Greta Lyders, PhD

Greta accepts:

• Kaiser

Independent Contractor Therapist Request an Appointment

Adults (18+)

*Greta will do a 15-minute, free phone consultation before an intake appointment is scheduled.

“What is precious inside us does not care to be known by the mind in ways that diminish its presence.” — David Whyte, “The Winter of Listening”

I have been a licensed psychologist for almost 25 years and have been trained to use a variety of therapeutic approaches depending on clients’ needs. While working in primary care for 8 years, I sought training to help my patients who suffered from trauma and chronic pain. Some were refugees seeking safety after leaving homelands torn apart by violence. I helped many using EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), but I found others needed to heal emotional and physical pain that neither language nor logic could touch. And so, I began to learn about somatic approaches to treating anxiety, pain and trauma.

I completed my advanced year of Somatic Experiencing® training in January of 2018 and received my SEP (Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner) certificate in November of that year after over 200 hours of training! While I continue to use all the treatment approaches I have studied throughout my career, I find that Somatic Experiencing® is the chief theoretical framework I use to guide my clinical practice because it works well and can give people relief right away.

I enjoy helping clients understand confusing or distressing feelings, sensations and thoughts in terms of how their nervous systems might be trying to protect them and/or trying to help them resolve past trauma or pain. For example, I frequently see people who are struggling with panic attacks. They often feel relieved when they understand that their physical “symptoms” are part of the normal fight, flight and freeze responses of our biology. I work with these responses to help clients complete thwarted self-protective instincts and free themselves from the straitjacket of trauma.

Through our work together, I will help you see that your thoughts, feelings and body sensations are meaningful. In traditional talk therapy, we often must rely on conscious recall of events to help us process emotional distress. But sometimes, we have no conscious memory of the events that hurt us, and knowing how to listen to the body’s messages can help us heal.

My greatest strength as a clinician is finding ways to help clients adopt a compassionate stance toward their symptoms or coping strategies. Empathy for others (expressed verbally or in body language) comes easily for me, and I think clients sense safety. After so many years in practice, I still love going to work every day. What makes it so rewarding is that the more I learn, the more I see my clients getting better faster, becoming confident and alive again after years of feeling scared, alone or frozen.

Education/Licensure

• The Wright Institute, Berkeley, California (1994-1999)

  • Ph.D., Psychology, June 1999

  • M.A., Psychology, October 1996

• Stanford University, Stanford, California (1983-1987)

  • B.A. English literature, interdisciplinary emphasis in French literature and literary theory

• Licensed in Oregon (October 15, 2010)

• Licensed in California (March 2001)