My Therapeutic Approach
Existentialism is my underlying therapeutic approach. This approach takes into account the cultural, social, political and ideological context of a person’s existence. It explores the human condition and tries to capture and question an individual’s experience of it. Existentialism seeks to enable a person to live more deliberately, more authentically and more purposefully, while also accepting the limitations and contradictions of human existence. Existential Psychotherapy is a form of psychotherapy which aims at enhancing self-knowledge in the client and allowing them to be the author of their own lives.
Other strategies I use come from Behavioral, Cognitive Behavioral, Trauma, Dialectal Behavioral, Gestalt and Person-Centered therapies with a foundation in humanistic psychology.
My philosophical belief is that a healthy life is one that includes continued positive personal growth. I believe that it is human nature to want to grow, change, improve ourselves, to find happiness, contentment and satisfaction with life, existence.
The truest help we can render an afflicted man is not to take his burden from him, but to call out his best energy, that he may be able to bear the burden.
— Philips Brooks (1800’s American Minister & Poet)
About Me
I went back to school as an adult and completed a certification in chemical dependency counseling from Shoreline and Edmunds Community colleges in 2000. During my training I became a Washington State Registered Counselor (RC00038027, 1999). After completing a chemical dependency internship at Recovery Centers of King County in 2002, I received a license to practice as a Chemical Dependency Professional (CP00004147). The next several years were spent in programs at Antioch University where I earned a Bachelor’s degree in psychology, addiction and deaf studies in 2001 and a Master’s Degree in clinical psychology in 2004. In December 2006, after completing a Master’s level internship at Seattle Mental Health, I passed a comprehensive examination and received a license in Mental Health Counseling (LH00010791). I have been working in private practice since 2004.