You don’t need to have the answer. You need space to find it.

Therapy for Life Transitions, Career Change & Identity Development in Oakland & the East Bay

A woman with glasses and gray hair, wearing a black top and olive green pants, sitting on a weathered wooden log outdoors surrounded by dry foliage and plants.

Ami Cooper, ASW (they/them/theirs)

Associate Clinical Social Worker #106805

Supervised by Caitlin Billings, Licensed Clinical Social Worker #60863

Rate: $150 per fifty minute session

Accepts sliding scale

Something has shifted — or it’s about to. Maybe you’re standing at a crossroads in your career and the old map doesn’t fit anymore. Maybe you’re trying to figure out who you are outside of the roles you’ve always played. Maybe you know change is necessary but the path forward feels unclear, overwhelming, or like something you’re supposed to have figured out already.

You don’t have to figure it out alone — and you don’t have to have the answer before you begin.

I am a therapist who supports individuals navigating life transitions, identity development, and meaningful change. My work integrates evidence-based therapeutic approaches with a coaching-informed lens drawn from Design Thinking and the Becoming You framework — two approaches that treat life and career decisions as evolving, creative processes rather than problems to solve perfectly on the first try.

Design Thinking brings a spirit of curiosity, experimentation, and iteration to the question of what’s next — rather than pressure to get it right. The Becoming You framework helps clients clarify their values, strengths, and sense of self before deciding what to do with them. Together they create a therapeutic approach that is both deeply personal and practically grounded.

My therapeutic style is collaborative, grounded, and forward-focused. I draw on IFS (Internal Family Systems / parts work), attachment-focused EMDR, somatic therapy, and nature therapy to help clients understand themselves more deeply, process the internal barriers getting in the way, and take intentional steps toward a life and career that feel aligned and sustainable.

I bring a particular sensitivity to the experiences of LGBTQIA+ and queer individuals, neurodivergent adults, and highly sensitive people — communities for whom questions of identity and belonging are often woven into every career and life decision.

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Who I Work With

I work with people who are in the middle of something — a transition, a question, a turning point. That often includes:

Young adults entering the workforce for the first time and trying to figure out what kind of work actually makes sense for who they are

Adults exploring or redefining their career path — whether that means a complete change, a pivot, or simply finding more meaning in what they already do

People returning to work after time away — after caregiving, illness, burnout, or any other life chapter that took them off the conventional path

Highly sensitive people who have spent years feeling like they don’t quite fit and are ready to understand that as information rather than a flaw

LGBTQIA+ individuals navigating identity, belonging, and the particular complexity of building a life and career as a queer person

Neurodivergent adults — including those with ADHD and autism — who are trying to build a life that works with how their mind actually functions

Anyone healing from trauma who wants a gentle, body-based approach that honors both the roots of pain and the path forward

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Ami Cooper’s vocation in the mental health field began over twenty years ago, supporting families in a community prenatal clinic after earning their Bachelor’s in Social Work in 1999. In 2021, they completed their Master of Social Work degree with a focus on trauma and addiction — areas that continue to shape their practice today. Ami has formal training in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), Internal Family Systems (IFS), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), somatic approaches, and nature therapy, and integrates Design Thinking and the Becoming You framework into their coaching-informed therapeutic approach. They specialize in life transitions, career change, and identity development, with a particular commitment to LGBTQIA+-affirming and neurodivergent-affirming care. Ami offers sliding scale therapy in Oakland and online throughout California.