SPECIALIZATIONS
I provide a unique approach to psychiatric care, one that fully embraces a strengths-based, personalized and effective approach. While I can and have treated the whole spectrum of mental health conditions, I specialize in:
trauma (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder)
relationship (individual & couples work)
sexual health and intimacy
mild to moderate depression
anxiety
attentional problems (ADHD)
My work often focuses on professionals who have been successful, but now find themselves struggling, especially clinicians suffering from burnout.
To do that I draw on a range of treatment modalities, to create a treatment plan that builds on your strengths, and is best tailored to you and your goals:
accelerated resolution therapy (ask me more about this amazing modality)
cognitive therapy
behavioral therapy
hypnosis
mindfulness
emdr
life coaching
psychopharmacology
What to expect when you decide to work with me:
I believe our work together is to
first figure out what life you want to create and
what’s keeping you from that,
and then how we can get you there.
Importantly, I recognize that a solution that may work for most people, doesn’t mean it is the best for you. While I have enjoyed a lot of success in my work, each new patient brings a unique journey of discovery that I am honored to share.
I truly look forward to hearing from you, and hopefully working together!
Learn More
Set up a time for a free consultation. This is a chance for us to explore what working together would look like.
MY THOUGHTS ON MEDICATION:
I believe that life is a path.
Occasionally, that path has potholes. When these unexpected dips are only a few inches deep they may be jarring, but we are perfectly capable of working out of the situation on our own.
Sometimes those potholes are a few feet deep. While we may get a little scuffed up on the way down, we can still pull ourselves out.
However, when the potholes are twenty or thirty feet deep, try as we might, we find it nearly impossible to extricate ourselves. At this point we need a rope or a ladder.
I believe that medications function like that rope or ladder - and much like a rope or ladder, we still need to do the climbing that will ultimately get us out. Sometimes that effort may be as simple as taking medications, and showing up; and at others it may be more involved.
Fortunately my training and qualifications enable me to find that unique ladder or rope (or combination of ropes and ladders) to get you back on your road.
It’s important to note that medications aren’t always the right solution for everyone, and many of my patients don’t take any medications, and many of those that do only do so while they need it.
MY THOUGHTS ON THERAPY:
“Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.”
Like sculpting, I believe that life is a process of chipping away the extraneous baggage that keeps us from becoming our authentic selves. The right therapy can be a really effective tool to help us live our authentic lives.
My approach to therapy is strengths based and holistic. I believe that for therapy to be truly effective it needs to be a good fit for both the patient and the provider. As such our first consultation will be over the phone, and at no charge to you.
PHILOSOPHY
I opened my private practice with the goal of providing you a unique style of care and compassion and a holistic approach to your health. I believe medications are just one piece of the equation. I draw from a wide range of modalities from hypnosis, and mindfulness, to trauma therapies, to behavioral and somatic therapies. More importantly, I bring together a unique blend of decades in leadership & team building, design & innovation, and education along with over a decade of psychiatric experience to craft the most personalized and effective treatment for you.
I strive to create an atmosphere free of any sense of judgement so you can feel truly comfortable talking about anything you need to - including giving me feedback about what is working and not working about our sessions. I also understand that therapy is a relationship, one that is built on trust - and that trust is earned. So I am happy to meet you where you are, and trust that you will reveal what you need to when you are ready. So if you happen to reveal to me something different 5 months into treatment than you did on the first day, that is not only okay, I celebrate it.
ABOUT
Dr. J. Andrew Chacko is a Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a Diplomat of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. Until recently, he practiced as a General Adult Psychiatrist SF VA/UCSF. He now focuses his clinical efforts on his private practice in San Francisco. Dr. Chacko’s depth and breadth of clinical experience is unique, having been the only civilian selected for a military residency gaining special expertise in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Traumatic Brain Injury. He has worked extensively in substance abuse, psychotic disorders and severe mood disorders, both in inpatient and outpatient settings.
Dr. Chacko completed his residency in Psychiatry at Tripler Army Medical Center, having received his medical degree from Tufts University School of Medicine. He is a graduate of the U. S. Naval Academy, and served 12 years in the Navy. He completed his post-baccalaureate studies through Harvard, and earned his graduate degree at Stanford University.
A Letter to You:
All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten
(No, Not Mine)
Actually, I don’t even remember my kindergarten or that I even went to one. I lived in India until I was six, and honestly I think they just started sending us to school right out of the gate. I’m talking about my daughter’s kindergarten.
When she was turning five, her teacher invited us to a small celebration they were having at the school. As part of the festivities the teacher sat all the little kiddos down for story time. As they waited, wrapped in anticipation, she began a cute little birth story about my daughter Ayden. “Before she was born, Ayden was sitting up in heaven,“ she recounted, “imagining what her life would be like. She imagined her parents...” And the story kept going. As she spoke, something odd occurred to me - there was nothing about my daughter in the story. In fact, if she simply replaced “Ayden” with anyone else’s name, it would be an equally valid story about their birth.
For those of you that knew her back then, you know that she had these amazing long golden wavy locks (her mom and I always wondered where they came from). She was (and is) a pretty amazing girl - but her hair was something everyone noticed, and even strangers would come up to us to comment on. But there was nothing about those locks in her story. Odd. I thought to myself, well….what if she didn’t have that beautiful hair, would I still love her?
Yes, of course!
What if she had ugly hair (whatever that is), would I still love her?
Yes! Without doubt!
What if she was bald?
Yes!
There was nothing in the story about her smile. We had affectionately come to call her super-powered alter ego “EVIL GRIN” - because when she wore that beautiful and devilish smile, you knew she was cooking up something truly mischevious! She of course had other ones, but that one was certainly note worthy. But, nothing about her smile!
The same thoughts crossed my mind.
What if she didn’t have any of her charming smiles, would I still love her?
Yes, of course!
What if she had ugly teeth and a crooked smile?
Would I still love her?
Yes.
What if she was toothless?
Yes! In fact for much of her early years we wondered if she was ever going to get a full set of teeth.
What if she wasn’t athletic?
Yes.
What if she was handicapped?
Yes.
What if she wasn’t smart? Would I still love her?
Yes.
What if she was stupid? (I know it sounds harsh, but I thought it.)
Would I still love her?
Yes.
What if she was mentally disabled?
Yes.
In fact there wasn’t a condition that I could come up with that would change that I loved her, or that I believed she deserved to be loved. It was then that I realized something really important. None of it was important! She was inherently worthy of being loved! We use all these adjectives to describe the people we love, as if somehow those qualities made them lovable - or worthy of love. But they really aren’t important.
There it was staring at me plain as day… We are all inherently deserving of being loved. There is nothing we need to do, or even can do to make us more deserving of love. Equally important is that there is nothing we can do to make us less deserving of love.
As a physics major, my mind of course turned to a simple physics concept to help me really digest the enormity of this revelation. (Yes, that is my nerd flag proudly flying) In order to get a particle, even the tiniest of particles to travel fast (close to the speed of light fast) we have to push on it with a lot of force. The closer to the speed of light we get, the bigger the force required, until finally to get it to the speed of light, it takes an infinite force. Basically, it’s impossible! But photons (light particles) are already traveling at the speed of light. They don’t need any external force. In fact, an external force can’t make them go any faster, or slower for that matter. So you might be wondering how does this relate?
In short, if you think that being worthy of love comes from accomplishments, attributes or external validation - no amount of it will ever be enough. If on the other hand you understand that you are already perfectly lovable, you know that there is nothing you need to do or even can do to increase (or decrease) that. This was an especially profound revelation for someone (namely me) who had spent his entire life trying to be perfect in order to be good enough and worthy of being loved.
I hope this simple message reaches you in the manner it was intended.
I wish you all the best in your journey!
J. Andrew Chacko