About Ryan Thurwachter, LCSW

Will This Therapist Get It?

You already know you need to talk to someone. The question that keeps stopping you is whether the person on the other end will actually get it, or whether you'll spend the first three sessions explaining your life to someone who nods along and then sends you home with a worksheet.

Why I Do This Work

I became a therapist because therapy saved my life. My baby brother died when I was eleven, and I've lost two more siblings since then to overdoses. The weight of that, along with the guilt of being the oldest who was supposed to take care of everyone, is something I've had to do my own deep work to process. The people I work with carry a different burden than I did, but the pattern is the same: parts that learned early to perform, to hold everything together, and to never let anyone see what's underneath.

That experience is why I take this work as seriously as I do, and why I chose Internal Family Systems therapy. I spent years working in CBT, DBT, motivational interviewing, and complicated grief therapy before I found IFS. Those approaches helped people manage what they were feeling, but they rarely changed why they were feeling it.

When I found IFS, first as a client, I started to understand why I felt the way I did, and for the first time the low self-worth, the anxiety, and the coping strategies that weren't working actually started to shift. It changed things for me personally, and then it changed things for the people I work with. That's why I pursued advanced training through the IFS Institute and why IFS is the center of my practice now.

What Clients Tell Me

One client described going from constant people-pleasing to putting himself first. Another told me she feels more collected and stable, with far fewer of the emotional swings that used to derail her week. What comes up the most is that clients finally understand themselves, and that understanding comes from a place of genuine self-acceptance. That's a far cry from where they started.

Training and Experience

I'm Ryan Thurwachter, a licensed clinical social worker and Level 2 IFS therapist through the IFS Institute, trained in Intimacy from the Inside Out (IFIO) for couples and family work. I hold a Master of Social Work from San Jose State University and a BA from UC Santa Cruz. Before private practice I spent years in community mental health, locked psychiatric units, homeless shelters, addiction treatment programs, and crisis residential facilities. I've been in the mental health field since 2012 and practicing as a therapist since 2018.

Outside the Office

I live with my wife and our dog in the Bay Area. We both went to UC Santa Cruz and still love going down to the coast. I play video games, tinker with my 3D printer, and we've been making Japan a recurring adventure.

My Specialties

I work with professionals dealing with anxiety and imposter syndrome, trauma, and grief. I use Internal Family Systems therapy as my primary modality. I offer in-person therapy in Menlo Park, near the Palo Alto border, and online therapy for clients throughout California and New Jersey.

If you've been looking for a therapist who actually gets it, I'd like to talk. Book a free 15-minute consultation and we'll figure out together whether this is the right fit.

You can also reach out by calling 669-577-6800 or by email here.