Dana Byrd

Psychotherapist

Dana Byrd, M.A., has joined Natural Flow to offer psychotherapy services to our clients. She specializes in Nutritional Psychology, utilizing a clinically researched approach to healing addictions, mood disorders, depression, anxiety, weight loss, and eating disorders. She works in conjunction with Dr. Vitaro to test for health issues – such as blood sugar, hormone, or brain chemistry imbalances – that can contribute to depression, addictions, weight gain, and many other physical and psychological issues. In 2001, Dana left a successful, but unfulfilled, Bay Area high-tech career to study psychotherapy. She completed Naropa University‘s Contemplative Psychotherapy Master’s program because she felt it most closely aligned with her personal beliefs about people. Dana believes that we are all intrinsically healthy, but at times we lose sight of that. Her philosophy is based on the notion of “brilliant sanity,” meaning that there is a seed of sanity in all our neuroses, and that our unhealthy coping mechanisms come from earlier times in our lives when they were necessary for survival. They served their purpose at one time; however, they may no longer be of use to us.

Bringing great compassion and understanding to the struggles of the human journey, she strives to meet clients where they are and help them learn to pay attention to habitual patterns with friendliness and curiosity. This leads to insight and the ability to change one’s life. Contemplative psychotherapy is particularly useful for moving from habitual reactions to the ability to respond authentically in the present moment. This can profoundly affect our experience of stress, anxiety, depression, and our relationship with ourselves and others. Experienced as both a life coach and a psychotherapist, Dana brings a well-rounded and honest perspective to the challenges life presents. She also carries a deep passion for taking a holistic approach to achieving optimal wellness. Dana works with adults, adolescents and children. Her main focus is helping people who are struggling with anxiety, depression, addictions, weight loss and eating disorders.