Karena Franses

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.