I serve individuals grappling with the stresses of modern life: anxiety, depression, relationship conflicts, loss, and existential issues. Through psychotherapy we explore the underlying causes of suffering, the recurring patterns causing you to feel stuck. Through talk therapy we uncover unexamined thoughts, feelings, and ways of being that can undermine your life. We explore root causes of suffering to increase self-awareness, improve relationships, and attain lasting emotional change. Through insight you’ll discover new ways of thinking and being that lead you to a more fulfilling, authentic, joyful, and meaningful life.

I specialize in psychodynamic existential psychotherapy, mindfulness, and creativity. I’m an artist and author of The Adjacent Possible and The Artist’s Journey self-help/creativity books. My goal is to help you move past emotional suffering and what is troubling you and move toward articulating and creating your most fulfilling, loving, and meaningful life.

Finding the right therapist is important. We can get on a call to see if I can be of help. I offer regularly scheduled sessions (50 min) for individuals, creating a safe space for you. I’ve supported people in talk therapy for 3 decades: young adults, parents, scientists, professors, doctors, VCs, CEOs, inventors, creatives, and entrepreneurs.

Dr. Nancy Hillis is a board-certified psychiatrist with decades of clinical experience in psychotherapy. She takes an integrated approach to care, combining psychotherapy with medication management, if needed, to address not just symptoms, but their underlying causes.

Trained in existential psychotherapy and group therapy under Dr. Irvin Yalom, Dr. Hillis also participated in Dr. David Spiegel’s pioneering research in supportive-expressive group therapy for patients with breast cancer at Stanford. Her focus is on helping patients understand the deeper sources of their suffering and build lasting change.

Dr. Hillis earned her M.D. at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in 1986 and completed an Internal Medicine internship at St. Mary’s Hospital in San Francisco. Her medical trajectory also includes training in diagnostic radiology at Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and UCSF, a rigorous path she ultimately stepped away from in search of more personal meaning in her work. That pivot led her to psychiatry, where she has practiced ever since.

She completed her psychiatry residency (1989–1991) at Stanford Medical School, followed by a Child & Adolescent Psychiatry fellowship (1991–1993) there, serving as Chief Fellow. She then worked as Consulting Psychiatrist at San Jose Hospital, working on the adolescent inpatient unit before opening her private practice in Palo Alto in 1995 primarily seeing adults for psychotherapy and medication management.

Beyond the clinical, Dr. Hillis is an international award-winning author whose books, including The Artist’s Journey and The Adjacent Possible series, explore creativity and self-discovery. She leads Artist’s Journey creativity workshops online and in-person, and teaches art at Stanford Medical Alumni’s Sierra Camp.

Dr. Hillis is currently accepting new patients via Telehealth.

•Deep experience in psychodynamic and existential psychotherapy

•Offers adult, young adult, and adolescent psychiatry and psychotherapy

•Values an integrated approach to psychiatry; integration of psychotherapy with medication, if needed, to alleviate the root causes of suffering

•Residency and Fellowship at Stanford Medical School (Psychiatry Residency 1989-1991; Child & Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship 1991-1993)

-Residency: Harvard Brigham & Women’s Hospital (Diagnostic Radiology) 1987-1988

-Research Fellowship/NIH Grant: UCSF Diagnostic Radiology 1988-1989. Presented research: MRI findings of Acute hemorrhagic pancreatitis in rats. Paper presented at Association of University Radiologists in Seattle, 1989

•University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences M.D. (graduated 1986)

•Internship: Internal Medicine, St Mary’s Hospital in San Francisco (1986-1987)

•Private Practice in Palo Alto since 1995

•Consulting Psychiatrist: San Jose Hospital – Child & Adolescent Psychiatry inpatient unit 1993-1995

•International Award-Winning Author -books in self-help and creativity (The Artist’s Journey book series; The Adjacent Possible book series. The Artist’s Journey deemed a “Top 100 Creativity Books Of All Time” -BookAuthority

•Guides Artist’s Journey® Creativity workshops online & in-person

•Teaches art and creativity workshops at Stanford Medical Alumni Sierra Camp

•Currently seeing patients via Telehealth -> Accepting new Telehealth patients

•Trained in existential psychotherapy and group therapy with Dr. Irvin Yalom