Frank William Ehrenfried, MA, MBA, LMFT
I’m a father, a husband, a Bay Area native and a therapist. Before entering this field, I worked in both the public and private sectors and also earned an MBA. I value that part of my life. It helps me understand both the satisfaction of building something meaningful and the pressure that can come with it.
Becoming a therapist was a deliberate change in direction, but it also felt like answering a calling. I wanted to spend my working life in conversations where people could be honest about what was happening beneath the surface. There is something deeply meaningful to me about getting to know someone beyond their responsibilities, accomplishments or the version of themselves they feel expected to be.
That interest has taken me into somatic therapy, psychedelic research and integration and founding a clinic. Across these different settings, I keep returning to a question: how does something we understand intellectually become a change we can actually feel and live? It is one reason I’m interested in both rigorous theoretical training and the quieter observations that emerge through experience and close attention.
Alongside private practice, my work includes clinic ownership and psychedelic therapist training. At Polaris Insight Center, I remain involved in ketamine-assisted trainings and mentorship. My research involvement has included adherence rating for the FDA MDMA-assisted psychotherapy clinical trials. I also am the founder of Luvia one of the first Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy clinic in Brazil.
Education and licensure:
MBA, Fundacao Getulio Vargas, Brazil
MA, Integral Counseling Psychology, California Institute of Integral Studies
BA, Peace and Conflict Studies, UC Berkeley
California Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, #123891
Montana Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, #63448
Trainings:
EMDR
The Hakomi Method
Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness Holotropic Breathwork via Stanislav Grof
Somatic Experiencing (SE) with Peter Levine
MDMA for Trauma and PTSD trained via MAPS
Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy training via KTC and Polaris Insight Center