Holistic Jungian therapist specializing in trauma and relationships
Welcome and thank you for taking the time to read my profile page.
It has been my aspiration and commitment through my work life to collaborate with those seeking help and together make every effort to understand what is causing the suffering and in doing so to find some relief from the pain.
I have been a practicing Buddhist for many years, and I meditate daily. I love that His Holiness the Dalai Lama said, “Kindness is my religion,” because we all need it, we all benefit from it when we give it and receive it and without it life is just harder and lonelier.
Buddhism informs my life and therefore my work. It has helped bring humility and compassion to my life and work. I believe that the answers to each person’s suffering lies within themselves. Most work involves clearing the clouds that mask the liberation in each of us.
My work life has played out in two quite different areas of care. The first was a county hospital, and the second a private practice, both in San Francisco. I worked for 21 years as a social work supervisor in a busy outpatient HIV clinic with 2,800 patients. Motivational Interviewing was the most effective type of counseling to use with the population we worked with. In the other setting, I had a small psychodynamic self-psychology informed psychotherapy practice, working with individuals and couples. Both settings offered me the opportunity to discover, explore and develop different skills as I encountered the vast diversity of human experience, where pain, trauma, and resilience came together as a gift to be tended with care, love, and compassion.
At the hospital AIDS clinic, we were initially faced with dying patients so much of the work involved just being with the dying. As fewer patients died when the medications improved, we were then faced with issues of severe addiction, trauma, depression, and a population who had experienced ongoing racism, homophobia, poverty, and homelessness. At my private practice, I met with clients who presented also with addiction issues and in addition those with relationship problems, impact of homophobia, body image issues, self-harm, trauma, and abuse.
I could never have imagined such a career when I started out. Now I feel deep appreciation and gratitude to all the clients and patients I served on this path. To all those who shaped my career, and taught me how to be a social worker and therapist through their kind and generous feedback, which at times let me know how much I meant to them, and at other times how I missed an opportunity to be empathic.
I hope we get a chance to meet and explore whatever issues are of most concern to you and together work to clear the clouds and find relief.
Thank you again for your kind attention.
Licensed · Professional · Cancel Anytime
Karena Franses is a licensed clinical social worker in California, holding the LCSW credential (CA LCSW 18975) and bringing 28 years of clinical experience. Her approach reflects a long-standing personal commitment to Buddhist practice and daily meditation, which have shaped a therapeutic style grounded in humility, compassion, and a belief that each person holds the seeds of their own healing.
Her career has spanned two main settings in San Francisco: many years in a county hospital and a private psychotherapy practice. For 21 years she served as a social work supervisor in a busy outpatient HIV clinic that cared for 2,800 patients, where Motivational Interviewing proved especially effective with that population. In private practice she developed a psychodynamic, self-psychology informed approach working with individuals and couples.
Early work at the hospital often meant supporting patients at the end of life. As treatments evolved and fewer patients died, the focus shifted to addressing severe addiction, trauma, depression, and the lasting effects of racism, homophobia, poverty, and homelessness. In private practice she encountered addiction again alongside relationship struggles, the impacts of homophobia, body image concerns, self-harm, trauma, and abuse.
Throughout her career she has learned from the wide diversity of human experience, tending pain and resilience with care and compassion. She carries deep gratitude for the people who shaped her practice and for the feedback that guided her growth as a social worker and therapist. She welcomes the opportunity to meet and explore whatever issues are most pressing, aiming together to clear the clouds that mask each person’s path to relief.
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