Licensed Clinical Psychologist
About Dr. Dara Hayden
Dr. Dara Hayden is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist with more than 20 years of experience in the mental health field. She began her private practice in 2008. Her clinical interests include stress and anxiety, trauma and resilience, relationships and life transitions, ADHD and executive functioning, addictions, and mind-body health. She offers individual psychotherapy and consultation for adults, with in-person appointments in Orinda, CA, and telehealth appointments throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, and across California.
Her approach has been shaped by a longstanding interest in understanding people from multiple perspectives. Her professional experience includes private practice, medical and academic settings, clinical training, research, teaching, and supervision. Across these settings, she has been consistently drawn to helping people better understand themselves while developing practical ways to navigate change, relationships, and the challenges of everyday life.
Dara Hayden, Psy.D.
Creativity & the Arts
Creativity has been an important part of Dr. Hayden’s life long before she became a psychologist. Before entering the field, she was a working and teaching artist, with formal training in painting, pottery, and creative writing. She was also classically trained in piano, taught herself guitar, and sang in a band during college. Music, the arts, and creativity remain important in her life. This spirit of curiosity, exploration, and possibility also informs her clinical work in private practice.
In private practice, Dr. Hayden’s background as an artist has shaped her understanding of how creativity is integral to the process of psychological growth and change. She views creativity not simply as related to artistic expression, but as an ongoing process that can guide how we create and re-create ourselves as we explore and redefine our identities, relationships, work, and possibilities across different stages and transitions in life.
Dr. Hayden’s work as a psychologist, artist, educator, researcher, and lifelong learner informs the way she approaches psychotherapy and consultation—with curiosity, openness, and an appreciation for the complexity of each person’s experience.
Professional Background
Dr. Hayden’s path to becoming a psychologist began with her work as an Expressive Arts Therapist at a hospital in the Washington, D.C., area, where she worked with patients in inpatient, partial hospitalization, and addiction treatment programs. This experience sparked her interest in the connections between the arts, creativity, mental health, and the mind-body relationship.
During graduate school for clinical psychology, she continued to explore these interests through clinical training and research. She completed pre-doctoral clinical training at California College of the Arts and worked as a Research Assistant at UCSF’s Women’s Health and Hormone Lab, later named the Psychoneuroendocrinology Lab, and the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine. There, she contributed to NIH-funded research in health psychology, mindfulness, and stress.
In addition to private practice, Dr. Hayden has provided psychological care in a range of settings, including as an on-call psychologist in the emergency room at Sutter Health’s Alta Bates Summit Medical Center and in the inpatient units at its Herrick Hospital. She has worked in APA-accredited programs as a supervisor for pre-doctoral trainees at The Wright Institute and pre and post doctoral interns at California Pacific Medical Center. She taught graduate-level courses at the California School of Professional Psychology and at other institutions. Together, these experiences have shaped her broad and integrative perspective on psychological health and wellness.
Education & Continuing Professional Development
Dr. Hayden received her Doctorate of Psychology (Psy.D.) and Master of Arts (M.A.) in Clinical Psychology from The Wright Institute in Berkeley, California. She holds Bachelor of Arts degrees in English (Cultural Studies) and Studio Art (Painting) from Virginia Tech, where she also completed a minor in Psychology.
Dr. Hayden regularly engages in continuing education and professional conferences to deepen her clinical knowledge and remain current with developments in psychology and psychotherapy. She has a particular interest in emerging perspectives in psychology, interdisciplinary approaches to mental health, and innovative developments in clinical practice.