatively impact their lives at home and in school. I use a variety of creative, play, narrative and mindfulness-based therapeutic techniques to connect with kids and teens, to meet them where they are at, and to help them reconnect with their sense of worth, build confidence, and learn new skills to better express their feelings and needs so they can more capably navigate change, relationships, school, and life.
A Bit About Therapy
Personalized Attention for Your Needs
I use an integrated, humanistic approach, drawing on various psychotherapy methods to help foster more self-understanding among clients and encourage them to adopt new attitudes and feelings about their life situations. Therapy is a healing process and it requires participation and investment from both client and therapist. I have experience using brief and long term models and, ultimately, even small changes to unconscious patterns and old coping behaviors can improve one's ability to cope with and enjoy life.
"We don't have to do it all alone. We were never meant to." - Brene Brown
Helpful Information and Resources
Highly Sensitive Persons & Children
Dr. Elaine Aron's Website & Resources
Website: www.hsperson.com
Self-Test (Adults & Children): HSP Self-Test
Self-Test for HSPs who are also High Sensation Seeking: HSP-HSS Self-Test
http://hsperson.com/test/high-sensation-seeking-test/
Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) Books
The Highly Sensitive Person: How To Thrive When The World Overwhelms You
by Elaine N. Aron, Ph.D.
The Highly Sensitive Person's Workbook
by Elaine N. Aron Ph.D.
by Julie Bjelland LMF
by Elaine N. Aron Ph.D.
Making Work Work for the Highly Sensitive Person
by Barrie S. Jaeger and Elaine Aron
High Sensation Seeking HSPs (HSS-HSPs) Books
"Emotional Sensitivity and Intensity: How to manage intense emotions as a highly sensitive person"
by Imi Lo
Highly Sensitive Children (HSC) Books & Parent Resources
The Highly Sensitive Child: Helping Our Children Thrive When The World Overwhelms Them
by Elaine N. Aron Ph.D.
Other Parent Resources (Dr. Elaine Aron)
Parenting the Highly Sensitive Child
(website and blog by Maureen, a parent of an HSC)
Understanding the Highly Sensitive Child
by Jamie Williamson
Book 1 of 2: My Highly Sensitive Child
by James Williams
Supporting the Highly Sensitive Child: Making Sense of Meltdowns (My Highly Sensitive Child)
Book 2 of 2: My Highly Sensitive Child
by James Williams
My Great Big Feelings: A Story for Sensitive Children
by C. M. Tolentino
FEES AND COSTS
Session Length: 50-minutes (other session lengths charged pro rata at agreed upon session fee).
Session Fee: $140 per 50-minute session
Financial Need: Limited reduced-fee time slots are offered based on availabilty and established financial need.
Other Items: Costs for phone calls (exceeding 5 min); document writing, consultations with others and other clincial use of provider's time will be charged pro rata at the agreed upon hourly session fee. Copies of client records, if requested, will be charged in accordance with current law's reimbursement ratea allowance. NOTE: Provider does NOT offer court, testimony or other services in legal proceedings, and if required to participate, the full session fee or $140 per 50 minutes will be charged to client for provider's time.
Payment: check, cash, credit cards, HSA and FSA, Square, STRIPE and AutoPay via SimplePractice are accepted.
Insurance: CIGNA is generally covered in-network, but please confirm with your specific health plan regarding the specific service (ex: individual, couples, family or group services) and any client portion and reimburrsement rate.
NOTICE OF RIGHT TO GOOD FAITH ESTIMATE OF COST
(For Uninsured or Private/Self-Pay Clients)
The No Surprises Act (H.R. 133) went into effect January 1, 2022. The law includes new requirements for health care providers, facilities, health plans, and insurers that are intended to prevent consumers (aka patients or clients) from receiving unanticipated medical bills. This Notice is intended to comply with the No Surprises Act requirement that providers inform their uninsured and private pay patients that they have a right to a “Good Faith Estimate” to help them estimate the expected charges they may be billed.
As an uninsured or private (self-pay) client, you have the right to receive a “Good Faith Estimate” explaining how much your medical and mental health care will cost. Under the law, providers need to give patients (or, Clients) who do not have insurance (or who are not using insurance) an estimate of the expected charges for medical services, including psychotherapy services. As an uninsured or private (self-pay) Client of this provider, you have the right to receive (either by asking the provider or by the provider offering you such an estimate) a Good Faith Estimate for the total expected cost of any Non-Emergency Healthcare Services, including psychotherapy services. You can ask this provider (and any other health care provider you choose), for a Good Faith Estimate before you schedule a service. If you receive a bill that is at least $400 more than your Good Faith Estimate, you can dispute the bill. Make sure to save a copy or picture of your Good Faith Estimate.
For questions or more information about your right to a Good Faith Estimate, visit www.cms.gov/nosurprises.
Contact Me
(Accepting New Clients)
I love helping people reconnect with their own wisdom and develop the tools they need to better cope with life’s challenges and more authentically engage in life. Contact me today to set up a free 15-minute phone consult to see if we would be a good fit.
SUZANNE FISCHER COMELO,
Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (131314)
NPI: 1982126314
Office Locations:
COMELO COUNSELING (Walnut Creek)
1460 Maria Lane #300
Walnut Creek, CA 94596
COMELO COUNSELING (Hayward)
22248 Main St
Hayward CA 94541
MINDSET COUNSELING GROUP
(In-Person Hours on Tuesdays)
39845 Paseo Padre Parkway
Fremont CA 94538
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 20185
Castro Valley, CA 94546
(510) 497-1516
