About Rae

I am a white, queer, non-binary, counselor in my late thirties. 

My services are for folks of any gender who are curious to explore their relationship and/or family dynamics. I am especially eager to work with individuals who are curious about what they may perceive as chronic relational challenges. Using a trauma and attachment informed lens, we will explore how our early attachment experiences with caregivers shape the interpersonal habits and behaviors we can carry throughout the lifespan.

I have an extensive background working with youth (ages 13 to 17) and young adults (ages 18 to 25) and adults. I enjoy supporting people as they navigate life, including transitions, anxiety, depression, grief, loss, and chronic pain.

I’m really passionate about: 

• Gender-affirming mental health therapy
  • Using World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) standards of care, I can support individuals of ages 18 and up with exploring issues related to gender identity and gender transition.
  • I can write letters in support of gender-affirming medical care.
• LGBTQIA+ mental health therapy
  • LGBTQIA+ folks seek mental health therapy for similar reasons to non-LGBTQIA folks, but seeing a counselor steeped in LGBTQIA affirming care means that your therapist is more equipped to explore how the negative influences of homophobia, transphobia, heterosexism, cissexism, etc. impact our lives and relationships.
  • Your therapist is also more equipped to celebrate the joy and abundance of your intersectional identity and to highlight those strengths as resources to draw upon as you’re navigating life. 
• Eco-anxiety therapy
  • Eco-anxiety refers to the persistent worry about the future of earth and the life that it shelters. Ecological grief and distress around the real threat of climate change is highly disregarded in the mental health field but the hopelessness that accompanies this anxiety can impact both our daily decisions and our plans for the future. We can develop negative coping strategies, or those we’re already navigating may become heightened.
  • Heightened stress about the threat of climate change can fuel tension with the people in your life, especially if they don’t hold the same views as yourself. In therapy, I can hold this space with you.

Values

As a social worker I always want to center intersectionality in my practice. Some of the questions we might explore are how ageism, racism, sexism, ableism, classism etc., interact and intersect to influence our lived experiences. These questions can be applied to our work environments within systems and institutions, to our immediate family and friends, and to our extended social networks. I'll also aim for anti-oppressive and liberatory practices, leaning heavily on critical race theory, queer theory, and feminist theory. 

Since I work so closely with clients on their relationship dynamics, I think it is important to highlight that I am a sex positive and body positive therapist. I am also affirming of queer and kink relationship structures and family making.

Finally, I strive to be an anti-racist therapist and I weave this lens throughout my practice. Toni Morrison, Nobel Prize winning novelist, called racism “a profound neurosis that nobody examines for what it is.” I would love to support any white people who are already engaged in anti-racist organizing, or who are curious about deconstructing the impact of white-body supremacy, externalized and internalized racism, and the cultural loss/abandonment that accompanies white identity.

Approach

My focus is grounded in person-centered and anti-oppressive frameworks. I believe that the most important method in the client-therapist relationship is the therapeutic alliance we are able to establish with one another. This means that I will always adapt my practice to your needs and in the event that we are not a good match, I will utilize my case-management skills to facilitate your connection to a therapist who is better suited to meet your needs. I highly believe that therapy should not be theory-driven, but relationship driven. My practice utilizes various modalities to nurture the connection between mind and body. Some of those methods include:

• Mindfulness
• Somatic
• Breathwork
• Narrative
• CBT
• DBT
• Psychodynamic
• Attachment-Focused
• Co-Regulation
• Nature-based skills

Education, Training and Experience

The current focus of my practice is in multigenerational practice; specifically centered on relational challenges, depression, and anxiety. I provide LGBTQIA+ mental health therapy, gender-affirming mental health therapy, and I work with people processing ecological grief and distress as well as those engaged in anti-racism work. I work with all genders, currently serving individuals only. 

I am a Licensed Associate Independent Clinical Social Worker regulated by Washington State (Credential Number SC61071436). In accordance with RCW 18.225.145, Associate level Independent Clinical Social Workers may not provide independent services, and must work under the supervision of an approved supervisor. My supervisors are Sima Kulshreshtha, LICSW, and Lara Hayden, LICSW. 

I received my BA in Human Services from University of Central Oklahoma and went on to complete my Master of Social Work degree, specializing in the health and mental health fields, from the University of Washington. In addition to group practice, my professional background includes psychiatric social work, partial hospitalization program therapist, performing suicide risk assessments, behavioral health assessments, gender-affirming care management, medical social-work, mental health case management, agency affiliated counseling, mobile crisis response counseling, positive youth development program management, alternative and outdoor education, and youth homelessness case management.