Colleen West

Colleen West is a psychotherapist and writer in the San Francisco Bay Area. After a brief period as a Montessori teacher, and even a foray into interior design, she became a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, all while raising her three children. It was while working with clients, she found herself challenged by the needs of people experiencing complex trauma. She was inspired and determined to help untangle the deep suffering she witnessed. Along the way, she discovered Internal Family Systems, and had a profound paradigm shift about how to facilitate the healing of trauma. She wrote "We All Have Parts" as a hopeful roadmap to a safer place. As of October 2022, We All Have Parts has sold more than 12,000 copies in English, Spanish, French, and Korean. She now devotes herself to clients, training and mentoring newer psychotherapists, and writing. Her poetry has been published in literary journals. In her leisure, she likes spending time in nature and preparing feasts for family and friends.