About You Rule Therapy
You Rule Therapy was created in 2018. We are a private therapy practice that supervises Associate MFTs/PCC's/ ASWs who provide individual, couple and group therapy from a Harm Reduction perspective. We provide both telehealth and in person services. You Rule Therapy welcomes clients across gender and sexuality spectrums, as well as those who engage in consensual sexual behaviors including but not limited to kink and polyamory. You Rule is committed to the continuous pursuit of culturally responsive and trauma informed care.
About the Founder: Cynthia Hoffman, LMFT
Cynthia has been practicing, teaching, supervising and provided consultation using the principles of Harm Reduction Therapy for over 21 years. She has run Harm Reduction Therapy groups for those 24 years as well, 13 of those years for clients in a private practice setting. She is committed to working with people who use substances, using this compassionate, relevant and effective set of interventions.
She helps the Associate therapists at You Rule understand and work with people who use substances.
Her intention is to pass on this beautiful Harm Reduction practice of meeting people where they’re at, in an effort to help create connection and help people make lasting change. Cynthia is also a sex therapist and specializes in working with those with sex/drug linked behaviors.
more about Cynthia Hoffman, LMFT
As a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice in San Francisco since 1999, Cynthia provides counseling expertise for individuals, couples, and Harm Reduction group participants.
She works from the belief that personal and social history can affect a person’s feelings about themselves, their coping strategies and their relationships. Discovering connections and patterns will help to cultivate insight and encourage change. Cynthia helps clients better understand their own history, practice self-compassion and dispel their negative beliefs about themselves. She is passionate about the work she does and effective in helping people make change in their lives. Cynthia's style is warm, humorous and supportive yet direct and authentic. She is well versed in DBT and CBT therapy which helps her clients recognize and regulate their emotional and cognitive responses.
In family and couples therapy, Cynthia helps couples and families develop communication tools to deepen their relationships. She helps them understand the dynamics in their relationships and practices Sex Therapy when appropriate. She works with people from a wide variety of dynamics, including traditional (same and opposite sex) relationships, alternative lifestyles and practices, and blended families.
Cynthia specializes in Harm Reduction Therapy and Motivational Enhancement in individual, couple and group work. Harm Reduction Therapy accepts that those who use alcohol and other drugs can better understand their use patterns and make significant changes to improve their lives. The Harm Reduction groups are an alternative to AA and other traditional treatment models.
She also specializes in Sex Therapy, working with individuals and couples exploring and enhancing their relationship to their Sexuality.
Cynthia and her associates welcome clients across gender and sexuality spectrums, as well as those who engage in consensual sexual behaviors including but not limited to kink and polyamory. The facilitator(s) are committed to the continual pursuit of culturally responsive care.
Current Associates at You Rule Therapy
Eliza Dropkin she/her Registered AMFT #128891
Are you looking to grow your trust in yourself? Are you feeling “stuck” and unable to be your most authentic self? Does change feel elusive and out of reach? Then maybe it’s time to invest in yourself and give therapy a try.
Eliza Dropkin is a registered Associate Marriage and Family Therapist (Lic. #128891) who received her MA in Counseling Psychology from The Wright Institute in October of 2021. She spent the last two years doing therapy with primarily single mothers (both experiencing homelessness and recently housed) and adolescents at Compass Family Services and YMCA Urban Services. She has co-led anxiety focused therapy groups for both adults and teens.
Eliza works with clients who are struggling with anxiety, compulsive behaviors, life transitions, managing stress, and substance use. She focuses on meeting clients where they are at, and utilizes a variety of tools including talk therapy, expressive arts, harm reduction skills, mindfulness, self-compassion, and inner-child reparenting.
Eliza’s style of practice is strengths-based, collaborative, creative, relational and process-oriented. She brings a warm intuitive energy to the therapeutic relationship that helps people feel safe being vulnerable. She grounds herself in kindness, acceptance and compassion while inviting clients into the difficult territory of self-exploration and accountability. Eliza is dedicated to the ongoing cultivation and practice of cultural humility, antiracism, body positivity, feminism, and lgbtq+ allyship.
Eliza’s theoretical orientation is integrative and trauma-informed drawing from psychodynamic, relational, family systems, and contemplative psychology supported by mindfulness, expressive arts, internal family systems, and the Grief Recovery Method.
Eliza is currently accepting referrals for new clients. She works with California-based individual adults, couples, families, and female identified and/or non-binary teens (age 13+) via telehealth. She intends to offer a dating anxiety focused therapy group later this fall. She can be reached by email at eliza@elizadropkin.com or by phone/text at (415)-498-0101. For more information check out elizadropkin.com.
Ryan Dooley he/him Registered AMFT #143421
Ryan recently completed his MA in Counseling Psychology at the Wright Institute and is excited to see clients in the Bay Area. He works primarily with queer/gay folx, both individually and in relationships, and often explores issues of sex (from kink to OCSB to pleasure), gender, identity, non-monogamy and polyamory, substance use, anxiety, and grief. He also enjoys working with teenagers and recognizes the need for early intervention and support with that developmental age. His approach incorporates harm reduction, antiracist, and trauma-informed lenses, and his style is person-centered and relational. He makes strategic use of interventions from many modalities and customizes treatment for each and every person. His calm and warm approach is a safe space for clients to heal and grow.
Ryan is currently taking referrals both in-person and virtually.
You can contact him at ryan@ryanbdooley.com
Stefanie completed her Masters in Counseling Psychology at The Wright Institute of Berkeley, CA, and believes deeply in the principles of harm reduction. She uses this as a framework to help clients work through their relationships with substances and sexual health. She has experience treating PTSD and trauma-related disorders, sexual assault and abuse, depression and anxiety, love, sex, and intimacy concerns, and more. Her practice is trauma informed, sex positive, empowerment based, and welcomes all identities across the gender and sexuality spectrum. She pulls from her knowledge of narrative therapy, DBT and CBT, emotion-focused therapy, Motivational Interviewing, somatic therapy, and expressive art therapy as tools for treatment. Stefanie is currently taking referrals for both teens and adults, individuals and couples; and invites clients of all different backgrounds and lifestyles into her sessions with non judgement and compassion.
Meet Our Past Associates
www.darcydittrich.com
Darcy Dittrich, LMFT
Darcy Dittrich joined Cynthia Hoffman and You Rule Therapy at the end of 2020 until she was licensed in 2023. She earned her Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology from The Wright Institute. Darcy completed her Clinical Internship at SF AIDS Foundation’s The Stonewall Project, a counseling program dedicated to providing harm reduction-based substance use and mental health treatment to gay, bi and trans men who have sex with men (MSM) who are interested in addressing their drug or alcohol use. She also works at a private practice in Oakland focusing on children, adolescents and families. Prior to her counseling career, Darcy worked at startups and Fortune 500s for a decade.
Darcy endeavors to bring warmth, awareness, and connection to her counseling sessions. She co-creates a unique healing experience with clients, often using humor and creativity to encourage mindfulness, self-compassion, and change. She believes firmly that healing is non-linear, and absolutely that it is possible. Darcy’s colleagues have described her as “compassionate, deep-feeling, inquisitive and intuitive.”
Darcy pursues antiracism, feminism, Harm Reduction, Health at Every Size (HAES), LGBTQ+ allyship, and disability justice. She has lived experience navigating intuitive eating, multicultural relationships, chronic pain, and work stress. She is currently accepting referrals for individuals and couples.
Darcy is taking referrals for couples and individuals. She can be reached at darcy@darcydittrich.com
Leora Lerba, LMFT
Leora Lerba was an associate with Cynthia Hoffman and You Rule Therapy from 2019 through 2021. Leora is a graduate of the University of San Francisco’s Counseling Psychology program, with a focus on Marriage and Family Therapy.
She writes: “I approach the world with a sense of wonder and curiosity, and value each person’s unique and interesting perspective on the world.”
Leora has worked in public health and private practice settings with both couples and individuals with a focus on using Harm Reduction.
Leora works from a collaborative, solution-focused approach with couples from different cultures, genders and sexualities. She can be reached at therapy@leoralerba.com
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