Therapy is self-discovery, developing the ease of being more comfortable in your own skin and feeling confident to have the relationships you want to have. In my practice, I focus on four main areas: anxiety, parenting, decisions in romantic partnerships, and careers.

Anxiety

If you feel unsettled a lot of the time, we can work together to help you feel more comfortable and more in control of your life. Most people in their lives don’t have a space where someone just listens to them, and a place to feel comfortable exploring their thoughts and feelings. With our work together, you can create more calmness in your body, less racing thoughts, more comfort in your relationships, and more comfort in yourself. You can find your voice, learn how to set and maintain boundaries, and be more authentic. This doesn’t happen overnight. But we can practice together, and you can slowly bring your whole self into your relationships.

Parenting

A lot of times people experience shame when they don’t experience parenting the way they thought it would go. Maybe there are times when you don’t show up the way you want as a parent, losing your cool. Or maybe there are times when you just aren’t enjoying your kids. We’re told that parenting is the hardest best job, but people can’t anticipate the ways parenting will challenge them until they’re in the thick of it. Maybe there’s a stage of parenthood that is particularly challenging – not everybody loves babies, not everybody loves the teen years.

Parenting is a lifelong job. It’s both normal and expected to sometimes feel trapped, particularly parenting a child with special needs. If that feels taboo, it’s because we’ve been taught that we shouldn’t have any negative feelings about parenting at all. I think what is actually “normal” is that there are ups and downs. Just like with anything, there are things that we enjoy, and there are things we don’t enjoy. It’s the expectations that get in the way of creating that natural relationship.

Are you parenting a kiddo who is exploring their gender and sexuality? Depending on your gender and sexuality and how you’ve experienced the world, you might feel ill-equipped, confused, or insecure. Parents feel their relationship with their child will suffer – that they no longer know how to help or connect. I work with parents to help them navigate how to show up in a way that will increase communication. I help parents explore complicated emotions so they can show up as a safe presence for their child.

Romantic Partnerships

Are you considering whether to stay or go in your romantic partnership? Do you wonder if you can you even consider leaving your relationship, particularly if you’re a parent? Is that selfish? Is it going to hurt the kids? A lot of times people feel that their relationship isn’t great but it isn’t terrible either. They ask – do I have permission to leave a relationship unless it is super bad?

A lot of times people want a yes or no answer, but together we will explore that there might not be a right decision. Sometimes your discontentment isn’t really about the relationship at all but about other unaddressed issues. We’ll explore the pros and cons of staying or leaving, we’ll talk about how each scenario would play out, and we’d try to figure out what you’d need for you to decide. If you decide to stay, we can work on ways to potentially improve the relationship. If you decide to leave, we can process what to do and how to help your kiddos in the transition. We can think about what life after might look like.

Career Transitions

I am someone who has had my own career transitions. I completely understand what is at stake to step into a whole new career where you have to be a total beginner again. You might have heard, “Just do it, you’ll be fine.” I won’t dismiss your concerns. There are financial realities, logistical questions, lots of things to consider. We can really explore those fears and anxieties without shutting you down.

Change happens when one is willing to bring their new awareness into practice. Change can happen slowly, sometimes more quickly, but generally patience is required. I look forward to working with you.

I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker Associate with the State of Washington (# SC61434962). I regularly seek consultation from colleagues as well as my licensed supervisor, Katherine Walter, MSW, LICSW, CSW-G (LICSW #LW 60136151).

Cindy offers individual counseling (not couples). She sees teens 15+ and adults.