How I Work with Clients
Review this page to consider your options for therapy.
- How I work with clients
- Services offered
- Couples work
- Supervision and consultation
- Concerns to address
- Location
- Insurance
- Scheduling
How I work with clients
I will focus on our therapeutic encounter in the moment, as well as how your experience of your current life situation mirrors earlier relationships and circumstances. Together, we will see what from your past supports and encourages you and what hinders you from being the person you want to be in life. Underlying all difficulties we will work with the assumption that we are continually provided with opportunities to free ourselves from that which limits and obscures joy in our lives.
Our work together will assist you in turning your attention toward greater self-awareness and respect for your self. As we come to know ourselves more fully, we can respond more fully to life in its demands, challenges and opportunities. My primary intention is to help clients discover more compassion for themselves, lessen shame-based thinking and behaviors and encourage a genuine friendliness to develop within oneself and toward others.
As a white, cisgender, woman of privilege, I am committed to deepening my understanding of what it means to be an effective ally to indigenous and people of color. I see it as my responsibility to make efforts toward reparations for the harm that has been done and continues to be done due to systemic racism and white supremacy. To that end, I offer a reduced fee to people of color. If you are an indigenous or POC, please know that if you would like to make use of a lower fee, I would like to work with you to come up with a fee that works for you.
I am trained in a variety of models, including analytic psychology inclusive of dream analysis, and humanistic and transpersonal approaches. I am trained in Lifespan Integration and CIMBS, utilizing these approaches when appropriate. I incorporate somatically informed approaches in service of supporting more integration of thoughts and feelings into one’s felt sense, in the moment.
For my background and theoretical approach, see Background and Experience.
To review or print out my office policy, see the Office Policy file (PDF). For couples, see my Couples Office Policy file (PDF). To review my privacy policy, see the Notice of Privacy Practices file (PDF).
Services offered
I work with clients both on an individual and couples basis. My approach depends on what would be useful for each client's particular set of circumstances and goals. Sessions are usually 50 minutes in length and scheduled weekly or more often as appropriate to the therapeutic needs.
Couples work
I see couples alone or with my husband, Walter McGerry, MA, LMFT, LMHC. I find working together as a couple has certain advantages in creating a sense of balance within the therapy for the couple. This work, with heterosexual and same-sex couples, uses a variety of approaches that foster deepened communication between partners. For more information, see Joint Couples Work.
Regardless of the presenting concerns, it seems that underlying the conflicts, there tends to be great difficulty slowing down habitual interactions enough to take in and hear oneself and the other’s inner experience. The work will focus largely on helping each person learn skills to better communicate and listen to both thoughts and feelings, from and to one another.
I am an approved clinical supervisor in the state of Washington, for clinicians seeking the necessary hours for licensure in Washington state. The supervision relationship is one that takes a great deal of trust and a good working alliance between the therapist and the supervisee. I will attend to all facets of your clinical work including, but not limited to, the therapeutic relationship, theoretical orientation, the structure of your practice, recordkeeping, financial issues, ethics of best practices and backup plans for coverage when you are not available. Our work will also focus on the self of the therapist as a means of understanding and working with transference concerns. Please see my Supervision Disclosure Statement (PDF) for further information on how this works.
I also offer consultation for individual therapists and groups. Individual consultation is appropriate for clinicians who are already licensed but seek more time to investigate their clinical work with another professional. My style in both supervision and consultation includes the clinical issues, such as, the therapeutic relationship, structure and setting, theoretical orientation, best ethical practices, as well as the inner experience of the therapist. As we reflect on our own thoughts, emotions and behaviors in our work with clients, we are more available for the work itself. Please see the Consultation Disclosure Statement (PDF).
Consultation groups are small (5-7 participants) and generally meet every other week These groups are process oriented, focusing largely on the self of the therapist, using clinical issues in their work as a vehicle to more fully engage in the therapeutic process with clients.
Concerns to address
People I work with have the following types of concerns:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Trauma
- Relationship challenges
- Sexual or physical abuse histories
- Life transitions, including:
- Grief and loss
- Family life-cycle concerns - leaving home, starting a family, mid-life concerns, caring for aging parents, separation and divorce, and end-of-life passages
Location
In the Maple Leaf neighborhood near the #67 Roosevelt bus line. This is a new location. For more details, see Contact Information.
Insurance
I am happy to give you a statement at the end of each month with all the codes necessary for you to submit directly to your insurance carrier. I am out-of-network for all insurance providers.
Scheduling
I offer appointments Monday through Thursday.
Appointments are 50 minutes in length, unless we discuss the efficacy of longer sessions, which are 75 minutes.
To reach me, see Contact Information.