Dr. Russell Gilmore

Hi, I’m Russell Gilmore, PhD, a Clinical Psychologist licensed in California and founder of Northern California Psychology. I work with both adults and couples. Let me first say, “I’m glad you are here.”

I know how life can feel hopeful and optimistic one day, only to feel emotionally devastated and uncertain about the future the next. You go from feeling like you can handle everything, to feeling like you can handle nothing. A negative medical diagnosis, suffering from a chronic injury or experiencing a personal trauma or failing relationship can feel like a permanent obstacle to feeling good or like yourself ever again. When you suffer, everything in your life suffers.

My approach in therapy is to help you discover, recognize, and overcome the obstacles that are keeping you from living the life you want to live. Therapy sessions with me are collaborative, safe, and comfortable. I want you to feel you can come as you are, be yourself, and have a place you can claim as your own to get better.

I take a more humanistic, person-centered approach in therapy, as it helps to organize and design therapy that is uniquely customized to you. With compassion and care, we will work together to not only uncover the thought patterns, beliefs, and emotions that are keeping you in “emotional chains”, but to become an expert at identifying them, managing them, and then ultimately being free of them.

I utilize a variety of therapeutic strategies, backed by evidence-based standards of care, while carefully considering what would be most affective for you. For example, some of our sessions may involve developing insight or establishing self-compassion, while other sessions may focus on regulating emotions, setting personal boundaries, strengthening communication skills, or navigating relationships at home and at work.

My goal is to help you re-discover yourself, your better self, replace negative feelings with hope, renew your relationships, and help you to show up in your life more confident, comfortable and healthy.

Choosing to begin therapy is a simple way for you to prioritize your own emotional and mental health. To start, our first session is simply a chance for us to get to know each another a little and establish a sense of comfort and trust. I want you to feel at ease. There’s nothing you need to do or prepare to say ahead of time. Its ok to just come as you are.

I want you to think about our first meeting as more of a conversation, rather than a formal series of questions or assessment. Instead, we will talk about what brought you to therapy, what things are difficult in your life right now, and what getting better would look like for you. I will also take some time to describe what therapy with me is like, how it can help, while leaving room for you to ask questions along the way.

My goal is for our first meeting to feel easy and comfortable, and above all, for you to feel heard and supported. This makes therapy sessions more productive, allowing us to set treatment goals together, and customize your therapy in a way that is more meaningful, supportive, and designed just for you.