When looking for the right therapist in Seattle, consider their experience, specialties, therapeutic approach, and whether you feel comfortable talking with them. A good therapeutic fit should feel safe enough to be honest while also allowing you to feel challenged and understood. Many Seattle therapists offer a brief consultation, which can help you get a sense of their style before beginning therapy.

Your first therapy session is a chance to get oriented and begin understanding what brings you to therapy. We’ll cover practical details and logistics, talk about what you’re experiencing and what you hope might change, and begin exploring some of the patterns or concerns that feel most important. It’s also an opportunity for you to get a feel for how I work, how our conversations will flow, and what therapy together might be like.

I typically work with clients at least once a week. Weekly therapy helps us stay connected to the work, build momentum, and explore patterns with enough consistency and depth for meaningful change to occur. It also helps us work through the inevitable plateaus or periods when therapy feels more difficult, rather than losing momentum between sessions.

Psychodynamic therapy is a depth-oriented approach that focuses on understanding the patterns, emotions, and past experiences that shape how you relate to yourself and others today. Rather than focusing only on managing symptoms, we become curious about what may be happening beneath them and why certain patterns keep repeating. Over time, this deeper understanding can help you develop new ways of relating, responding, and experiencing yourself.

The length of therapy varies depending on what brings you in and what you hope to get from the work. Some people come for support around a specific concern, while others choose longer-term therapy to understand and change patterns that have developed over many years. Rather than working toward a predetermined timeline, we’ll regularly consider how therapy is progressing and whether the work continues to feel meaningful and useful to you.

Psychodynamic therapy and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) differ primarily in what they focus on and how they approach change. CBT often focuses on identifying and changing thoughts and behaviors that contribute to current difficulties. Psychodynamic therapy goes deeper into the emotional and relational patterns beneath those difficulties, including how past experiences may continue to shape your relationships, sense of self, and reactions today. Rather than only asking how to manage a problem, psychodynamic therapy is also interested in understanding why the pattern exists and creating deeper, lasting change.

Yes. Individual therapy can be especially helpful for relationship problems because the way we connect with others is often shaped by our own emotional and relational patterns. Therapy can help you understand how you respond to conflict, intimacy, rejection, or vulnerability and recognize patterns such as withdrawing, people-pleasing, or difficulty expressing your needs. As you develop a stronger understanding of yourself, you can begin relating to others in more intentional and fulfilling ways.

Yes, I offer both in person and online HIPPA compliant therapy. This enables me to work with people locally , as I am located in the Queen Anne neighborhood of Seattle and also help people located within the state of Washington online.

I specialize in relationship issues for both individuals and couples, including recurring conflict, emotional disconnection, intimacy, infidelity and betrayal trauma, and difficulty expressing needs or emotions. I also work with concerns that often affect relationships and our sense of self, such as anxiety, low self-esteem, people-pleasing, and men’s issues. My work focuses on understanding the deeper patterns behind these struggles so that change can extend beyond simply managing symptoms.

Therapy can help you understand the patterns that shape how you connect with others, including how you respond to closeness, conflict, vulnerability, and emotional needs. As these patterns become clearer, you can begin to communicate more openly, understand your reactions, and stay connected without losing yourself in the relationship. Over time, this can lead to relationships that feel more secure, authentic, and fulfilling.