Coyote Coast

Youth and Family Counseling, Inc.

It is with our commitment to collaboration and strengths-based care that we continue to provide quality services to our clients.

Alex Georgakopoulos, MFT #41883
alexgeorgakopoulos@coyotecoast.com

Alex is Executive Director and Family Therapist at Coyote Coast. Alex shares a passion and vision for working with adolescents and their families and he has gained extensive knowledge and expertise in adolescent psychology during the past 20 years. He has served as an adventure camp director in El Cerrito, a local high school football coach, an inpatient psychiatric mental health worker, a school based graduate school intern in Acalanes Unified School District and as an outpatient therapist for at-risk adolescents in Berkeley. During the past 9 years, Alex was the Deputy Director of Jail After-Care Services working with adult offenders challenged by mental illness in both the San Francisco County Jail and Superior Court System. Alex was instrumental in the design and implementation of San Francisco County’s Behavioral Health Court. Through his experiences, Alex has developed a special interest in the transitional age population particularly due to the unique challenges teens face as they transition into adulthood. Alex also loves spending time with his wife and young daughter. He is introducing his daughter to hiking, camping, and fishing.

Ricardo Murguia, LCSW #23260
ricardomurguia@coyotecoast.com

Ricardo is Founder and Family Therapist at Coyote Coast. His professional experience includes five years working in mental health with the University of California, San Francisco. He also spent five years with the Conservation Corps working in the California backcountry supervising young adults on labor-intensive restoration projects. While with the Corps, Ricardo developed and ran a challenge-oriented wilderness program. He has also worked with middle school-aged children as a day treatment therapist with Seneca Center in Bay Point and currently works part-time as a group therapist for West Coast Children’s Clinic in El Cerrito. An avid backpacker and rock climber, Ricardo spent three years polishing these skills in Southeast Alaska. For the past nine years Ricardo has volunteered as a trip leader with Environmental Traveling Companions, running adventure trips for clients from diverse backgrounds. He holds a graduate degree in Social Work with a focus on Individuals, Families and Groups.

Shamita A. Dhar, LCSW #25585

shamitadhar@coyotecoast.com

Shamita is Director of Clinical Operations and both a Group and Family Therapist. She has been working with Coyote Coast for five years. Her professional experience has centered on working with young people challenged by the stressors of life and who are making important transitions in their lives. Shamita has received a Master’s in Social Work, with an emphasis in Management & Planning from the University of California at Berkeley. During graduate studies, Shamita worked with a youth development organization, facilitating college and vocational preparation projects for underserved youth. Through the San Francisco State Foundation, Shamita has also spent time abroad serving as an art instructor in El Salvador working on various community development projects. Prior to working with Coyote Coast, Shamita spent two years working at a residential treatment center in Oakland, providing individual, group and family therapy services to young people in residential treatment faced with developmental and mental health challenges.  

Tim Weidner, MFT #41813
timweidner@coyotecoast.com

Tim Weidner is the Regional Director of the South Bay and has been a therapist in the Northern California area for the past 12 years.  He attended school at Santa Clara University and is a licensed MFT in California.  Tim started his therapeutic career working in a residential Treatment Center in San Francisco.  He designed and was the director of the adolescent program there which provided therapy and high school credit for severely emotionally disturbed children.  After working for this program for 5 years he helped open the Northern California office of a transition support program, eventually becoming their regional director.  Tim joined the Coyote Coast team to provide therapy and help direct the opening and growth of the San Francisco and South Bay regions.  As an Eagle Scout, Tim has a love of the outdoors and approaches his work with compassion and understanding.  Since he has a young daughter and is welcoming a son in September he getting a crash course in the importance of balance and unconditional love for his own family. 

Michele Holt, LCSW #8300, MFT #16350
micheleholt@coyotecoast.com

Michele Holt is both a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Marriage and Family Therapist. She has over thirty years of experience working with youth and families in a variety of capacities; her work ranging from psychosocial interviewing, crisis counseling, and intensive therapeutic services to a variety of populations including, homeless individuals, individuals and families facing addiction and other substance–related issues, victims of sexual assault, and adolescents referred from juvenile courts and mental health facilities. Michele has also facilitated a variety of groups. Michele is currently an adjunct faculty member with John F. Kennedy University in Pleasant Hill, where she supervises graduate psychology students and in 2008 received an Outstanding Supervisor Award. Michele provides Coyote Coast Staff with ongoing clinical consultation and training in Multidimensional Family Therapy (MDFT) to promote positive outcomes and ground clinicians in an evidence-based model that has been proven to facilitate parental commitment and investment, improve the overall relationship and strengthen parenting skills.

Jonathan Parker, MFT #48560
jonparker@coyotecoast.com

Jon moved to the Bay Area from the New York Metropolitan Area in 2000, leaving behind a career in corporate public relations which allowed him to travel around the world promoting his clients. After moving to the West Coast, he decided to pursue a career that was more personally fulfilling and went back to school to get his Master's degree in Counseling Psychology from John F. Kennedy University. He has worked with clients at the school's Community Counseling Center in Pleasant Hill, and has focused on working with adolescents through positions at Thunder Road, a residential adolescent substance abuse facility in Oakland, and at Miramonte High School in Orinda. He has also worked as a personal trainer and loves to hike and bike throughout the Oakland Hills.


Pay Rose, MFT #41778

payrose@coyotecoast.com

Pay Rose is a Licensed Therapist and Clinical Supervisor with offices in Berkeley and Oakland.  Pay has worked with families, adolescents, children and adults for over 15 years in a variety of settings, including:  Residential Treatment Centers, Public and Non-Public Schools, Alternative Schools, Mental Health Clinics, Drug and Alcohol Treatment Centers, Intensive Therapeutic Foster Care, and Private Practice.  Pay works with people of all ages but particularly enjoys working with adolescents in the roles of Therapist and Mentor.  Pay is especially skilled at working with people in crisis, using a calming, strength-based and supportive approach. Pay is a Bay Area native who enjoys exercise, travel adventures, throwing and teaching boomerangs.

Matthew Foley, MFT-Intern #57255

mattfoley@coyotecoast.com

Supervised by Ricardo Murguia, LCSW #23260

Matt draws from over ten years of working with teens as a teacher, mentor, and therapist. After graduating from college, Matt moved to China and eventually India where he directed semester abroad programs for high school and college students. Matt returned to the Bay Area to combine interests in mindfulness meditation with traditional psychology as a student in San Francisco State's Clinical Psychology graduate program. Matt’s clinical work has been at the SFSU’s Counseling Center and the Center for Special Problems in San Francisco, with a focus on trauma resolution and substance abuse issues. Matt has also worked with teens in foster care through La Cheim Therapeutic Behavioral Services, providing individual counseling and mentoring. In his free time, Matt likes to explore the East Bay hills and play his drums.

Jason Lechner, MFT-Intern #58470

jasonlechner@coyotecoast.com

Supervised by Ricardo Murguia, LCSW #23260

A graduate from Acalanes High School in 1996, this former professional musician is somewhat of a "homegrown" member of Coyote Coast.  Having recently earned a Master of Arts in Integral Counseling Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies, he is pleased to return to working with adolescents that are struggling to find their own sense of identity in the midst of an environment he himself had to navigate years ago.  Over the years, he has come to develop a particular strength in working with issues of addiction and substance abuse, having spent four years counseling at Thunder Road Adolescent Treatment Center and more recently two years with the New Bridge Foundation.  Firmly believing in the importance of holistic and multidimensional approaches to well being, Jason practices Aikido to train his body and principles of Zen meditation to balance the mind.

Claire Arbour, LCSW #27155

clairearbour@coyotecoast.com

Claire is a graduate of Smith College School for Social Work.  In addition to working with Coyote Coast, she has a private therapy practice in San Francisco and Oakland.  Claire has been a mental health professional treating families, adolescents, individual adults, couples, and groups since 2003.  She has worked in residential treatment facilities, community mental health settings (including home-based and school-visiting programs) and outpatient clinics.  Before becoming a social worker she worked as a collegiate-level athletic coach and an outdoor educator. She worked closely with individuals and groups, establishing goals and working towards achieving them while developing programs that improved participants’ self-awareness and emotional resilience in the face of challenges.  Claire loves family therapy and is working to combine both what is good for young people and for the adults who love, nurture and encourage them.

Robert Schene, MFT-Intern

robschene@coyotecoast.com

Supervised by Timothy Weidner, MFT #41813

Rob has been working with teens and transitional age youth for many years.  He is an experienced mentor, having worked with youth as a wilderness field guide in the backcountry of Utah, been the director and a counselor at a transitional age group home, and volunteered as a Big Brother. Rob brings a great deal of warmth, understanding, realism and tough love (as needed) to his work.  He is a psychotherapist intern at Holos Institute in San Francisco where he sees individuals, couples, families, and runs men’s groups.  Rob received his M.A. in Integral Counseling Psychology from the California Institute of Integral Studies, where a major part of his studies focused around issues of life purpose and spirituality. In his free time, you might find Rob in the outdoors: he loves to surf, bike, rock climb and camp. He is also passionate about running Vision Quests and rites of passage work.  Rob brings a deep understanding of the difficulty that can come as adolescents begin to make the transition into adulthood, or back into family life after being in a program away from home.

Bryan Newman, MA

bryannewman@coyotecoast.com

Supervised by Ricardo Murguia, LCSW #23260

Bryan comes to Coyote Coast following a life path that has spanned several continents as well as early careers, ranging from professional musician (drums) in a touring band to long-term human rights volunteer in Nepal. More recently, Bryan designed and led rigorous experiential-education programs in India, Nepal and Tibet for American teens through the Colorado based company, Where There Be Dragons. In 2009, Bryan moved to the Bay Area to pursue his graduate studies at the California Institute of Integral Studies, where he graduated in 2011 with a Master’s degree in counseling psychology. Bryan is passionate about his work with adolescents and is routinely moved in his work of helping them find their authentic self and place in the world. Bryan also works with adult individuals and couples as an intern therapist at the Integral Counseling Center, in San Francisco. In his free time, Bryan enjoys exploring the wilds of northern California, learning to surf in the frigid Pacific, and practicing his tabla (a kind of Indian drum). He is also a certified Wilderness First Responder.

Tess Brigham, MFT-Intern #51518

tessbrigham@coyotecoast.com

Supervised by Alex Georgakopoulos, MFT #41883

Tess is native Northern Californian and received her undergraduate degree at Boston University in Broadcasting and Film with the dream of becoming a film director.  After working in the entertainment business for several years, she wanted to find a career that would be both personally and professionally fulfilling and returned to the Bay Area.  Tess completed her Masters Degree in Counseling Psychology at the University of San Francisco.  Since that time she has worked in a number of therapeutic communities and agencies in the Bay Area.  She has counseled students at Hayward High School and Albany Middle School, worked on a suicide/crisis hotline, and provided mental health services at a drop-in employment center.  For the past few years, Tess has been working with individuals and their families struggling with addiction in both inpatient and outpatient recovery programs in San Francisco and Berkeley.  Most of her free time these days is spent keeping up with her pre-school age son!

John Barakos, MFT #39808

johnbarakos@coyotecoast.com

John is a Family Therapist at Coyote Coast.  He began his career working at Fred Finch Youth Center as well as at Walnut Creek Hospital and Herrick Hospital in their inpatient psychiatric units.  It was there that he developed an interest in working with at-risk youth.  As he finished his internship, he began working for the Lafayette school district and continues to work there to this day. He is also at Acalanes High School as a Crisis counselor. John was licensed in 2003; he has a private practice in Lafayette. John likes working with a diversity of issues ranging from at-risk youth to autistic spectrum disorders.  John came to Coyote Coast because of our emphasis on supporting youth and families and for the highly collaborative environment. Aside from work, he loves being a dad to his four boys.  He has a passion for all outdoor activities, and builds off road vehicles in his spare time.

Caren Ohlson, MFT-Intern #54620

carenohlson@coyotecoast.com

Supervised by Ricardo Murguia, LCSW #23260

Caren co-leads groups and is a Mentor for Coyote Coast.  She has worked with teens for the last 15 years in different capacities, including Drama Teacher, Mentor, Tutor, School Counselor and Therapist.    Caren earned a Master’s of Science from San Francisco State University and has training in EMDR, Somatics & Trauma, and in Drama Therapy.   Caren has spent the last 7 years working as a Counselor and Therapist in school-based programs, assisting children, teens and families with a wide range of academic, emotional and mental health issues.  Her main interest is creating a safe space for her clients to have fun and build their strengths while also doing the difficult, emotional work of making personal and life changes.  When she’s not at Coyote Coast, Caren can be found singing, dancing, making collages, meditating, petting cats at the local Animal Shelter, or cooking a great meal. 

Ryan Crochiere, MFT-Intern

ryancrochiere@coyotecoast.com

Supervised by Ricardo Murguia, LCSW #23260

Ryan weaves into his work, 15 years of experience in wilderness adventure education, rock/mountain guiding, leadership, counseling, and family services.  He has worked in a number of therapeutic wilderness settings and therapeutic residential programs.  Having navigated the difficult waters of adolescence with supportive mentors and a family therapist himself, he understands how helpful and productive the right support can be. Ryan obtained a Bachelor’s in therapeutic use of wilderness from Prescott College and a Master’s in Counseling Psychology at California Institute of Integral Studies. He can think of no better place to put his services to work than the team at Coyote Coast; he provides school-based counseling services at a local private school, facilitates groups for teens, and provides mentoring for individuals.  In his work, Ryan aims to provide collaborative counseling that is honest, compassionate, and in tune with the goals and ambitions of both the organizations he serves and the individuals involved.  Ryan holds a particular attachment perspective within a systemic frame emphasizing the notion that no one shall be left behind; he strives hard to meet that in his work with teens, families, and organizations.  Ryan also works for the Marina Counseling Center in San Francisco, is a consultant to Crossroads Residential Care, and actively guides for Outback Adventures.  In his free time Ryan enjoys getting outside and being involved in the surrounding environment through rock climbing, ice climbing, mountaineering, skiing, surfing, meditation, and running.