Nurturing the Imaginal Garden of the Individual and Collective Psyche
A practice that synthesizes a multi-disciplined therapeutic approach for the individual with the
most contemporary methods of Jungian psychology, archetypal disciplines, and psychoanalysis.
I’m Yvonne
I am a licensed marriage and family therapist with a doctorate in depth psychotherapy, and a certified psychoanalyst trained at the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco. Past training includes work with the Community Institute for Psychotherapy in San Rafael (couples, in-school counseling with youth and adolescents), and faculty for the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco's candidate training and extended education programs.
Become who you are meant to be
Depth psychotherapy, and analysis in particular, brings careful attention to your thoughts, dreams, and your unique history, as well as our shared experience in the room. Through this process, we help you locate and connect to your creative self. We will also listen to your stories, tracking the tensions and beliefs that hold you back from living a fuller and more satisfying life. It is never too late to develop ourselves.
Yvonne Smith Tarnas PhD MFT
MFC#48043
I help people cultivate a sense of purpose, tap into their inner resources, and reawaken hope. I have over 20 years of experience as a depth psychotherapist and Jungian psychoanalyst, working with adults, adolescents, and couples.
I work with a wide range of concerns, including:
Anxiety
Depression
Trauma
Life transitions
Illness
Facilitating the creative process
Individuation and self actualization
Often, therapy consists of more than one method to meet a patient’s unique needs and goals. In our work together, beginning with the presenting concern, we explore your beliefs and patterns that have both supported and inhibited you from living the life you seek.
As a Jungian analyst, I pay attention to many different aspects of what you tell me, both past and present, in the form of symbols
and patterns, images and dreams, to assess where your inner self is attempting to grow and be creative. Through therapy and
working with me, we establish a supportive and collaborative relationship that focuses on your needs. We observe, clarify,
and challenge ideas and internal structures that perpetuate passivity and a fear of change, and focus on what
compels, excites, and is most alive in you to evoke curiosity and hope.
Relationships offer a profound opportunity to discover our deepest selves. Yet, along with love and connection, we often encounter disappointment and conflict. Differences that could enrich our connection can instead become sources of frustration. Our beliefs, expectations, and fantasies may get in the way of truly enjoying one another.
Many couples come to therapy feeling tangled in disappointment and misunderstanding. In our work together, I will guide you through practices of active listening and reflective feedback, helping you and your partner expand your capacity for intimacy and understanding.
Our intimate relationships reveal our deepest hopes, fears, and longings. When we struggle to recognize and appreciate our differences, we can become caught in unconscious expectations and patterns that block empathy and respect. At times, we may even push away the very closeness we long for. These moments of distance, while painful, are also powerful opportunities for growth and transformation.
There is a reason you are in this relationship. Couples therapy invites you to explore essential questions:
How do we balance our individual needs with the needs of the relationship?
How can we manage differences without losing ourselves?
How can this relationship support both partners’ growth and individuation?
Together, we can create a flexible emotional space—a shared “mutual skin”—that supports connection, resilience, and mutual respect.
Through the tools of active listening, reflection, and emotional awareness, you can rediscover and expand your capacity for intimacy. What you learn here will not only strengthen your partnership but also enrich your relationships throughout life.
Psychotherapy in an Archetypal Cosmos
AS ABOVE: SO BELOW
Jung Institute of Los Angeles
December 12, 2025
https://www.junginla.org/events/archetypal-sky-above-so-below
Jung Institute of Los Angeles
December 13, 2025
https://www.junginla.org/events/psychotherapy-archetypal-cosmos
"One must have chaos in oneself to give birth to a dancing star."
— Friedrich Nietzsche
