I enjoy helping my clients to soar and be all that they wish to be. Each person has their own inner wisdom to lead them on life's path, but sometimes the wisdom and the path seem blocked. When working with you, I'm honored to be a guide or midwife to explore your path and any blocks or wounding that may have obscured it. I believe that the whole person, mind, body and spirit, must be the focus of our time together. We look at both the conscious, rational side of your psyche and the unconscious, imaginative side, so that we may have a deeper knowedge and understanding of who you truly are as a unique person. To do this we may only talk, or look at dreams, use some creative modalities, or energy work as seems appropriate. If you feel unhappy, have suffered deeply, have eating issues, or just don't know what to do, I'd welcome the opportunity to see if we can bring you to the life you wish for and deserve. I also offer "Artist's Way" groups and Authentic Movement. I have a broad range of experience in private practice and community mental health.

No matter what you are going through, know that I am here to listen, support you, and help you figure it all out! Welcome to the newest generation of self-care and mental health- this is easy, accessible, no-stress, stigma-free help for whatever you are going through. Feel free to wear your sweatpants, sit on the couch, and have a session on your phone or laptop. Prefer in person? No problem, we can take a walk outdoors, meet in a coffee shop, or meet in my Eastlake or Fremont Office spaces. Clients have told me I provide a compassionate, empathetic, and truthful perspective. I look into patterns throughout your life to help you understand why you might be feeling or acting a certain way. I work to alleviate your symptoms and fix the root of the issue-think of this like not only putting on a Band-Aid but also healing the wound! I truly believe that everyone can benefit from therapy. I am originally from San Diego, and then I spent some time experiencing life in the vast and often snow-filled states in the great Midwest before finally settling down in the crisp air and flannel-loving state of Washington. I love being a therapist because I love connecting with and helping people :)

I view every individual, family, and couple as unique, and as such, I utilize methods and techniques best suited for each situation. I approach my work using a client-centered, strengths-based model. My scope of practice has included many areas, all pertaining to individuals, couples, and families. Most of my experience and passion involves working with women, teens, and the LGBTQIA community. I am also interested in, and currently work with, individuals and couples around sexuality and intimacy. I was trained in family systems therapy at Seattle Pacific University, which means I approach my therapy work holistically, focusing on the individual and extending beyond that to the interactions between family members and significant others. I work with clients to help them recognize how extended family, culture, and society may impact them as individuals.

I specialize working with couples, individuals and families. I support each individual's life style choices and will help you achieve your chosen goals. When there is full understanding of a problem, yet find the same cycle recreated, I will help you successfully break out of the emotional cycles that are difficult to alter. I offer a safe place to explore concerns about relationships, parenting, marriage, transition, occupation, separation, depression, stress, trauma, and anxiety. I specialized in internal family system, human development, and healing trauma since 1995.

Our relationships with others--partners, friends, family, co-workers, and community members--add meaning to our lives. I use a family systems approach, which means I explore your past and present relationships, so you can function better and increase fulfillment. Whether I meet with just you or your entire family, I look at how current and past interactions may contribute to current challenges, as well as ways relationships can help resolve a problem. My work helps you uncover underlying issues, so you gain greater insight and find solutions, rather than just looking at symptoms. We will look at relationship patterns, triggers and coping strategies, and how they affect you and others in your life. I want to help you address current issues so you can cultivate stronger relationships. I rely on techniques from a variety of perspectives, including emotionally focused therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy. Understanding and addressing the dynamic of ADHD in relationships is also a specialty area.

At Belove Counseling we appreciate that we all have basic needs that we are trying to fulfill. At times, the methods we choose to get those needs met are no longer useful or can have detrimental outcomes to ourselves and our relationships. My approach to therapy begins with a mindful focus on self. The basic needs that provide the foundation for motivation include the ability to love and be loved, the connection with others, learning to recognize your competence and personal power, and to act with freedom and autonomy. Ultimately, we all strive to be emotionally fulfilled and joyous. Together, we will take a journey inward and curiously explore the obstacles and barriers which keep you stuck in unhealthy patterns.

I welcome you to come as you are. I consider our collaborative therapeutic relationship an authentic meeting of equals. I understand you as essentially good, worthy, unique, and capable. In this relationship, your voice matters. And if you're not feeling confident just yet, I'll help you cultivate your authentic voice. I'll help you see your existing strengths and skills, and we'll build on them for further growth. I approach healing and growth holistically and appreciate you as multi-faceted: feeling, thinking, physical, social, and spiritual. Together, we'll consider how to bring these various aspects of you into balance to create your experience of enhanced well-being. My approach to our work is both insight-oriented: we'll seek to understand what's driving your current challenges, and solution-focused: with these new understandings in mind, we'll explore new choices to effect the change you seek. We'll explore the interplay between what's conscious to you now and underlying dynamics that may not yet be fully conscious. We'll aim to bring subconscious dynamics into your fuller awareness to empower your informed agency and choices that are more attuned to your authentic needs and goals. We'll pay closer attention to your habitual thought patterns and consider how unexamined thoughts can sometimes trigger feelings and reactions that haven't been helpful for you. We'll consider expanded perspectives for more integrated, effective views of yourself and others. With mindfulness practice, you'll shift gears from a hurried running on autopilot to a more steady, intentional curiosity and presence to what's unfolding in the here and now. Our therapeutic relationship will serve as a tool for learning about your relationship style and patterns. I draw therapeutic perspective largely from a trauma-informed attachment lens, exploring how your earliest attachments, especially with family of origin, shaped your internal emotional blueprint and expectations about relationships, and how that underlying script has played out, often repeatedly, in your adult relationships. Understanding these early influences allows us to rewrite relationship narratives with informed choice, hanging on to the parts that work, letting go of those that don't. I also draw influence from existential, sociological, systemic, and feminist lenses, exploring the reciprocal interplay between internal landscapes and external social landscapes and influences. My work with couples is influenced by a trauma-informed attachment lens and draws from training in Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFT), Gottman, and Non-Violent Communication (NVC). I bring humility, respect, and genuine interest to our collaboration. My style is down-to-earth, non-pathologizing, and interactive, with healthy doses of humor (when appropriate). I welcome diversity of all kinds and embrace a social justice perspective. I've been in practice as a psychotherapist since 2000.

Hi, I’m Amy, a Licensed Marriage and (Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT)) with over 23 years of experience helping people rebuild after life’s earthquakes. After spending decades in community mental health before starting my private practice in 2021, I’ve worked with hundreds of individuals standing in the aftermath of trauma, anxiety, and major life shifts. If you are feeling overwhelmed, hypervigilant, or exhausted from carrying it all alone, I want you to hear this first: You are not broken, and you are not crazy. You were born with innate strength and resilience; my role is simply to walk beside you, help you clear the debris, and reinforce your foundation so you can feel truly at home in yourself again. Warm. Collaborative. Evidence-based.

The focus of my practice is to help adults who have experienced childhood sexual abuse as well as more recent sexual assault, as well as other developmental traumas. My work also often focuses on family of origin conflict and present boundary setting in all areas of one's life. In treatment, I begin with psychoeducation, feeling identification, exploration of interpersonal patterns, and stress-reduction skills before gently helping the client explore their trauma narrative. Email is the best way to contact me initially; After we connect, I am happy to talk in more detail over the phone about my practice and whether I would be a good fit for you before making an appointment.

Our families are our first social environment and, consequently, are powerful in how they shape our behavior. There is nothing like a romantic relationship to put us in touch with the attachment wounds, negative patterns, or roles with which we grew up. In fact, Imago theory posits that we will actually choose a mate that is exquisitely designed to push our buttons! The idea, of course, is to propel us to grow and change. Often, however, I find that this is the gridlock in which couples find themselves when they present to therapy. My expertise comes into play in holding the space for clients to examine themselves and their relationships in such a way as to enlarge their view and their capacity for change. My experience, education, and intuition allow me a razor sharp focus to see and interrupt negative patterns of interaction and collaboratively move them in a more healthful direction.

You deserve to feel empowered during your journey of self-discovery. My experience integrating a social justice lens into my practice allows me to recognize your identities and how they may impact your experiences. I strive to take the mystery out of therapy and encourage openness and honesty during our work together. My therapeutic style embodies the belief that our environment, society, and the people that we come into contact with can play a variety of roles in how we interact with the world. I primarily utilize systemic, person-centered modalities while integrating skills and strengths-based approaches that fit best for you and your individual goals. I believe that your interests and passions should be celebrated and emphasized in your therapeutic journey. I am personally and professionally familiar with geek and gaming culture and encourage you to bring these interests into your treatment if you also belong to these communities. I invite you to reach out to me to learn more and to see if we may be a good fit.