San Francisco
The compensation is good and the arithmetic still does not feel safe.
Online only, by secure video, Monday through Friday. For tech and finance pressure, cost of living as a chronic stressor, and the flatness that arrives with fog season.
Online only, by secure video, Monday through Friday
The Place
What it is actually like here
San Francisco produces a very particular kind of anxiety: high income, high competence, and a persistent sense that none of it is quite enough. People come in able to describe their compensation, their equity, and their runway in detail, and unable to say when they last felt settled.
I work with Bay Area clients online only, by secure video, Monday through Friday. I am licensed in California only and you need to be physically in the state at session time. There is no in-person option from here: the San Diego office day is one Sunday a month.
At a Glance
- Shelley Davidescu, LMFT, 17 years in practice
- Telehealth Monday through Friday across California
- In person one Sunday a month in Bankers Hill
- Free 15-minute consultation
Individual sessions are $210, or $325 for 90 minutes. Couples sessions are $225, or $345 for 90 minutes.
Full fees and policiesHow Telehealth Works
How telehealth works
You need a private room, a stable connection, and a camera at eye level. You get a secure link and join at the appointment time.
Sessions run Monday through Friday. Booking around a meeting block is normal, and so is using a closed room at the office rather than home.
If your building or your household makes privacy hard, say so on the consult. Solving that first is part of the work, not a detail to figure out later.
Why People Write From Here
The pressures particular to this place
Tech and finance both run on a comparison economy. Someone is always earlier, someone is always further along, and there is always a number that would supposedly settle the question. It never does, because the number was never really the question, and that becomes clear the third or fourth time a goal gets hit and the relief lasts a weekend.
The cost of living is a chronic stressor rather than an acute one, which is why it does so much damage quietly. When rent or a mortgage consumes an enormous share of a very good income, the sense of being one bad quarter from trouble does not go away with a raise. It shifts the baseline, and the body keeps operating as though something is about to happen.
The third thing is the flatness that comes with a long gray stretch. Fog season, indoor months, a routine that narrows to work and a short walk. It is not the same as a crisis and I am not going to inflate it into one. It does thin out the things that would normally buffer stress, and by the time people write it has usually been going on for a while.
Where to Start
Four places this usually begins
Anxiety Therapy
For the constant low alarm underneath a career that looks entirely successful.
Perfectionism and Overthinking
For a standard that moves every time you reach it.
Next-Level Performance
For performing at a high level without the private cost that usually comes with it.
High-Functioning Anxiety
For the version nobody at work has ever noticed.
Questions
Answered plainly
Anything not covered here is worth asking on the free 15-minute consult.
Do you have a Bay Area office?
No. My office is in San Diego and Bay Area clients are telehealth only, by secure video. In-person at the San Diego office is limited to one Sunday a month.
Is telehealth as useful as sitting in the room?
For the work I do, yes, and for a lot of people it is more practical. Anxiety work, EMDR, and couples work all translate to video. What matters more than the format is whether you have a private hour and a door that closes. If you do not have that at home, we will talk about where else the hour could happen.
Can I take a session from the office?
Yes, if you have a room where nobody can overhear you. A phone booth or a small conference room with headphones works. It is worth booking the room for a few minutes past the hour so you are not walking straight back into a meeting.
Are you licensed outside California?
No. California only. You need to be physically located in California at the time of the session, which is worth knowing if you travel often.
What do sessions cost?
Individual sessions are $210, or $325 for 90 minutes. Couples sessions are $225, or $345 for 90 minutes. I am private pay and provide superbills on request.
Free 15-Minute Consult
Fifteen minutes to find out whether this is the right work.
Tell me what is going on and where you are in California. I will tell you honestly how I would approach it, and whether I am the right person for it.
In person in San Diego, and by telehealth across California.