I am a licensed mental health counselor serving clients in the state of Washington via telehealth. As a social-justice oriented counselor, I dedicate myself to fostering an environment of validation and empowerment. With me, you can be wholly and unapologetically yourself. Together, we’ll work to reveal and change unhelpful thought patterns, beliefs, and behaviors that have you feeling stuck. And we’ll come up with practical ways to make the process feel less overwhelming, while embracing the good discomfort that often comes with progress.
From my therapeutic standpoint, I interpret the challenges you confront not just as “personal problems”, but view them from within a larger social context. I believe many of the internal struggles we have are a result of adaptations created in response to societal pressures and traumas (even when they play out in personal relationships and family dynamics). In my perspective, these traumas stem from oppression rooted in capitalism, racism, sexism, homophobia, ableism, ageism, and more. I feel that our adaptations to these forms of oppression can create self-doubt, anxiety, depression, and shame (even if they have also helped us to survive in the past).
My aim is to guide you on a journey of self-discovery, to help you deconstruct and decolonize as you understand the ways you’ve been shaped by these harmful societal norms and expectations. And I believe that with this understanding, you can build new ways of being that allow you to feel happier.
Let’s work together to enable you to embrace your most authentic self (in contexts where it is safe to do so) so that you can redirect your precious energy to creating the life and world you’d like to see and be part of, rather than consent in your own assimilation in myriad invisible ways. Self-trust and self-compassion will be essential pieces of your healing work– skills I can help you develop. Shifting from a mindset of survival-mode to one of abundance and courageous hope (without being unrealistic), will be another part of the process. Finally, accepting your imperfections, honoring your needs, taking up space, and allowing yourself to be fully, messily, human, is the end goal of this personal liberation. As your counselor, I will help you get there.
Ready to embark on this transformative journey together?
Reach out to me to book a free 20-minute phone consultation!
Need to find out more first? Start here –> Get to Know Michelle
“I used to think I was the strangest person in the world but then I thought there are so many people in the world, there must be someone just like me who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do. I would imagine her, and imagine that she must be out there thinking of me too. Well, I hope that if you are out there and read this and know that, yes, it’s true I’m here, and I’m just as strange as you.”
~ Frida Kahlo ~
