Creative, practical psychotherapy that promotes resilience
and helps you build the life you imagine
Lauren Gonzalez, MA, MFA, LMFT
Licensed in New York, California, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania
DBT Training/workshops/experience:
Dissertation Second Advisor, University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), 2022-2023
(Doctorate in Social Work (DSW)
Advanced Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) Mechanisms of Change: The Experience and Understanding of Advanced DBT Therapists, by Dr. Christopher Deussing
Intensive Dialectical Behavior Therapy Foundational Training (Behavioral Tech), Seattle/Bellevue, Washington, presented by Dr. Elizabeth Dexter-Mazza and Dr. Melanie Harned (November, 2013)
DBT Skills Training Six-Month Online Curriculum (Behavioral Tech, 2013)
Foundations of Exposure Therapy (Behavioral Tech, 2015)
Practice Grounds with Kelly Koerner, PhD, 2014-2015
Practice Grounds with Kelly Koerner, PhD, 2019
DBT for Substance Abusers with Borderline Personality Disorder, Portland DBT Institute (presented by Linda Dimeff, PhD) (May 2016)
Schema Therapy
Schema Therapy Training with Dr. Wendy Behary, San Francisco, CA (2016)
Schema Therapy Course, with Dr. Wendy Behary (2018)
Schema Therapy Training Center of New York, Individual Schema Therapy Certification Program, with Travis Atkinson (Advanced Certification Training Track) 2022-2023
Advanced Individual Schema Therapy Supervision (Travis Atkinson, Schema Therapy Training Center of New York) 2022-2023
Eco-Therapy
I have trained with a variety of nature and animal-assisted therapy-based teachers and organizations, from Maine to California, from the U.S. to South America, Mexico, Africa and Europe, including my work in nature-based mindfulness. I owe much of what I have learned from Jan Edl Stein, of the Holos Institute, in California, and offer my gratitude for her shared wisdom and guidance all these years.
My self-study includes a lifetime of attention to and curiosity about the natural world. As humans we are part of nature, and the state of our environments strongly influences our lives and the lives of others. My greatest teachers in the natural world have been the many animals, plants, insects, mountains, rocks, waterways, storms, trees, waves and piles of dirt that have educated me.
Further formal training includes:
Confer Eco-psychotherapy Seminar: Synthesizing Ecology and Psychotherapy in Practice and Theory (2021) (Facilitators: Guy Dargert, Caroline Frizell, Jo Hamilton, Dr Adrian Harris, Professor Paul Hoggett, Dr Chris Johnstone, Emma Palmer, Paul Maiteny, George Marshall, Hayley Marshall, Rosemary Randall, Professor Christopher Rapley, Mary-Jayne Rust, Nick Totton, Dr Maggie Turp, Sally Weintrobe, Joanna Wise)
Certificate Course: Comprehensive Course in Animal-Assisted Therapy, with Jonathan Jordan, MSW, LCSW, ACSW
Workshops with Jan Edl Stein, Joanna Macy, Craig Chalquist, Stephanie Marohn and her beloved animal sanctuary where Ram "Hermes" taught me a thing or two about presence (thank you, Hermes!), Masankho Kamsisi Banda, and others in the Nature/Ecology Wisdom tradition through my Graduate training at John F. Kennedy University's Transpersonal Psychology program (Northern California, 2010-2013)
Mindfulness
My formal training in meditation and mindfulness began in 1995 when I first visited a Zen Buddhist temple in Chicago as an undergrad. While the practice was entirely new to me, this is when the door opened. Over time I sought out Zen meditation centers wherever I lived and eventually became a part of the Green Gulch/San Francisco Zen Center world in the Bay Area, teaching and organizing the mindfulness program for children at Green Gulch 2011-2013. Our programs were designed to teach children mindfulness in nature, in the beautiful Green Gulch gardens, while their parent/s sat Zazen and listened to the Sunday Dharma talk at the Zendo. We planted the Three Sisters, did walking meditation, and many types of mindfulness activities weekly.
While in my graduate program, Transpersonal Psychology, at JFK University in California, mindfulness and meditation were the cornerstones of my studies and instrumental to me in developing personal and therapeutic presence. While "sitting" meditation has been a struggle for me most of my life, I eventually found that sitting in nature has great rewards, as the stiller I get, the more animals approach me with their sense of wonder, "Who is this creature just sitting here in my ümwelt?? It can't be human, as humans are noisy and fast!"
I've been fortunate to meet and study with many mindfulness teachers in addition to deep self-study in the area, both in practice and in my interest in reading research on the benefits and challenges of mindfulness. There is much to read! I have completed a mindfulness certification intensive with Dr. Debra Premashakti Alvis, of the University of Georgia. I am always growing, finding challenges, and eager to learn more about mindfulness through my practice and more importantly, my failings.
Memberships/Consultation Teams:
International Society of Schema Therapy (ISST) (Full Member)
Schema Therapy Training Center of New York
American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (AAMFT)
The University of the State of New York, Education Department, Office of the Professions (New York)
State Board of Social Workers, Marriage and Family Therapists, and Professional Counselors (Pennsylvania)
Board of Behavioral Sciences (California)
California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT, 2012-2018)
State Board of Marriage and Family Therapy Examiners (New Jersey)
AAMFT Telehealth and Technology Forum
Member of the Duke University DBT Listserv community
Former Member of the Oakland DBT and Mindfulness Center weekly DBT Consultation Team (2013-2018)
DBT Consultation with Dr. Sanno Zack, Stanford University Medical Center
DBT Consutlation team with Philadelphia DBT Associates, Philadelphia, PA (2018-2021)
DBT Team Consultation with Linda Dimeff, PhD (2017-2018)
Practice History:
Full-time private practice in New York, California, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey Telemedicine/online practice only. Telehealth available to individuals and collaborations/teams internationally.
Formerly in joint private practice with the Philadelphia DBT Associates in Rittenhouse Square, and with the Oakland DBT and Mindfulness Center where I taught the Advanced DBT program, facilitated and co-facilitated adult DBT Skills groups, provided individual, couples, and family DBT Skills coaching, and DBT-informed individual and family psychotherapy. I completed my practicum at the John F. Kennedy University Counseling Center in Oakland, California, and the West Lake Middle School in Oakland, California.
As a therapist, a certain number of training hours must be completed, per state, every two years. This creates an accumulation of many trainings to stay current in the field. While I do not list the hundreds of hours of ongoing trainings I engage in here, know that I focus my trainings in my areas of interest below, while remaining current with trauma, grief, psychopharmacology, law and ethics, and neuroscience-based research and practice throughout the year.