Emelia Haiken

Emelia Haiken is a psychodynamic psychotherapist in private practice in San Francisco. She sees children, teens, and adults once a week or more often. Because of her interest in psychodynamic and analytic theories, many of her patients have a history of childhood trauma. In addition to this speciality, she has particular interest in childhood development, sexuality, sexual abuse, and LGBTQ issues.

Emelia works psychodynamically, which is a modality of therapy that focuses on how the past affects the present. In this type of work, there is a belief that not everything in our lives are conscious to us. Therefore therapy is a great way to become more aware of our feelings, our behaviors, and cycles that keep us unsatisfied. She believes this kind of therapy can be helpful to everyone, but is especially helpful for those who have patterns of difficult relationships. With children, Emelia practices play therapy, which is a form of psychodynamic therapy. Play is the emotional language of children, and helping children express themselves through play can slow unwanted behavioral and emotional issues.

Emelia trained at Valley Community Clinic (Los Angeles), The Maple Counseling Center (Beverly Hills), and The Psychotherapy Institute (Berkeley) which have all been focused on psychodynamic or psychoanalytic training. She has also taken certificate programs at The San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis.

Her office is located on Geary and Divisadero in San Francisco. The building is a medical office building that has elevators and includes HEPA filtration systems in each individual office. Emelia's office is large enough to allow for 6 feet between herself and my patients, therefore she is able to see fully vaccinated patients in-person if they choose. Emelia also provides online therapy for those who are not yet comfortable coming into the office, or live too far away.