The spark isn’t gone. It’s just buried.

Therapy for Creatives, Educators & Neurodivergent Adults in Oakland & the East Bay

A young woman with long black hair, wearing a checkered blazer and a black top, standing outdoors with green foliage in the background.

Baran Farhang, AMFT, APCC (she/her/hers)

Associate Marriage & Family Therapist #157380

Associate Professional Clinical Counselor #20312

Supervised by Caitlin Billings, Licensed Clinical Social Worker #60863

Rate: $150 per fifty minute session

Accepts sliding scale

You used to know exactly what lit you up. Maybe you still do — but somewhere between the deadlines, the expectations, the anxiety, and the relentless pressure to have it all figured out, you lost access to it. It feels far away. Maybe even gone.

It isn’t gone. It’s just buried. And that’s exactly the kind of thing I help people excavate. 

I work with creatives, educators, and neurodivergent adults — people who are thoughtful, often highly capable, and quietly struggling with anxiety, ADHD, burnout, or the feeling that everyone else figured it out and they didn’t get the memo. My work is about helping you find and sustain your passion — not just cope with what’s getting in the way of it. 

I take a trauma-informed approach to all of it — because more often than not, what's blocking the spark has roots worth understanding.

I draw on narrative therapy, CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), DBT-informed skills, motivational interviewing, and psychodynamic approaches to create care that feels personal, flexible, and genuinely useful in your actual life. Together we’ll build a process that feels grounded, supportive, and uniquely yours.

A window with cream curtains showing a leafy green tree outside. Below the window, on a wooden table, there is a small black vase with pink flowers, a row of books, and a black speaker. The room has a wooden floor.
A window with cream curtains showing a leafy green tree outside. Below the window, on a wooden table, there is a small black vase with pink flowers, a row of books, and a black speaker. The room has a wooden floor.

Who I Work With

I work best with people who have a lot going on inside but something keeps getting in the way of living the life they imagined. That often includes:

Creatives of any kind — artists, writers, musicians, designers, makers — who are stuck, blocked, or trying to build a sustainable life around work they actually care about

Educators — teachers, professors, school counselors — who give everything to others and are running on empty, questioning why they started, or trying to remember who they are outside the classroom

Gen Z and millennials who feel behind, overwhelmed by options, or paralyzed by the gap between who they are and who they thought they’d be by now — and wondering if it’s too late to close it

Adults with anxiety or ADHD — especially those who are high-functioning on the outside but exhausted on the inside from managing it all

Neurodivergent adults navigating a world that wasn’t designed for how their mind works — and ready to stop masking and start living more authentically

Anyone struggling with work/life balance who has lost the thread of what actually matters to them and wants to find their way back to it

Baran Farhang is a California native who received her Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology with an Emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy from Pepperdine University in 2025. She has experience working in women’s recovery (individual and group therapy) and trauma-focused, strengths-based care. Baran offers sliding scale therapy and serves clients in Walnut Creek and online throughout California.