I’m Jaron, a therapist in Oakland and a gay man. I work most closely with men, including queer and gay men, who are doing well on the outside but sense that something underneath is asking for attention.

For a lot of us, an acceptable version of ourselves got built early, and it works. It’s competent, capable, it holds up. What it quietly costs is harder to see: a distance from what’s actually true, a sense of managing several versions of yourself where none of them feels entirely real. That gap is where my work lives.

The work goes beneath the story, into the patterns your nervous system has been running and the places insight alone hasn’t reached. We start slowly, paying attention to what you’re carrying and where you feel it in the body, not just the story you tell about it. My training is in EMDR, somatic therapy, and parts (ego state) work, and for some, ketamine-assisted psychotherapy offered in partnership with a licensed medical partner. You don’t have to relive something to release it. And nothing here asks you to drop your guard on command; sometimes walls have wisdom.

Working with someone who shares your experience from the inside can matter. As a gay man, I know the particular weight of performing an acceptable self, and I hold that context without needing it explained. I’m affirming of all genders, orientations, and identities.

I hold an MSW from the University of Michigan and an MSc in Psychology from Arizona State University. I’m an Associate Clinical Social Worker (ASW #139998), practicing under the supervision of Emily Haydock, LMFT #109122. Before clinical training, I spent over a decade coaching high-achieving professionals, so high-functioning, high-pressure work is familiar ground.
In-person in Oakland’s Rockridge neighborhood and by telehealth across California. If any of this resonates, I’d welcome a conversation.