Parenting Therapists in Ruston, WA

I focus on helping my clients understand and heal attachment issues, processing of trauma, resolving parenting difficulties, and work/life conflicts. My goal is to give my clients a place to feel safe to discuss the stresses and troubles they may be experiencing. Although I counsel people of all ages, I particularly enjoy seeing children under the age of 18. I also like to provide support for parents and help the family achieve regulation by improving understanding and communication between family members.

The transition to parenthood is really hard, isn’t it? Maybe the journey to becoming a parent has been long and challenging. Maybe your vision for what having a newborn would be like has been abruptly altered by the reality of it all. Maybe your dreams feel like they’re falling apart as you grieve a pregnancy loss or grieve who you used to be in the “before times”. This season of life is such a uniquely transformative period that it can throw even the most well-prepared people into a state of emotional and mental chaos they never saw coming.

Welcome to my page. It is so important to find a therapist you feel is a good fit for you! As a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, relationships are my bread and butter. I work with individual adults and couples to identify what is and isn't working in relationships, so you can practice setting boundaries, communicating needs, and living in accordance with your values. Looking at our environment helps us identify what we can control to reduce anxiety, depression, and trauma symptoms. I am trained in EMDR, ACT, and Gottman Method Couples Therapy.

Here you are, fully immersed in the role of a dedicated foster parent, actively shaping the ideal environment for your child. Every day presents new challenges, with added complexity of addressing behavioral issues that come from past traumas. In the midst of this journey, you find yourself grappling with concerns about your child's behavior, eager for solutions that go beyond the surface-level and delve into a more comprehensive understanding of the challenges at hand. Right now you're in the process of seeking a genuine understanding of behavioral principles, eager to apply this knowledge to lovingly guide and support your child.

I am an afro- Latina with Dominican and Puerto Rican heritage. I specialize in working with couples that are needing help creating a new path for connection and emotional safety within their relationship. I explore the meaning making that informs the stories that can dictate how we view our selves, and the world. My work is rooted in social justice and neurodiverse affirming care. Using Narrative and Emotionally Focused therapy, I work towards empowering clients to define success and happiness for themselves.

"Compassionate towards yourself, you reconcile all beings in the world." These words of wisdom hold truth for me. I believe all of life is about relationships--to ideas and circumstances, as well as people--and I think that one of the most important relationships is the one we have with our self. Change is possible when we see things as they are. I work in collaboration with people as they work toward their goals. I see individuals, couples and families (especially teens and parents) who recognize the need for change in their lives.

I work with children, families, individual adults, and teens, prioritizing connection over compliance. I have experience and special interest in healthcare provider burnout, family and parenting support, depression, anxiety, and neurodivergent affirming care. I believe we all have the capacity for hope and growth and all do well when we can. Family support often focuses on strengthening coping and communication skills, allowing us to work together from a place of safety. work to be culturally and LGBTQ+ affirming, anti-ableist and anti-racist.

"You do not have to be good You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles repenting you only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves..." -Mary Oliver. Oliver suggests that liberation is always-already present. How do we contact this natural brilliance? How do we walk that liminal space between will and surrender, acceptance and change? Being incarnated in a human body means facing ordeals but how much we suffer becomes a choice. We refine our ability to choose through deep engagement with various inner practices and orientations.

I'm a solution-focused, results-oriented counselor with a passion for helping people in the most efficient yet comprehensive manner possible. My clients and I identify opportunities for growth in all three aspects of mental health: behaviors, thoughts and emotions. I then suggest evidence-based treatment methods to match our specified goals. This often includes lifestyle change, healthy habit formation and cognitive therapy. Most often, I work with clients' present-day experiences, with less focus on the past. Many of my clients tell me that traditional talk therapy has not worked for them, and they want to try something different.

If you're feeling anxious and finding it hard to cope, you are not alone. As a queer Latina immigrant and a mom, I've been through my fair share of adapting to new roles in life. I can help you discover your strengths and see things from a different angle. Together, we'll figure out how your environment is affecting you and what changes you have the power to make. My work involves body and sex positivity, overcoming systemic and cultural barriers, toxic masculinity, and generational trauma.

I have a passion for helping clients learn new skills for coping, communication, and problem solving. I encourage clients to find their strengths and to help empower them to achieve their therapy goals. I work collaboratively to create client- centered treatment. I have a background working with individuals, couples, and families. I have experience working with at-risk youth, foster children, and children and teenagers with severe mental illness. I have over a decade of experience working with Active-Duty Service Members with dual diagnosis, mood disorders, depression, anxiety disorders, PTSD, trauma, and substance use disorders.

It often starts with the unexpected. Unexpected news, unanticipated turns, unforeseen circumstances, and sometimes the unimaginable. It is at these times we can often feel powerless, afraid, confused, and uncertain. Change for some can be unwelcomed and for other’s change doesn’t seem to come soon enough. We cannot always choose what we go through, but we can choose how we go through it. Many seek therapy due to hard-fought battles with a variety of life issues, such as depression, trauma, anxiety, relationship problems, parenting challenges, and experiences from the past that keep them from moving forward.

If you are seeking to improve your life whether through coping, communication, life skills, relationships, or parenting I am here to assist. I believe therapy is an opportunity for you to establish goals and the two of us work collaboratively together to accomplish them. I will work towards building your trust allowing you to feel free exposing your vulnerability. My goal is to help you manage emotional distress i.e. anxiety and depression as you navigate interpersonal relationships and work through life's difficult transitions - grief and loss, becoming a parent, job transition, separations and defining new boundaries.

I have a Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame and have been working with children, families and individual adults for 25+ years. What I have learned in that time is that we all have rough patches in life. I have also learned that counseling can help, but it is the match between client and counselor that makes all the difference. Clients that match best with me are reflective and have a good sense of humor. It also helps if they have some quirky parts to their personality. I have found these traits help people get through the rough parts of life. Also, I think those traits are the best match for me because I have them too.

I am committed to helping adult individuals and couples find deeper understanding, connection, and peace in their lives. I work with adults on anxiety, overwhelm, loneliness, relationship issues, conflict, life changes and transitions, dating, parenting, friendship, identity work, and more. My work focuses on first identifying and communicating emotional experiences; and then tracking and disrupting patterns that occur individually and in relationships. I believe in collaborating side by side to define and work toward your goals together.