Brianna Ferreira
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist
MFT #49833
650-297-3400 x 32
Locations: Los Altos
Languages: English & Spanish
Fee: $250
LIMITED OPENINGS – PLEASE INQUIRE
Get to Know Brianna Ferreira via Video
Areas of Focus:
Languages: English and Spanish
Children / Teens: Emotional Regulation Challenges, Tantrums, Anxiety (Social Anxiety, Separation Anxiety, Performance Anxiety), OCD, Perfectionism, ADHD, Autism, Neurodiversity, Identity, Acculturation Issues, Grief, Bullying / Social Bullying, Peer Relationships and School Adjustment
Adults: Trauma (Early Childhood Trauma, Complex Trauma, PTSD), Anxiety, Depression, ADHD, Autism, Neurodiversity, Parenting, Job Stress & Burnout, Identity & Acculturation Issues, Grief & Loss, Traumatic Grief, Climate Anxiety / Climate Grief, Life Transitions, Emotional Overwhelm, Crisis, Caregiving Support, Relationship Patterns, Codependency
Modalities:
Internal Family Systems (IFS Level 1 - trained via the IFS-Institute), Somatic Mindfulness-Based Therapy (Hakomi), Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, Psychosynthesis, Trauma-Informed Therapy, DBT, Mindfulness-Based CBT, Ecotherapy, Expressive Arts, Dreamwork, and Parts Work.
Overall Description:
Brianna has a true passion for supporting people through the most challenging moments of their lives. With nearly 20 years of experience, she brings a calm, grounded presence to moments of grief, trauma, crisis, emotional overwhelm, and major life transitions.
Clients often describe Brianna as calm, deeply compassionate, and gently curious. Even in moments of profound grief or emotional overwhelm, she helps people feel that they don't have to face their pain alone.
One of the things clients appreciate most is her capacity to walk alongside them through life's darkest moments while helping them reconnect with hope, resilience, and meaning.
Brianna is trained in Internal Family Systems (IFS) through the IFS Institute and has spent decades working with parts-oriented and mindfulness-based approaches. Before discovering IFS, she was studying and practicing Psychosynthesis and Hakomi—modalities that share a deep respect for the wisdom of the human system and the healing potential that emerges when we learn to relate to our internal system with curiosity, compassion, and presence. Her work helps clients identify and understand the different parts of themselves that may be carrying pain, fear, grief, shame, self-criticism, or protective strategies that once helped them survive difficult experiences.
Brianna integrates IFS with more than a decade of advanced training in Hakomi and somatic psychotherapy. She understands that trauma, grief, and emotional wounds are often held not only in our thoughts, but also in our bodies. Through mindful awareness of sensations, emotions, impulses, and inner experiences, she helps clients gently access the deeper layers of healing that may not be available through traditional talk therapy alone. Many clients who have felt stuck in therapy appreciate her experiential approach, which often helps them move beyond insight into meaningful transformation.
One of the most formative chapters of Brianna's career was her work with the Centre for Living with Dying, where she served as both Clinical Supervisor and Program Supervisor. There, she supported individuals, couples, and families navigating profound grief, traumatic loss, caregiving challenges, and end-of-life experiences. This work deepened her understanding of the human capacity for resilience and transformation in the face of suffering and remains one of the cornerstones of her clinical expertise today. Brianna is especially skilled at helping people move through overwhelming grief and trauma while reconnecting with a sense of purpose, vitality, and possibility.
At the heart of Brianna's work is a belief that healing happens when we learn to befriend even the most wounded parts of ourselves. She believes that every person possesses an innate capacity for healing, growth, and transformation. Drawing from mindfulness, compassion, somatic awareness, and parts work, she helps clients access the qualities of Self that allow healing to unfold naturally. Rather than fighting against painful emotions or pushing difficult experiences away, Brianna helps clients cultivate a more compassionate relationship with themselves so that previously stuck or frozen experiences can begin to move and transform. She considers it a privilege to walk alongside her clients as they reconnect with their inner wisdom, rediscover hope, and move toward a life that feels more grounded, meaningful, and fully their own.
Experience:
Over the last two decades, Brianna has cultivated a rich and diverse clinical background supporting children, teens, adults, couples, and families through some of life's most challenging experiences. She has worked in outpatient clinics, schools, youth residential programs, partial hospitalization programs, and intensive outpatient settings serving individuals navigating trauma, grief, anxiety, depression, substance use, life transitions, and family challenges.
Throughout her career, Brianna has been drawn to work that requires both depth and steadiness. Whether supporting a child struggling with emotional regulation, an adult healing from complex trauma, a caregiver facing burnout, or a family navigating profound loss, she is known for her ability to remain calm, compassionate, and fully present during moments of intense emotional pain.
Brianna developed her leadership skills at the Centre for Living with Dying, where she served as both Clinical Supervisor and Program Supervisor. There, she supported individuals, couples, and families experiencing grief, traumatic loss, caregiving challenges, and end-of-life issues. This work profoundly shaped her understanding of resilience, healing, and the many ways people adapt to loss. Today, grief remains one of her core areas of specialization.
Brianna's professional journey has also been guided by a longstanding somatic interest in the relationship between mind, body, and healing. For more than a decade, she has studied and practiced Hakomi, a mindfulness-centered somatic therapy that helped lay the foundation for her later training in Internal Family Systems (IFS). Along the way, she also developed expertise in Psychosynthesis, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, mindfulness practices, expressive arts, ecotherapy, and other experiential approaches that help clients access healing beyond traditional talk therapy.
Brianna's worldview expanded through living abroad in both Ecuador and Germany, experiences that deepened her appreciation for different cultures, identities, and ways of understanding the human experience. These experiences continue to inform her work with clients from diverse backgrounds and those navigating issues related to identity, belonging, and acculturation.
Brianna earned her Master's Degree in Counseling Psychology from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, where she was introduced to somatic psychology, mindfulness, family systems, expressive arts, dreamwork, ecotherapy, and Psychosynthesis. She continues to integrate these diverse influences into her work today while remaining grounded in evidence-based, trauma-informed care.
In addition to her clinical work, Brianna has served as a clinical supervisor, parent educator, workshop facilitator, music educator, and community presenter. Across each of these roles, she has remained committed to helping people access their innate capacity for growth, healing, connection, and transformation.
Clients often seek Brianna when they are facing experiences that feel overwhelming, painful, or difficult to navigate alone. Her years of experience across diverse settings allow her to meet people with both depth and flexibility, helping them move toward greater self-understanding, resilience, and a renewed sense of possibility.
Education:
- Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, Palo Alto, CA
- Minor in Improvised Music, San Jose State University
- Bachelor of Arts, University of Texas at Austin
- Junior year abroad at Julius Maximilians Universitaet, Wuerzburg, Germany
- High school exchange student, Colegio Guayaquil, Ecuador
Interest & Hobbies:
Outside of therapy, Brianna enjoys planting native species that support local bird and butterfly populations and nurturing people's connection with the natural world. She believes that healing often happens not only within ourselves and our relationships, but also through reconnecting with the larger web of life around us.
Trainings:
- Internal Family Systems (IFS) Level 1 – IFS Institute
- Hakomi Professional Skills Training
- Sensorimotor Psychotherapy for Trauma
- Certificate in Grief and Loss
- Mindfulness-Based Experiential Couples Therapy
- Gottman Level 1 (Couples Therapy)