Rachel Cloud, LCSW
Therapist in Sacramento & Online
pronouns: she/her/hers
Available Mondays – Thursdays (including evenings)
Who I Help:
Adults & Couples/Partners:
Improving Communication, Intimacy & Connection
Parent Couples & Their Children:
More Connection & Less Stress
LGBTQ+ Folks
Teens
Anxiety, Grief, and Trauma
I help individuals, couples, and families who have experienced stress, judgement, or trauma in their lives and relationships. You carry the burdens of these experiences and you might be feeling stuck and scared.
You can experience more fulfillment in your life and relationships! I’m here to support you.
I’m the kind of therapist who fiercely advocates for, laughs with, loves on, and empowers her clients. You can show up as your real self and know we will find a way through the pain.
You can talk about the hard stuff with me.
Being cut off by people we love, depression in our own life or in the lives of our loved ones, sex, unspeakable abuse. Talking about these experiences with a skilled therapist can free us from the burdens of shame we carry.
I will take time to listen, wonder, and learn with you, while also bringing practical, evidenced based tools and insight.
Together we’ll make space for the breadth of emotions and experiences you’ve had.
We can have fun in therapy, grieve, grow, celebrate, change, process, and fortify the countless strengths and tools you already have. Therapy doesn’t have to be intimidating, boring, or patronizing–in fact, I think it should be the opposite.
I understand family dynamics.
The joys, the sorrows, the inter-generational trauma. The ways we so long for connection, but feel stuck or misunderstood in the relationships with people who are supposed to feel closest to us. I love working with all family presentations: romantic partnerships, chosen family, parents and children, adult children and parents, teens feeling disconnected.
I acknowledge systems and environments, and how identities and oppression affect mental health, connection, community, and well-being.
I strive to create a safe and reflective space, that is social justice and trauma informed.
I have over 10 years experience working with immigrants and people who are first and second generation.
I’ve supported people dealing with pressures of acculturation, cross border and cultural identities, and intergenerational communication. I am fluent in Spanish and English and am happy to offer sessions in Spanish, or Bilingual sessions moving fluidly between Spanish and English as most clinically relevant to you and your family.
I look forward to getting to know you, your goals, and working alongside you!
My areas of expertise are:
Survivors of Trauma
I have extensive training working with survivors of trauma of all ages, including helping parents guide their children through trauma, helping partners connect while navigating trauma, and understanding how trauma impacts neurobiology and development. My training has taught me an abundance of ways to support resilience and healing and I look forward to sharing them with you! I know some traumas are devastating, but may not be acknowledged or seen. I will witness and accompany you, without judgment, validating what you have been through, and supporting your healing through its twists and turns.
LGBTQ+ People
I warmly welcome and am experienced working with the LGBTQ+ community as well as Gender Expansive, Gender Queer, and Non-Binary people. I also am experienced supporting parents of children with these identities. Unique challenges can arise including processing messages people were raised with about the LGBTQ community, setting up healthy boundaries with loved ones, deciding when and how much to share about one’s identities while navigating daily life, living in a world where straightness and cisness are often assumed, and building one’s own thriving support network and ability to self-nurture.
Transition to Parenthood and Parenting
The daily reality of parenting is challenging, and I love empowering grown ups to reflect on their parenting and find more tangible tools to use in those complex moments. Many people clearly hold ideas about what they do and do not want to repeat from their own childhoods. I’m excited to help you figure out more ways to live your values for the incredible, exhausting, and rewarding work of parenting. I’m also experienced supporting people who are exploring the possibility of becoming parents, their options for how to do so, and preparing themselves emotionally for the journey.
Articles by Rachel
Formal Credentials
License
Licensed Clinical Social Worker, #66437: Licensed to practice psychotherapy in California
Education
University of Michigan School of Social Work, Ann Arbor, MI Master of Social Work, Child Welfare Scholar
University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS Bachelor of Arts, Spanish
Trainings
Gottman Method Couples Therapy: Level I
Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (Hold Me Tight Program)
Gottman Couples Therapy: Level 2
Gottman Couples Therapy: Trauma and Infidelity
Modern Sex Therapy Institute: Addressing Common Sexual Concerns in Individuals and Couples
Modern Sex Therapy Institute: LGBTQIA Affirmative Therapy
Modern Sex Therapy Institute: Alternative Sexualities/Non-Traditional Relationships
Anti-Racism & Culturally Affirmative Care, Diversity & Resiliency Institute of El Paso
