Do you offer a free consultation?

Yes. I invite every prospective patient (or their parent) to a complimentary 15-minute video or phone call, so we can see whether we’re a good fit.

How do I book that call?

Fill in the contact-form button at the top of the page to request a time, or call +1-916-776-6089. I’ll follow up within one business day to confirm.

Where are you located?

My office is in Midtown Sacramento at 801 Alhambra Blvd, Suite 4. I also work with clients anywhere in California via secure telehealth.

What is psychodynamic psychotherapy?

Psychodynamic work explores the patterns—often outside conscious awareness—that shape how we think, feel, and relate. By bringing those patterns into focus, we create space for insight, relief, and lasting change.

What happens in the first session?

We’ll talk about what brings you in, your history, and your hopes for therapy. The meeting also lets you get a felt sense of how I work so you can decide whether to continue.

How long will therapy take?

Every person’s process is different. Some clients come for a few months to work on a specific issue; others choose open-ended depth work. We’ll revisit goals together as therapy unfolds.

Who do you work with?

• Adults and kids (10+) • Men exploring masculinity • Individuals, couples, and families • People navigating gender identity, transition, or LGBTQIA+ experiences • Anyone facing grief, anxiety, depression, or existential questions

Do you provide letters for gender-affirming care?

Yes. I can provide letters of support for HRT or surgery in line with WPATH guidelines.

What is psychedelic-integration therapy?

Integration work helps you make meaning of altered-state experiences—whether from sanctioned clinical use or personal exploration—so insights translate into daily life. While I don’t provide or refer for illegal substances, I support clients in integrating those experiences thoughtfully and ethically.

Individual therapy – $150 Couples therapy – $250 Sliding-scale spots are occasionally available—please ask.

Do you take insurance?

I’m an out-of-network provider. If you have a PPO plan, you may be eligible for partial reimbursement. I’ll supply monthly superbills you can submit to your insurer.

What if I need to cancel?

Cancellations with at least 48 hours’ notice incur no fee. Late cancellations or no-shows are billed at the full session rate. (No charge for same-day health-related cancellations.)

Is therapy confidential?

Yes. Everything we discuss stays between us, with a few safety-related legal exceptions that we’ll review in our first session.

Do you offer evening or weekend appointments?

Yes. I currently see patients only during evenings and weekends to support busy professionals and their kids. Let me know what you need, and I’ll do my best to accommodate.

What if I’m in crisis?

I’m not a 24-hour service. If you’re in immediate danger, call 988 (emotional support) or 911 (medical emergency), or go to the nearest emergency room. You can also text HOME to 741741 for free, confidential support from trained crisis counselors.

Is your past playing on repeat?

Jul 14

Written By Oliver Slate-Greene

You didn’t invent your intimacy issues. You inherited them.

That’s not to say you’re doomed. Only that you’re patterned—and those patterns were formed long before you had a say in the matter.

Psychodynamic therapy is about uncovering how those early experiences shaped your expectations, your defenses, your longing. And then—little by little—giving you the freedom to choose differently.

What Feels Familiar Isn’t Always What Feels Good

We tend to be drawn to the familiar. Even when the familiar hurts.

If love used to mean absence, you might find yourself chasing emotionally unavailable partners.
If love meant volatility, you might confuse calm for boredom.

In childhood, we internalize not just how love feels, but what we must do to earn it. We become adaptive. Hypervigilant. Pleasing. Distant. Angry. Quiet. Whatever it took.

Those adaptations don’t disappear when we grow up. They become the scripts we keep performing—often without realizing it.

The Past Isn’t Over. It’s Replaying.

You may think you left the past behind, but the past is clever. It doesn’t need memories to survive. It just needs patterns.

Psychodynamic therapy pays attention to those patterns:

The way you pull away when someone gets close.
The way you overfunction in conflict.
The way you sabotage things that feel too good.

These aren’t flaws. They’re strategies. Old strategies that once protected you. But now? They may be keeping you from the very connection you crave.

Relationships Activate Our Earliest Wounds

Nothing evokes our deepest stuff quite like being close to someone.

Your partner says they need space, and suddenly you feel like a child left behind.
Your friend cancels plans, and you spiral into shame.
Your boss critiques your work, and it lands like rejection, not feedback.

This is called emotional transference—when old relational wounds get projected onto current people and situations.

In therapy, we slow this down. We track it. We feel it. Not to relive trauma, but to make it livable. Nameable. Changeable.

Psychodynamic Work Is a New Relationship With the Old Self

In my office, we’re not just talking about your childhood. We’re listening for it in your language, your hesitations, your dreams, your silences.

Over time, something remarkable happens:
The parts of you that had to grow up too fast finally get a place to land.
The defensive parts soften.
The younger parts feel held.
The adult parts emerge with more clarity.

This isn’t regression. It’s integration.

Healing in Sacramento, One Pattern at a Time

Whether you grew up in chaos or quiet disconnection, those early dynamics don’t have to define your future relationships.

In a city like Sacramento—where so many are juggling careers, caregiving, ambition, and burnout—slowing down to understand the deeper story is a radical act.

You don’t have to repeat the past to stay loyal to it.

Ready to Break the Pattern?

I’m a psychodynamic therapist based in Sacramento, working with individuals who want to understand themselves - and their relationships—on a deeper level. I offer in-person therapy in Midtown and telehealth across California.

Oliver Slate-Greene