Iris M. Steine, Ph.D.

About Me

Many of the people I work with have lived through chronic stress in childhood or adulthood. Perhaps you struggle with a persistent sense of tension or being on alert in your body, strong self-criticism, perfectionism, or a sense of not being good enough. Maybe you long for closeness but find it difficult to trust others or fully let people in. You might notice that you take too much responsibility for others' feelings, lose touch with your own needs, suppress emotions, or struggle to set boundaries or stand up for yourself. Perhaps you have spent so much of your life adapting to others that you don't feel sure what you want, need, or who you are beneath these adaptations. If any of this feels familiar, you are not alone. In therapy, we explore your patterns with care and honesty, so that what has been carried for so long can be understood, processed, and gradually loosen its grip on your life.

In my home country Norway, I am a fully licensed Clinical Psychologist, with more than five years of post-license experience across public and private healthcare. I hold a PhD in Psychology, and spent my doctoral and postdoctoral years studying the long-term impact of adverse childhood experiences and trauma, which gave me a deep understanding of how early environments shape a person's nervous system, sense of self, emotional life, and relationships. I've come to see how the ways people learn to survive difficult circumstances early in life can continue to influence them years later, often through patterns that quietly shape how we feel, relate to others, and move through the world, almost like invisible threads pulling on us in ways we may not fully recognize. 

My work also includes supporting people integrating psychedelic and plant medicine experiences or setting intentions for future ones. The altered states of consciousness these medicines induce can bring deep and meaningful change, but can also stir vulnerability, confusion, or emotional material that needs careful attention. Integration is a deeply personal process of making sense of what emerged and translating insights into real and lasting change.

I also support people who have had experiences that can be difficult to talk about, including unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) and other unusual or hard-to-explain experiences. My approach is open, respectful, and non-pathologizing. There is still much we don't understand about these phenomena, and I won't impose any particular explanatory framework or interpretations of your experiences. Instead, I focus on helping you explore and integrate them, without requiring you to explain or justify what happened. For some, these experiences are awe-inspiring and life-changing, and integration may involve finding ways to honor their significance in everyday life. For others, they may leave lingering fear, uncertainty, or distressing memories, or profoundly challenge their understanding of reality and what they believed was possible. Often both can be true. Whatever your experience, we can explore it together with openness, curiosity, and respect for your own understanding of what happened.

Finally, I also bring an understanding of challenges faced by expats, including distance from long-standing support networks, questions of belonging and identity, and navigating life between cultures.

My approach to therapy is collaborative and grounded in your unique history, needs, and inner world. Together, we work to understand what has shaped you, what still hurts, and what may now be ready to shift. Sometimes this may involve practical tools for daily life. Other times it means slowing down enough to listen to deeper emotional truths, longstanding patterns, and the parts of you that adapted to cope. If something in this resonates, I warmly invite you to reach out. I would be honored to support you in moving toward greater self-understanding, freedom, and a life that feels more fully your own.

Since international licenses don’t carry over to California, I am now working toward California licensure as a Registered Psychological Associate (registration 94029954) under the supervision of Cheryl Tien (PSY 36121). I do not accept insurance.