Holly Starr

Holly Starr is a psychotherapist with 25 years of clinical experience based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She brings a mix of lived experience across settings to her work, supporting people through life transitions and emotional challenges.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology, and she moves comfortably between live talk therapy and online written mediums. She is a California-licensed Marriage and Family Therapist.

Her clinical background includes work with adolescents, adults, and older adults in both residential programs and private practice. She pays close attention to the shifts that occur as people move from one developmental stage to the next.

Early roles as a suicide prevention hotline counselor and as a grief therapist and supervisor shaped her long-standing focus on working through depression, loss, and bereavement. She is particularly attuned to feelings of shame, low self-esteem, and relational conflict that can undermine productivity and contribute to despondency or anxiety.

As a clinician, Holly listens intuitively and observes actively while encouraging clients to approach their emotions with curiosity. Together with those she sees, she explores experiences that are hard to name or feel conflicted by, and examines how thoughts influence choices and behavior. Often even modest shifts lead to meaningful improvements in well-being.

She recognizes that reaching out for help can be difficult. Holly welcomes the opportunity to meet people as they begin this process of change and healing.