Stéphanie Gay Moss, PsyD

Licensed Clinical Psychologist

Co-Founder, Amphora Psychotherapy

(She/Her)

At the core of Amphora Psychotherapy is the understanding that you are not defined by your symptoms — that your pain, your true desires, your relational patterns, and even your most perplexing emotional experiences are meaningful and worth actively getting to know. From our first session together, I meet you where you are.

I am an experienced licensed clinical psychologist, extensively trained in relational psychoanalytic psychotherapy with adults and couples. This means my work is grounded in the understanding that emotional growth unfolds in relationship — especially in the nuanced dynamics that emerge between therapist and client. A bicultural, multilingual immigrant and French native, my style is warm, receptive, personal, and down-to-earth. My background informs how I listen — not only to individual psychology, but also to the ways culture, the larger collective, language, power dynamics, gender, sexuality, and identity shape experience. Differences and similarities between us matter in the work. I welcome them into the therapeutic conversation as meaningful sources of understanding rather than obstacles to be managed.

Why People Come to Therapy Here

Many people come because they are struggling with anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship difficulties, or major life transitions. Others arrive in moments of deep disruption. I am trained and experienced in working both with people in acute states of mind and in longer-term depth psychotherapy. I work well with you whether you are in crisis, new to therapy, or returning after past therapeutic experiences.

In every case, our work is guided by curiosity, mutual respect, and the belief that lasting change emerges from being alongside another human being who can witness your experience without reduction or haste.

Relational Depth and Emotional Containment

Although beginning therapy can sometimes bring an almost immediate sense of relief, therapy with me is not about quick solutions or symptom control. It is about thoughtful engagement with what truly weighs on you. Our work together is designed to help what was once overwhelming become more thinkable, more tolerable, and more humanly navigable. Feelings that have been too much to hold alone can be witnessed, gently explored, and integrated into a fuller sense of self.

I believe that emotional life is inherently relational: our earliest experiences of attachment shape how we feel, think, love, and perceive ourselves today. In therapy, the relationship itself becomes a secure base — a container in which confusion, ambivalence, and unspoken truths can be brought into awareness and held with care. Whether you feel a great deal or have difficulty locating your feelings, I am receptive to who you are.

A Specialization in Fertility and Donor Egg Journeys

A particular area of focus in my practice is supporting individuals and couples navigating fertility treatment, including journeys involving donor eggs. These experiences can awaken profound emotional terrain — loss, longing, questions of identity and embodiment, and the interplay of hope and fear. Within this complexity, there is often no simple “fix.” What helps most is a space where feelings can be held, differentiated, and thought about rather than simmered in silence or urgency.

In therapy, the fertility journey — with all of its relational nuances — becomes something we can think about together, attend to gently, and integrate into your ongoing life story. This relational work supports not only emotional resilience during treatment, but also deeper self-understanding that can carry forward into parenthood and beyond.

Psychotherapy for Adults, Couples, and Groups

My clinical work includes:

  • Anxiety, worry, and chronic self-doubt

  • Depressive feelings, both short-term and longstanding

  • Obsessive-compulsive thoughts and repetitive behaviors

  • Trauma, loss, grief, and post-traumatic stress

  • Dating struggles and relationship concerns, including intimacy, trust, and repeating conflicts

  • Ambivalence about parenthood; fertility, pregnancy, and postpartum challenges

  • Cross-cultural identity, immigration, and bicultural experience

  • Developmental and life transitions across the lifespan

My Approach

  • Psychoanalytic & Relational — emphasizing real and evolving human connection

  • Bionian-Informed — focused on containment, thinking, and transformation

  • Trauma-Sensitive — attentive to the ways stress and psychological wounds shape experience

  • Culturally Humble & Inclusive — engaged with identity, difference, intersectionality, and power dynamics

    At Amphora Psychotherapy, there is no rush to resolve — and yet change happens through the patient, honest work of two people thinking and feeling together. This work unfolds over time, in depth, and with a steady relational presence. If you are seeking relief, emotional agency, or a renewed sense of freedom and aliveness, I would be honored to walk alongside you in that exploration.

Credentials, Teaching, Training & Affiliations

Licensure & Education

  • Licensed Psychologist in California (PSY32654)

  • Doctorate in Clinical Psychology (PsyD), The Wright Institute, Berkeley, CA

  • Agrégation de Lettres Modernes, La Sorbonne (highly selective post-graduate degree in French, comparative literature, and critical theory)

  • CAPES Certificate, Éducation Nationale, La Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris (equivalent to an MA in education, French literature, and language)

Teaching & Training in Psychology

  • Ongoing study in relational and contemporary psychoanalytic psychotherapy

  • Adjunct Professor in Clinical Psychology, California Institute of Integral Studies (2019)

  • Adjunct Professor in Clinical Psychology, Notre Dame de Namur University (2018)

  • Seminar Instructor, Doctoral Internship Program, California Pacific Medical Center (CPMC) (2017)

Affiliations

  • Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California (PINC)

  • San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis (SFCP)

  • American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM)