Caroline Fleck, PhD

Clinical Psychologist Executive Coach Author
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Validation

“Profound, important, compassionate, Validation took my breath away. I can’t remember the last time I read a book as beautifully crafted and immediately useful.”

~ Amy Edmondson, PhD, Best selling author of Right Kind of Wrong

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If you’re looking for transformation, look no further.

Welcome, welcome, welcome! My name is Caroline. I am a cognitive behavioral psychologist in private practice, an author, and an Adjunct Clinical Instructor at Stanford. I’m also at the forefront of a movement that considers how to use findings from clinical research to improve industries beyond mental health – think, business, tech, education. Generally speaking, though, I’m not the kind of person who uses “forefront” in a sentence.

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Dr. Caroline Fleck’s Services

Clinical Psychologist in Los Gatos, CA, serving the San Francisco Bay Area, and beyond.

Therapy
Receive proven treatments with the compassion and availability that distinguish expert care from treatment as usual.

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Coaching
Discover the skills you didn’t know you needed to achieve the results you didn’t think were possible for your career or org.

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Speaking
Bring the perfect balance of aha and haha to your event with Caroline’s signature blend of science and storytelling.

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Therapy

5 stars doesn’t come close to doing Dr. Fleck justice. I’ve worked with 4 different psychologists over the years in various capacities and she is really different. It takes her just a few minutes to drive to the core of any issue and make you feel truly understood and then work towards a solution. My wife and I have been seeing her for couples therapy for over a year and it’s some of the best money we’ve ever spent. She is super intelligent yet really affable and easy to talk to. She intentionally keeps her client list small so if you’re lucky enough to get in you really need to give her evidence based therapy a chance no matter what kind of issue you’re dealing with (especially if you’re feeling burnt out from past mediocre experiences with other therapists).
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Marty McFly
Name Changed for Confidentiality

Executive Coaching

Caroline has had a concrete and enduring impact on the interpersonal effectiveness of individuals on my team. She is a wonderful communicator, who motivates people to genuinely care about the topic. She provides accessible, practical approaches for people to grow their skills individually, and for organizations to learn new ways to collectively interact. The material she introduced us to is still prominently on my desk several years later and remains my go-to cheat sheet for approaching professional conversations.
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Vincent Vanhoucke
Senior Director at Google

Speaking & Teaching

​Caroline is a gifted speaker and a phenomenal educator. She knows DBT inside out, and makes the approach come alive in an accessible, hands-on, practical, and genuine manner. She easily engages a large group with diverse needs, insuring that everyone from the beginning trainee to the advanced practitioner walks away with new learning and increased passion and enthusiasm for their work.
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Sanno Zack, PhD
DBT Program Dirctor, Stanford University

Executive Coaching

Caroline has an incredible gift for breaking down complex, emotionally charged situations into manageable and understandable pieces. Time and again, when faced with challenges that felt entirely unfamiliar, she astutely identified the underlying components and connected them to behaviors we had discussed in the past. Her ability to demystify these situations has been tremendously valuable in reducing my stress and helping me grow as a leader. I’d recommend her services to anyone that is considering coaching.
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Karol Hausman
CEO of Physical Intelligence (Pi)

Therapy

Dr. Fleck is warm, empathetic, relatable and extremely sharp and intuitive. I’m continually impressed with how quickly she thinks on her feet and offers insight that seems to fit me perfectly, not to mention frames that insight in a way that translates into actionable steps toward change. She balances understanding and validation so well with practicality and current research, and comes across as very professional and yet accessible. She’s truly helped me change the trajectory of my life.
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Hermione Granger
Name Changed for Confidentiality

Speaking & Teaching

​I was fortunate to have Caroline as my clinical supervisor at UW’s BRTC. She has a keen eye for case conceptualization, and a knack for teaching concepts in a way that’s very engaging, relatable, and relevant. I also appreciated how warm, supportive, and genuine Caroline is. Working with her was definitely a valuable, formative experience for me.
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Janie Jun, PhD
Director of Quality at Lyra Health

Speaking & Teaching

As a teacher, Dr. Fleck is outstanding! Her vast knowledge of psychotherapeutic principles and commitment to science ensure that her content is always cutting edge. Dr. Fleck also has a special knack for sprinkling fun into her presentations; her ability to package complex topics into digestible, memorable concepts has a way of making her classes not just highly effective, but really enjoyable.
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Alexander Clark, MD
Former Stanford Psychiatry Resident

The Latest

The secret to influencing others Validation,
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Caroline Fleck on The School of Greatness
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A clinical psychologist is begging parents, Parade Article
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rethinking with Adam Grat
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Press Kit

Experience & Training

Caroline Fleck, Licensed Psychologist

Dr. Caroline Fleck has served as a supervisor and consultant for some of the country’s most rigorous psychology programs, including Dr. Marsha Linehan’s BRTC at the University of Washington, the Department of Psychiatry at Stanford Medical Center, and the VA Palo Alto. She received a BA in English and Psychology from the University of Michigan and a PhD in Psychology and Neuroscience from Duke University. 

A world-renowned expert on the topic of validation, her new book Validation: How the Skill Set That Revolutionized Psychology Will Transform Your Relationships, Increase Your Influence, and Change Your Life (Penguin Random House, 2025) has been translated in nine different languages.

Interested in Working with Caroline?

Reach out today!

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