California Psychology Center

Director: Katie Fracalanza, PhD, Peter Aston, PsyD
Contact Name: Katie Cronin
700 El Camino Real Suite 120
#1033
Menlo Park, CA 94025
Description:

The California Psychology Center (CPC) was founded by members of the OCD Clinic at Stanford University’s School of Medicine. Our goal is to provide tailored evidence-based treatment for OCD and struggles that often co-occur with OCD, such as other forms of anxiety, depression, and trauma-related disorders. The psychologists who work at CPC trained at top-tier academic medical centers, including Stanford University, the Palo Alto VA, and the University of Michigan. We have advanced training with gold-standard therapies for OCD, such as exposure and response prevention, acceptance and commitment therapy, and cognitive behavioral therapy. Our providers consider each individual unique and we work collaboratively with you to develop a treatment plan that addresses your symptoms and that helps you meet your specific goals. At our clinic, we consider successful therapy to involve not only symptom reduction, but also quality of life improvement, and we use a variety of therapeutic approaches to help you thrive.

Treatment of Co-occurring Disorders:

Social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, major depressive disorder, low self-esteem, perfectionism, and people-pleasing. Treatment begins with an assessment, understanding what maintains your symptoms, and how your anxiety and/or avoidance is playing out in your life. You will learn how to approach feared situations in a systematic way with my help (i.e., exposure); in session and between sessions. Other therapeutic skills you will learn is how to: challenge beliefs that are keeping you stuck, understand your struggle in a deeper way, work with and care for your emotions, be compassionate toward yourself, and strengthen your connections with others.

Diversity Statement:

The California Psychology Center places a high value on diversity, equity, and inclusion, recognizing them as integral strengths. Our therapists, both individually and as a cohesive team, are dedicated to delivering culturally responsive care grounded in cultural humility. We are committed to continuous learning and unlearning. Our group recognizes that thoughts, feelings, and behaviors do not exist in a vacuum, and are influenced by personal experiences as well as institutional, systemic, and historical factors. Acknowledgment and processing of these external factors that can influence an individual’s mental health and well-being are fundamental to effective therapy.

Therapists on our team have undergone training on diversity, equity, and inclusion from various top-tier academic institutions, and also within our team, processing our identities together in a didactic and exploratory forum. Our providers identify with diverse backgrounds and identities, some historically underrepresented and underserved in psychology. During the intake and therapy matching process, we seek out our patients’ needs and provide recommendations for the best possible fit, inside or outside of our group. We understand the importance of being understood in one’s first language and currently offer services in English, Spanish, and Mandarin.

Our providers identify with diverse backgrounds including Asian, South East Asian, Black, Biracial, Latino, White, and mixed race.

OCD Specialists at this Clinic: