Shai Larsen Therapy
Online therapy in California for adolescents, adults, and couples.
If you've found your way here, perhaps some part of you is longing for more. More ease, more connection, more meaning, or simply a deeper relationship with yourself. Wherever you are, I would be honored to meet you there.
— Shai
Let's Live Alive.
It's What We Can Do.
Shai Larsen Therapy
Online therapy in California for adolescents, adults, and couples.
"If you've found your way here, perhaps some part of you is longing for more. More ease, more connection, more meaning, or simply a deeper relationship with yourself. Wherever you are, I would be honored to meet you there."
— Shai
Let's Live Alive.
It's What We Can Do.
I'm so glad you're here.
Being human can be beautiful, and it can also be incredibly difficult.
Over the years, I have noticed that I have a particular ability to connect with people who feel anxious, depressed, overwhelmed, who are grieving or lost, and help them reconnect with their own strengths, wisdom, and capacity for growth. My work is not about fixing people. It is about helping people remember.
I believe that each of us carries wisdom, resilience, and the capacity for growth within us, even when we have lost touch with those parts of ourselves. Therapy offers a space to slow down, become curious, and deepen our relationship with ourselves.
Together we explore the patterns that are keeping you stuck, make space for the emotions and experiences that need attention, grieve what needs to be grieved, and strengthen the parts of yourself that already knows how to move toward greater connection, meaning, and change.
My approach is warm, relational, collaborative, and deeply human. I believe that meaningful change happens within the context of a safe and trusting therapeutic relationship, where you feel seen, understood, and accepted as you are.
I draw from attachment-based, psychodynamic, mindfulness-based, somatic, parts-work, ACT and strengths-based approaches while always honoring your unique experiences, values, culture, and worldview.
My path has been shaped by both clinical training and lived experience. I hold a Master's degree in Clinical Psychology from Antioch University Los Angeles and a Master's degree in Environmental Policy from Columbia University in New York.
Before becoming a therapist, I worked as an analyst with the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington DC, spent more than a decade supporting technology executives and boards of directors in the Bay, taught English to Tibetan monks in Dharamsala, India, and volunteered in hospice care with the Zen Hospice Project and Threshold Choir in San Francisco.
Along the way, I have had the privilege of traveling extensively, exploring different cultures, spiritual traditions, and ways of understanding what gives life meaning. Moving between boardrooms, monasteries, hospice bedside, and communities around the world has given me a deep appreciation for the many forms that suffering, resilience, connection, and growth can take.
I hold a deep respect for spirituality, wonder, nature, and the many ways we make sense of our lives. Whether spirituality is an important part of your journey or not, I strive to create a space where all parts of your experience are welcome.
Ultimately, therapy is not simply about feeling less anxious, less overwhelmed, or less stuck. It is also about becoming more fully yourself. More connected. More engaged. More alive.
It is truly an honor to walk alongside you.
Walking beside you
There is only one you.
While I bring training, experience, and perspective, I believe you are the expert on your own life. My role is to walk beside you as you deepen your understanding of yourself and discover what feels most true and authentic for you.
As a relational therapist, I believe the relationship we build together matters. Research consistently shows that the quality of the therapeutic relationship is one of the strongest predictors of meaningful change. Because of this, I place great importance on creating a space that feels genuine, collaborative, and grounded in trust.
We live in a time when answers are everywhere. We can search, scroll, listen, and learn endlessly about ourselves. Yet insight alone does not always create change. Sometimes what we need is not another answer, but another human being.
The therapeutic relationship itself becomes part of the work. It becomes a place to explore, practice, and experience new ways of relating to yourself and others. You do not have to do this alone.
What it's like to work together
Many clients describe our work together as grounding, spacious, playful, and deeply human. There is no pressure to have the right answers or be anyone other than who you are.
We move at a pace that feels right for you, creating room for curiosity, insight, and meaningful change. Some sessions may feel reflective and contemplative. Others may be challenging, emotional, surprising, or filled with laughter. Therapy is not always easy, but it does not have to be harsh.
I often draw upon nature, music, and creativity to bring softness and balance when needed. My hope is that our work together feels like a place of safety where all parts of you are welcome.
Returning to yourself
Many of us become so focused on managing life that we lose touch with what we are feeling, needing, or carrying. We learn to push through, stay busy, stay strong, or simply get by. Therapy offers a space to slow down and listen.
Together, we explore the patterns that shape your life, the experiences that have influenced you, and the emotions that may need room to be felt, understood, and integrated. We make space for grief, uncertainty, fear, and pain while also strengthening your capacity for self-compassion, connection, growth and joy.
Over time, many people find themselves reconnecting with a deeper sense of clarity, self-trust, authenticity, and aliveness.
Therapy as a path back to yourself.
A space to slow down, become curious and grow.
Adolescents
Being a teenager is not easy. It is a time of enormous change, growing independence, and discovering who you are while navigating friendships, family relationships, social pressures, identity, and an increasingly demanding world.
I offer adolescents a warm, supportive space to show up exactly as you are. Together, we explore what feels difficult, strengthen self-awareness and self-trust, and develop the tools you need to navigate life's challenges with greater confidence and resilience.
My goal is to help you connect with who you already are.
Adults
At some point, many of us realize that surviving is not the same thing as living. We may feel overwhelmed, disconnected, stuck in familiar patterns, or uncertain about what comes next. We may have lost touch with the parts of ourselves that once felt joyful, creative, curious, or alive.
Therapy offers a space to pause, reflect, and reconnect with who we are beneath the noise of everyday life.
Together, we cultivate greater self-awareness, self-trust, and resilience so you can move through life with more clarity, connection, meaning, and ease.
Couples
Relationships invite us into one of life's greatest opportunities for growth.
They ask us to be vulnerable, honest, courageous, and willing to see both ourselves and one another more clearly.
At times, this can feel difficult. We may find ourselves caught in recurring conflicts, feeling unseen, disconnected, or longing for something we can't quite name.
Couples therapy offers a space to slow down and become curious together. Rather than focusing on blame, we explore the patterns beneath the conflict and create new ways of relating that foster greater understanding, connection, and trust.
Together, we work toward helping each partner reconnect with themselves while learning to see and be seen more clearly by one another.