Kristine Cugliari, AMFT, CAADC-1
Trauma-informed and relational therapy for adults, adolescents, and couples in the Bay Area
Specializing in substance use, anxiety, trauma, depression, life transitions, and self-esteem work
Welcome
Hi, I’m Kristine. I am a trauma-informed, somatic, and depth-oriented therapist working in-person in San Francisco and throughout California.
I believe therapy can be a place to slow down, take a breath, and make sense of what’s going on beneath the surface. You may have come to my page because you’re feeling stuck in patterns you don’t fully understand, struggling in your relationships, going through a transition, or simply feeling disconnected from yourself. Therapy can offer a space to get curious about these experiences without judgment - and to begin finding new ways of relating to yourself and your life.
Therapy works best when it’s shaped around you. Together, we can explore the emotions and experiences that have molded you, while paying attention to what’s happening in your mind, body, and relationships in the present moment. We can explore where certain patterns may come from and what they might be communicating, while making room for new possibilities. My approach draws from parts work, somatic and mindfulness practices, and psychodynamic/attachment-based therapy. But most importantly, it starts with your experience and what feels meaningful to you.
My hope is that therapy becomes a place where you feel safe enough to be honest, supported enough to try something different, and empowered to move toward a life that feels more connected and more like your own.
I focus on:
Trauma Work
Exploring how difficult or overwhelming experiences may continue to shape the ways we feel, relate, and respond - and creating space for greater safety, choice, and healing
Parts Work
Getting curious about the different parts of ourselves - the ones that protect us, push us, hold us back, or long for something different
Somatics
Exploring the body as a source of information, wisdom, and resilience. Paying attention to emotions and experiences that may be difficult to access through words alone. Opening possibilities for new patterns and ways of being
Psychodynamics
Considering how early experiences and relationships can continue to influence the way we see ourselves, relate to others, and navigate the world. Bringing these patterns into awareness can offer a deeper understanding of where we've been and greater freedom in deciding where we go next
Services offered
Individual Therapy
Individual therapy can be a place to pause and turn inward in a way that feels safe and supported. Sometimes we find ourselves reacting in ways we don’t fully understand, getting caught in patterns that feel difficult to shift, or carrying emotions that seem bigger than the moment in front of us. Together, we can become curious about what these experiences might be trying to tell us.
I approach therapy collaboratively, with the belief that there is often more happening beneath the surface than we initially know how to name. I’ll meet you with curiosity and openness as we slow down enough to notice what your mind, body, emotions, and relationships are telling us. Sometimes the work is about making sense of something that has been difficult to understand; other times, it’s about staying with an experience long enough for something new to emerge.
$185/50-minute session
Some sliding scale slots are currently available
Couples Therapy
Relationships have a way of bringing our deepest patterns to the surface. The things that trigger us, the ways we protect ourselves, and the relational experiences we carry from the past can all show up in the way we love, communicate, and navigate conflict.
Couples therapy offers a space to slow down these patterns and understand what is happening beneath the surface. We’ll explore the cycles you find yourselves caught in, how each partner’s responses shape the other’s, and the dynamics that may undermine the relationship or create distance, resentment, or disconnection.
My approach is warm and curious, while also being more directive when helpful. Together, we’ll work toward understanding your patterns, navigating conflict differently, and creating more room for vulnerability, connection, and a relationship that feels more intentional.
$200/50-minute session
Some sliding scale slots are currently available
Adolescent Therapy
Adolescence can be an intense and formative time - a period of figuring out who you are while navigating changing relationships, expectations, and emotions. Therapy can offer a space where you don’t have to have everything figured out, and where you can feel genuinely seen, heard, and understood without judgment.
Together, we might explore emotional regulation, identity and self-understanding, relationships with family and peers, stress and anxiety, or the ways you’ve learned to cope when things feel overwhelming. We can also make space for the questions, conflicts, and experiences that can be difficult to talk about elsewhere.
I work relationally with adolescents, approaching the therapy relationship empathically and with openness, authenticity, and respect. I don’t see my role as simply telling you what to do or trying to “fix” what’s wrong. Instead, I want to understand your experience on your terms and create a space where you can be honest - even when you’re angry, confused, unsure, or don’t know what you want to say. I’ll take your perspective seriously while also offering guidance, perspective, and support when it feels helpful.
$185/50-minute session
Some sliding scale slots are currently available
“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves.”
Rainer Maria Rilke
About me
I’m Kristine, a multicultural Filipino-American therapist, born in the Philippines and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. My personal and professional experiences have shaped the way I understand healing and the way I show up in the therapy room - with curiosity, warmth, and a deep respect for the many layers of each person’s story.
Before becoming a therapist, I spent several years working as a recovery counselor in the addiction field, supporting adults, adolescents, and families as they navigated substance use and the deeper layers of pain that often underlie it. While addiction remains an area I care deeply about, I eventually felt called to broaden my work and support people navigating a wider range of emotional, relational, and life challenges.
My own path toward this work began long before I had language for it, and I came to understand the power of therapy by experiencing it for myself. My own healing taught me that some of the things we most want to move past are often the very things asking to be understood. Having the support to turn toward difficult parts of my story changed the way I understood myself, and changed what I believed was possible.
I don’t see healing as a process of fixing ourselves or leaving our past behind. For me, it has been more about learning to stay present with what is here, reconnecting with parts of myself I had lost touch with, and finding more freedom in how I move through the world. That experience deeply informs the way I work with others.
Specialties & Experience
Specialties
Trauma and unresolved experiences
Anxiety, depression, and emotional overwhelm
Substance use and recovery
Self-esteem, self-worth, and inner critic work
Multiracial or multicultural backgrounds
Relationship challenges/Life transitions
Feelings of being stuck or disconnected from your body or emotions
Guilt and shame
Belonging, loneliness, and isolation
Education & Experience
Master’s in Counseling Psychology | California Institute of Integral Studies
B.A. in Psychology | San Francisco State University
Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor | City College of San Francisco
Community Mental Health Certificate | Alliance Health Project through University of California, San Francisco
My approach
My approach to therapy is integrative and eclectic and includes a variety of modalities such as parts and somatic work, psychodynamics, attachment-based therapy, mindfulness, and more. At the heart of my work is the belief that you are the expert on your own experience. I believe that each person has the inherent capacity to heal, grow, and change. That we all carry the seeds of our own transformation, and sometimes just need support in being able to see and feel into that possibility.
Drawing from a psychodynamic lens, I'm interested in how your past has shaped you, but not in a way that keeps you stuck there. Instead, we’ll look at how those experiences might still be living in the present - especially in your relationships, your sense of self, and the ways you move through the world.
I believe our struggles rarely exist in isolation. Our inner lives are shaped by our families, relationships, cultures, communities, and the social systems around us. What may look like an individual struggle can sometimes be an understandable response to circumstances, expectations, or environments that have asked a lot of us.
I bring this broader context into the therapy room, holding both the personal and the systemic - the ways your own history and patterns intersect with the world around you. This allows us to approach your experiences with curiosity rather than blame, while exploring what is yours to heal, what was never yours to carry, and where you may have room to choose something different.
For me, this work is not about fixing or changing who you are. It’s about strengthening what is already yours - your sense of self, your inner knowing, your capacity to move through difficulty. The hope is to cultivate a kind of strength that comes from within, something you can carry with you and that no one else can take away.
I also believe the relationship we build matters. I pay attention to what unfolds between us, and I try to meet you with curiosity, honesty, and care. Therapy, at its best, can be a place where you don’t have to perform or have it all figured out - a place where you can begin to come home to and feel more like yourself.
“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.”
James Baldwin
Contact me
If you want to see if we’d be a good fit, feel free to fill out this form or reach me at kristine.cugliari@mindfulcenter.org to set up a free 20-minute phone consultation