Cailin Greenburg (she/they)

Cailin (she/they) is a queer, neurodivergent trainee pursuing their master’s in counseling psychology at the University of San Francisco (USF).  

For the last four years, Cailin has worked at a behavioral therapy clinic with a focus on providing exposure and response prevention (ERP) treatment for individuals seeking support with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and anxiety. Cailin has also been involved with the larger OCD community through peer support, group facilitation, advocacy, and research. In addition to ERP, Cailin has experience with acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT). Cailin is presently drawn to experiential, acceptance-based, and non-pathologizing approaches to therapy including internal family systems (IFS) and emotion focused therapy (EFT). While integrating what is useful from Western psychology, Cailin recognizes that these theories are limited in their Euro-centric worldviews and that many harmfully appropriate and decontextualize healing practices from Global Majority cultures without their consent or acknowledgment. In and outside the therapy room, Cailin is dedicated to continuously developing her critical consciousness and participating in struggles for collective liberation.

Cailin’s clinical work is guided by an enduring trust in each individual’s unique wisdom and respect for her clients’ agency and self-determination. Cailin believes that every human is inherently whole, and she rejects biomedical narratives of mental illness that label the source of psychological distress as something “wrong” within an individual. Rather than treating mental health struggles as something to “fix,” Cailin supports their clients in approaching these experiences from a place of compassion and curiosity, open to the information they may offer about unmet needs, limiting narratives, and unjust systems. In all her work, Cailin seeks to facilitate a non-judgmental space where clients feel free to explore areas of change and growth while simultaneously knowing they are accepted and appreciated for exactly who they are in the present. Cailin embraces silliness, awkwardness, and non-normative ways of being and communicating.

Cailin feels most at home when surrounded by birds. She is a lover of all animals (except for ticks and mosquitos) and has a background in wildlife rehabilitation. Cailin expresses themselves through poetry, frog memes, and watercolor.