Emotionally Focused Therapists in Kitsap County, WA

I work with people to find a path to less stress, more enjoyment & pleasure in life. Working together we can develop & enhance the experiences of your life to feel more whole and fulfilling. Create a life more satisfying; transmute stress causing difficulty into energy for working towards your goals. Sometimes we are stuck in life situations that block creativity and success. Goals often include happiness, pain relief (physical, mental, spiritual, emotional), finding passion, achievement, self-awareness, productivity, insight, more socialization, healthy relationships (a new one), freedom, joy, meaning, and contentment with life.

In today's hustle culture, it's easy to lose our sense of center. We can get pulled into comparison, fall into patterns that don’t serve us, feel overwhelmed, overstimulated, or unsure of who we are or what we want. My holistic, compassionate approach is designed with these experiences in mind. I want to support you in cultivating deeper self-awareness, connection with yourself and others, resilience through life's challenges, and joy in your daily life. Together, we will uncover what from the past or present needs healing for you to honor your most authentic self.

We have all faced storms in our lives. Yet, our shared humanity and God's unconditional love form the foundation of a counseling relationship built on respect, openness, and hope, regardless of background or beliefs. The degree to which faith influences our professional relationship depends on your thoughts and comfort zone, but you will always have an advocate in me. We will work together to develop a safe, honest, and healing environment that facilitates your growth and wholeness. Over the course of 40 years of walking with God, I have learned that I am no less broken than any other human being. See Gateway Counseling, Poulsbo.

I specialize in helping adults, couples, and families struggling with anxiety, depression, and trauma resolution. From day one, I am transparent with my clients about how their brains work (using biological neuroscience) and why I am asking them to engage in a certain exercise or dive into a specific aspect of their past. Knowledge is power and my goal is to empower my clients to not only reach their goals in therapy but to develop the insight, wisdom, and skill necessary to enhance all aspects of their lives.

As a licensed marriage and family therapist associate and art therapist, I treat children, adolescents, couples and families in a collaborative process to explore concerns and challenges that have arisen in their lives. I work from a strength-based, family oriented perspective. I utilize opportunities to reframe negative family dynamics and emphasize positive strengths to find the possibility of hope.

I have over 25 years of mental health and addiction treatment experience. My goal is to make each person comfortable in their life, be who they are, to feel confident and live a fulfilled life. Therapy is an opportunity to understand ourselves, to increase self-confidence while in various phases and transitions in life.

I support individuals and couples through challenges and transitions to improve the quality of their lives. One focus of my practice is in Perinatal Mental Health (Pregnancy and Postpartum) including mood and anxiety disorders, depression, miscarriage, stillbirth, pregnancy or birth complications, trauma and grief, or difficulties bonding with your baby. I work with couples struggling with relationship issues including the impact having a baby has on a relationship, parenting challenges and healthy communication. Other treatment specialties include substance abuse, relational trauma, emotional regulation, and suicidality.

Welcome! I am a retired Navy Chaplain with 10 years of enlisted service and 8 years as a chaplain. I retired in 2008 and then worked 7 years as a mental health crisis worker, housed homeless Veterans for four years, and now I am doing telehealth therapy since 2020 just before the pandemic. I have a wide variety of experiences with many different types of people in many different situations.

I provide holistic counseling and psychotherapy for couples, adults, and families. My areas of focus include relationship issues, life transitions, gender and sexuality, conscious (positive) aging, living with mental and physical illness, trauma, grief and loss. Drawing on over 40 years in mental health and medical social work, I offer clients support and guidance dealing with the challenges and opportunities of life.

Are you struggling to communicate effectively with your spouse, partner, children or co-workers? Are you confused by the current circumstances you find yourself in? Life isn't easy, but finding someone to talk to about life's challenges should be. As a licensed Marriage and Family therapist, I am passionate about relationships and I am committed to helping individuals, couples and families reach their greatest potential. Using a collaborative approach, I offer my clients a safe environment to learn practical skills to help improve communication and decrease negativity in their relationships.

I am unable to accept new clients at this time. Relationships may be difficult to say the least. Sometimes we feel blindsided by life's twists and turns. We all struggle at times to feel understood or with self doubt, while searching for solutions to overwhelming problems. Whether you are an individual or couple troubled by a present, past or current event, taking that first step, towards talking to someone who may be able to help sort things out, may be one of the most difficult things you do. I would like to make it a little easier.

I work with individuals, couples and families to gain insight and to identify the underlying causes to challenges in their lives. I help people to figure out where they are currently at and to find solutions, while building on the strengths of the individual, couple and/or family. With my assistance, clients prioritize their needs and then set simple, realistic, and achievable goals. Clients draw on their experience and learn to appreciate the areas of their life where they are enjoying success. Clients gain the skills and tools needed to meet their goals.

Thank you for visiting my page. I offer 30 years of experience working with marginalized populations in various capacities. My own life experiences have prepared me to walk with others through challenging life obstacles. Simple strategies that I find helpful are creating a self-care plan and making more connections through this journey. It is in these connections we gain resilience and start the healing process. I have learned over time that when I cannot change life’s circumstances then I might need to change my approach or perspective. Please feel free to reach out if you have more questions about me.

Are you looking to recover from trauma, anxiety, self-doubt, self-criticism, and negative thought patterns? Are you unsure of where to start and feeling overwhelmed? Are you looking for someone to shed some light in areas you cannot yet see clearly for yourself and to help you create a roadmap from where you are to where you want to be? We can create goals and a plan for moving forward together. If you're ready to put in the work it takes to heal and prefer a collaborative approach to therapy wherein you are in charge but will have a caring guide to walk beside you, then we will be a great match.

Updated May'24. Not accepting new clients. Wait-list is approximately 3-4 months. I enjoy working with adults, children/adolescents, and families. I believe that counseling needs to be a safe and brave space to process hard topics. I value choices, respect, culture, education, balance, and curiosity in my work which inclines towards acceptance-commitment, attachment, compassionate, trauma-informed, and brain-based approaches. Trained in EMDR and Brainspotting. DBT certified. Asia Pacific Cultural Center referral resource. Pending VA/medicare credentialing. Fuji is my therapy Maltipoo pup in-training and attends some sessions.