
Shilpi Banka
MA, AMFT
I work with children, teens, and adults, and support clients through acculturation, identity, grief, parenting challenges, and relationship dynamics. I also work with couples and families, including parent coaching and parent-child work.
I view therapy as a collaborative space where you can explore your thoughts, behaviors, and motivations with curiosity and without judgment. I see symptoms as possible expressions of deeper experiences, conflicts, and unmet needs - a form of communication that invites us to understand them rather than simply try to erase them. I enjoy accompanying my clients through their emotional journeys - helping them navigate roadblocks and, at times, excavate what lies beneath the surface. What we uncover - old experiences, patterns, and even strengths - can then be understood and integrated in ways that support rather than constrain your life.
Having grown up in India and built my life in the United States, I have a personal appreciation for the complexities of navigating cultures, identities, family expectations, and belonging. I bring a diverse and multifaceted background to my clinical work. Earlier in my career, I worked across the technology and financial sectors and trained as a classical fine artist. These seemingly different paths have shaped the way I understand people. My analytical training taught me to recognize complex patterns and hold multiple perspectives at once, while art taught me to slow down, attend to nuance, and appreciate what cannot always be captured in words.
Alongside my clinical training, I bring my life experiences, curiosity, and a sense of humor to the work. My hope is to help you develop a deeper understanding of yourself and your relationships, so that you can make meaningful, lasting changes and move through life with greater clarity, freedom, and intention.
Areas of Focus:
• Anxiety and depression
• Acculturation and immigration
• Identity and life transitions
• Family conflict and relationship challenges
• Grief and loss
• Parenting challenges
• Children, adolescents, adults, couples, families, parents
Approach & Style:
• Psychodynamic
• Relational
• Humanistic
• Trauma-informed
• Somatic
• Mindfulness
Credentials:
• Associate Marriage and Family Therapist #164394
• Supervised by Sara Schorr, LCSW #111180
• M.Sc. in Mathematics from Indian Institute of Technology
• M.A. in Counseling Psychology from Santa Clara University
