A woman with shoulder-length blond hair smiling outdoors in front of a tree with dark red leaves, wearing a white blouse.

Winter Brown

(she/her)

I come to psychotherapy after working for over a decade in the healthcare and the wellness industries as a certified yoga therapist. Here, among other things, I tailored bodymind integrative practices and yoga to people of all ages in a variety of settings, including in-patient hospital settings, outpatient clinics, a neurodiverse preschool, and yoga studios. Many of the people with whom I collaborated lived with chronic medical conditions or experienced unexpected medical diagnoses or events.

I have my own relationship to chronic pain. I lived with persistent pain for seven years and continue to experience it on an intermittent but recurring basis. I also co-taught the ARISE Program for Persistent Pain and Dizziness at Stanford Health Care Tri-Valley from 2019-2025.

I’ve lived in different regions of the U.S. but have settled in the Tri-Valley, California with my family and dog.

Education: 

  • PhD., Duke University - political theory & race and ethnic politics

  • M.A., California Institute of Integral Studies - integral counseling psychology

  • B.A., Seattle University - political science & philosophy

I am a person-centered, liberation oriented, trauma-informed therapist who brings embodied presence and deep grounding into my work. I create a space with you that holds and honors all of your identities, your past, and your present.

We’ll work towards the vibrant future that you envision using the approaches that are best suited for you. 

My work with you

    • Chronic pain, persistent dizziness, & chronic illnesses

    • Relationship difficulties

    • Infidelity

    • Child & adolescent therapy

    • Unexpected medical diagnoses

    • Medical trauma

    • Caregiving challenges

    • Parenting challenges

    • Anxiety

    • Depression

    • Perinatal and postpartum challenges like anxiety & depression

    • Chronic stress & burnout

    • Major life transitions

    • Neuro-Affirming Care

    • Attachment Theory 

    • Parts Work

    • Somatics 

    • Neuroscience

    • Psychodynamic | Depth Psychology

    • Gestalt

    • Ecotherapy

    • Expressive therapy 

    • Narrative therapy

    • Play Therapy

    • Dialetical Behavior Therapy

    • Complex Trauma Certification Training - Janina Fisher (Ongoing)

    • The Body Keeps Score - Bessel van der Kolk (2025)

    • EMDR & Parts Work for Treating Complex Trauma: Somatic Techniques to Decrease Defensiveness and Facilitate Trauma Processing - Arielle Schwartz (2025)

    • Austistic-Affirming ERP Training - Aiden Reis & Sharon Aguilar (2025)

    • Foundations of Neuro-Affirming Practice: Experiential Training for Working with High-Masking Autism, Burnout, PDA and More - Kory Andreas (2025)

    • Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy - Robin Williams Blake, James Hawkins, Kathryn De Bruin, & Susan Johnson (2025)

    • Dialectical Behavior Therapy Certification - Lane Pederson (2025)

    • How Attachment, Trauma, & Temperament Shape Personality: Applications from Interpersonal Neurobiology to Inspire Your Clinical Work - Dan Siegel (2025)

    • Transforming the Living Legacy of Trauma - Janina Fisher (2024)

    • Using Fierce & Tender Self-Compassion to Foster Resilience & Ease - Kristin Neff (2024)

    • Exploring the Internal Family Systems Model for Healing Trauma - Richard Schwartz (2023)

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Guiding beliefs about therapy

I am a philosopher at heart. My own deep roots in Western, Yogic, and Buddhist teachings have only strengthened my fundamental belief in human goodness. I believe that therapy is a path that helps move us more and more to seeing, believing in, and claiming our own goodness. 

Therapy is a process of moving towards and concretizing your own authentic way of showing up in the world, of claiming your invaluable goodness and wholeness, one that is irrevocably your own, preciously valuable, undeniably necessary, and, often, put at risk by the world and others around you.

As Gabor Maté often remarks, people will sacrifice their authentic selves in order to be safe. Therapy is reclamation.

Sunlight shining through the trees in a forest at sunrise or sunset.