Trauma Focused Therapists in Richland, WA

I take a Solution Focused approach to guide clients to find solutions on life or personal issues they are struggling with. I work with the client at a pace they are comfortable with to resolve past, present, or future issues of concern. I utilize a variety of theoretical tools that best fit the client’s needs in session. I serve children, adolescents, adults, and elder populations.

I am passionate about helping individuals/couples heal from the anxiety, depression and trauma of sexual issues (including unwanted pornography use). Through my own experience, I know how difficult and awkward it can be to find someone who understands what you are going through. I have my own personal recovery story so I strive to provide empathy and insight to help you find the right next step for you. I believe in considering the biological, psychological, social and spiritual factors involved in any person’s life and making treatment recommendations based on accurate assessment, understanding and compassion.

As we travel our journey, there are times that we need extra help and support. Especially, to move through the rough and uncomfortable times. In therapy, I believe it is important to meet people at what stage they are in while making that journey. This allows us to build the right tool box to equip them for success. I have over 20 years of experience working with adults, teenagers, and adolescents. My experience has been around helping individuals with anxiety, depression, parenting, behavior management, trauma, and other life stressors.

Relationship with others is a primary motivating force in our lives, it is a basic need we all seek to meet in different ways. Non-judgmental collaboration with clients to help discover the emotional patterns in their lives and relationships that can cause and/or maintain distress, with the goal of creating more adaptive and fulfilling responses, is the main focus of the work we do. We will team up to identify the needs underlying your emotions and thoughts and we will work to find clearer and more authentic ways of communicating those needs so that they can finally be met.

I truly believe that our internalized model of safety begins when we're just a child. Dr. Sue Johnson shares, "All of us, from cradle to grave, are happiest when life is organized as a series of excursions, long or short, from the secure base provided by our attachment figure(s)." I work with individuals and couples who have struggled to feel safe and secure in their most valuable relationships. For many of them, understanding how to connect to themselves personally, or with a loved one, is difficult terrain to navigate. I work with issues around experiences with anxiety, depression, trauma, and/or neglect.

You feel so deeply that it’s difficult for you to not feel overwhelmed when faced with decisions. You also feel the need to take every other person's feelings into account, often at your own expense. You have done this for as long as you can remember, and now you’re in a place where you find it challenging to know what it is that you actually want. You regularly feel a sense of loneliness when it feels as though others don’t consider you in the same way. You struggle to find that balance between work and your personal life as it seems the stress of work constantly follows you home.

I am board certified in counseling, especially enjoy working with men and women misunderstandings, and their worries. I assist clients explore their life experiences, to notice how they have shaped/affected their responses to life challenges today. The therapy that I apply heals without re-traumatizing, and successfully helps clients overcome depression, anxiety, panic disorder, OCD, DID, or PTSD, including adult survivors of ACEs. After therapy, people find themselves spontaneously reacting to current stressors in more age-appropriate ways, utilizing their God-given inner strengths and core qualities such as self-assurance, calmness, clearness, audacity, creativity, compassion, and connectedness.

My Counseling Approach: Motivational techniques by truth and honesty. Be empowered from life lessons. Strive balance in life for peace and harmony. And create life goals to keep moving forward toward a positive direction.

Feeling lost, hurt, emotionally drained and afraid, let me help. I know that asking for help is so very hard especially when at times it feels as if no one could possibly understand and you're alone in pain but I am here to help. I have been helping for over 15 years and I am honored when I get to be a part of your life. If you allow me, I will go with you through your difficult journey to find that peace, relief and sense of purpose you so desperately seek.

The constant journey of navigating various identities has been a long and arduous task to discover where to fit in and belong. I have a diverse family history and identify as Tejanos, Enrolled Native American, and Caucasian. The sense of being “not enough” for any group impacts the way I understand myself and the importance of finding one’s voice and self love within the various identity intersections. I carry a sense of absolute curiosity and empathy when working with all clients.

There are thoughts and feelings that can be hard to face alone. I provide a safe place for you to explore these internal struggles without judgment. My goal is to meet you where you're at and help you get to where you want to go. I have worked hard to develop multicultural awareness and work through my subconscious biases so that you will feel comfortable being your true self, regardless of your background.