Pacific Therapy and Counseling, PLLC

MY WORK Some areas I specialize in include: Anxiety, stress, panic, depression, understanding and responding to emotions, phobias, burnout, mood imbalances, relational challenges, spirituality/existential issues, identity issues, life transitions, and career development. I also have additional clinical training and experience working with ADHD, OCD, and dependency issues (including issues stemming from excessive independency!). Maybe the situation you're facing and what you're seeking help with is known. It may also feel difficult to share your life experiences and meanings. Or maybe words seem to fail right now? Whatever it is that is troubling or difficult— how ever known or unknown, certain or uncertain—let's start where you find yourself, here and now. Your goals for therapy might change over time. Learning and practicing tools that help you navigate relationships and challenges more effectively, change habits/behaviors, unhook from distressing / unhelpful thoughts, and to understand / tolerate emotional experiences are all beneficial, worthy and attainable goals for therapy. Along the way we may explore and develop self-compassion, acceptance, mindfulness, awareness, and a present sense of self. This developing openness and flexibility frees us to find our way back home within ourselves and with others. This may be key to our wellness and well-being: an enduring healing, connectedness and prosperity. MY BACKGROUND, TRAINING, EXPERIENCE My clinical practice is rooted in traditions of existential and philosophical psychology. I integrate trauma-informed, person-centered and relational approaches to psychotherapy, with my professional training in evidence-based treatment methodologies such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Emotionally Focused Therapy for couples and individuals. I am a licensed mental health counselor in WA (LMHC) and hold a master’s degree in psychology (with a focus in existential psychology) from Seattle University. I also hold a bachelor’s degree in commerce from New Zealand, as well as post-baccalaureate diplomas in both Health Sciences (majoring in Psychology, Biology, and Chemistry) and Sport & Exercise Science. Prior to graduate school I worked for twelve years as an outdoor educator, and before that I wandered the world. I was immersed in outdoor education programming with teenagers and young adults from intersecting cultural identities in New Zealand. The therapeutic and restorative benefits of maintaining ties to culture, community, and nature were intertwined within outdoor education philosophy. Noticing this connection to healing spawned my interest in pursuing training in clinical counseling and therapy with a focus on holistic individual healing and growth. MY BELIEFS My orientation and beliefs about therapy (formed through life, as well as formal education and training becoming and practicing as a therapist), are centered around the idea that wellness and therapy is about finding practices and narratives that continually reveal our whole, full, and truest selves—often shamed or unconsciously cleaved from our known worldview or conscious existence. In this sense, we are all connected and bound: finding our sense of home within ourselves so we can feel at home within the world and with others. Walking back into relation, where we all began, one step at a time, and never fully alone. MY SELF A lot of my own stories and meanings that have shaped and healed me are rooted in the earth, in nature, and connected to water. I love the PNW and yearn to spend time adventuring in the mountains and ocean as a way to restore. This sustains my life’s work—not only as a therapist—but also a life-long adventurer, traveler, learner, partner, father (and dog-dad), nature-lover, neighbor, stranger, family member and friend. MY WELCOME In considering therapy you took the important step and began this search. I’m committed to creating a compassionate, judgment-free space for you to be heard, to help you understand, to heal, and to embrace being your truest, fullest self. I want to help you discern what is most valuable, meaningful and purposeful in your life. What sustains you and fills you up? What is wellness for you? What is it like to be you? I welcome you to reach out. If requested, I also offer a free 15-minute consultation to assess therapy needs and fit.