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.
It is not a lack of love, but a lack of friendship that makes unhappy marriages.
— Friedrich Nietzsche
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.