Dr. Gaynor is a licensed clinical psychologist in California (License: PSY29574).

As a licensed clinical psychologist, experienced in treating both children and adults, she is passionate about child development and specializes in working with childhood disorders, individuals affected by interpersonal and complex trauma, and challenges to family functioning such as intergenerational difficulties and parent-child relationship problems.

As a therapist she strives to facilitate a dialogue that both empowers and engages clients in their own self-healing, valuing the co-creation of a transformative narrative and experience. She views emotional and behavioral challenges as a dynamic outcome that develops as a result of complex interactions over time, as opposed to something inherently “broken” inside an individual. She works toward helping clients appreciate the resilience, strength, intellect and humor discovered in the therapeutic process.

Dr. Gaynor is a Bay Area native and was raised on the peninsula. She earned her doctoral degree in Clinical Psychology, with a focus in the area of children and families, at CSPP Alliant International University in San Francisco. Her dissertation research focused on examining early childhood attachment, and adult romantic attachment in patterns of domestic violence. Throughout her graduate education she worked in various non-profit community mental health centers and schools providing long-term therapy for children and adults, as well as conducting comprehensive assessments and psychological testing for school-aged children.

Services for Children and Adolescents

Her work with children is derived from both clinical experience/research and developmental science. Individual psychotherapy involves a combination of play therapy and behavior modification techniques. She aims to cultivate a therapeutic relationship based on principles of the “good enough” caregiver, and other tenets of psychodynamic, attachment theory and developmental science.

• Areas of Therapeutic Focus for Children and Adolescents
• ADHD
• Anxiety and Perfectionism
• Aggression and Defiance
• Behavior Modification
• Complex/Developmental Trauma
• Depression
• Emotional & Behavioral Disturbance
• Medical Trauma
• Parent-Child Relationship Problems
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
• School Refusal
• Self-injurious Behavior
• Social Skills Development
• Special Learning Challenges
• Twice Exceptional (2E)

Services for Adults

Clinical practice and study suggest that therapeutic progress is critically related to the therapeutic relationship, and as a professional she prides herself on being able to make both children and adults from varied backgrounds and circumstances feel secure and trusting in both herself and the process. She is sensitively responsive and emotionally attuned, shows clear acceptance of limitation, but balances this against an optimal degree of expectation needed to facilitate and challenge individuals for gains in self-awareness and insight.

• Areas of Therapeutic Focus for Adults
• Emotional and Behavioral Regulation
• Intergenerational Patterns of Family Issues
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
• Parent-Child Relationship Problems
• Parental Self-Efficacy
• Parental Substance Abuse
• Systemic/Institutional Trauma

Parent Skills Consultation

In consultation with parents, she works to share and model the principles applied in her practice with children in order to foster improvement in the child-parent relationship, the most significant and enduring relationship in most people's lives. Parent consultation can occur in conjunction to their child's individual therapy, or as a consultation appointment to assist parents in areas of child development, behavior modification, assessment interpretation, differential diagnosis and education decisions.

Current Professional Affiliations

• California Psychological Association
• San Mateo County Psychological Association