Rik Isensee, LCSWis a Licensed Clinical Social Worker License # LCS 10773(1984), and has worked in a variety of mental health clinics and settings. His private practice is in San Francisco, where he offers:
* Mindfulness Coaching
* Couples Counseling
* Somatic Therapy
He enjoys working with a variety of issues and populations: both women and men, of various ethnic, class, and cultural backgrounds, and sexual orientations.
Education
Rik has a Master's degree in Social Work from the University of Hawaii, 1979. He has a B.A. from the University of California, Santa Cruz. The creative process is an ongoing interest, which led Rik to get a second Master's degree (in Creative Writing) from San Francisco State.
Mental Health Clinics
Rik has worked in a number of mental health settings, including his internship at Queen's Medical Center in Honolulu, where he worked in the outpatient mental health clinic; Homebuilders, in Seattle, working with families of youth at risk for out-of-home placement; the Richmond Maxi-Center, in San Francisco, where he worked with individuals, groups, and families in a multi-cultural clinic; the Center for Special Problems, where he developed the group program for male survivors of childhood abuse; and Psychological Services at City College of San Francisco.
Rik taught a class on Mindfulness through Psychological Services at City College, and has also offered seminars at Esalen, a retreat center perched on the cliffs overlooking the ocean at Big Sur.
Training and Professional InfluencesRik has extensive experience using the practical problem-solving approach of cognitive therapy, and over the years he has combined this with Gestalt, psychosynthesis, emotional intelligence, and insights from the positive psychology movement and the new "science of happiness."
Rik has also been trained in a form of psychotherapy called Hakomi, a form of somatic therapy . He has assisted with the eight-month Professional Skills Trainingfor psychotherapists with the San Francisco Hakomi Institute. This approach encourages a physical, emotional, and cognitive awareness of core beliefs, which enables the client to question early conditioning, and grow beyond previous limitations.
He received coaching training from the GROW Training Institute, as well as Mentor Coach, both of which specialize in coaching skills for licensed psychotherapists.
Mindfulness
Rik practices a form of mindfulness called Insight Meditation(or Vipassana ). He was in a practice seminar with Joseph Goldstein during the summer of 1974, with the opening of the Naropa Institute, in Boulder, Colorado. Since then, he has attended mindfulness retreats at Spirit Rock, Mt. Madonna, Green Gulch, Tassajara, and elsewhere. He’s also been influenced by "calm abiding" (or Shamatha ) practice with Alan Wallace, and other “direct path” teachers from Advaita, Mahamudra, and Dzogchen traditions, which help us bring our attention to awareness itself.
What Rik has appreciated about these teachers, beyond any particular technique, is the emphasis on a heart-felt sense of loving presencethat exemplifies his approach to psychotherapy, coaching, and healing.
Over the years, Rik has been integrating mindfulness into his psychotherapy practice. Mindfulness does not require any specific religious beliefs—people of any spiritual background (or none at all) are welcome! Anyone can benefit from the present-moment awareness developed through mindfulness.
Mindfulness not only enables us to be more present, it’s also becoming increasingly clear from various studies (such as mindfulness-based stress reduction) that moment-to-moment awareness can relieve stress, calm anxiety, and soothe inner turmoil.
With Shift Your Mood, Rik’s goal is to help readers, clients, and workshop participants integrate the soothing aspects of mindfulness with a direct experience of emotional well-being.
Office
Rik practices psychotherapy in a brightly-lit and comfortable office on Castro Street in San Francisco, conveniently located just one block from the Castro Muni Station.
Rik is the author of:
Shift Your Mood: from Reactive to Mindful
Check out Rik's video, singing Libby Roderick's song, "How Could Anyone" from a story about his Mom in his book, Shift Your Mood: