Hello and Welcome
My name is Penelope, you can call me Pen. I am glad you are here.
I am a Licensed counselor serving Washington State via telehealth and in person on the east side of Olympia.
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I teach art therapy, counseling psychology, and career counseling courses at The Evergreen State College, and therefore cannot accept any Evergreen students at this time.
I commonly see clients who live in Olympia, Tacoma, Seattle, and Bainbridge Island (though with telehealth the possibilities are boundless within the state!). I work with individuals, couples and families, and have been in the mental health field since 2006 when I started an experiential learning program teaching trauma survivors carpentry and life skills.
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I earned a Master of Arts in Counseling from Saint Martins University, though I feel that much of my education has also come from the experiences of approaching my own healing and growth. I believe each person possesses the capacity to overcome and integrate even the most unspeakable things and to remember their capacity to dream and experience a beautiful life.
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My Specialties
My specialties are in working with people who are approaching turning over a leaf- with their life, their work, their trauma, with their healing, or with their relationships. Any leaf will do! Research shows us time and time again that the success of therapy is determined more so by the strength of the relationship with your counselor than by any other factor or modality you choose, so therapy with me begins by building trust and getting to know you.
Some modalities I might employ are based on CBT, client-centered, somatic interventions, art therapy, parts therapy, and trauma-informed coaching. Though I can provide a diagnosis if needed, I primarily view the client as part of an ancestral landscape. I rarely see a cause of symptoms as purely medical, though I do believe biology plays a role.
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I am guided by ongoing studies in anti-oppression education and my fascination and deep love of human beings and our relationships to all things.
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Areas of Focus
*Life and career transitions
(This is a huge one-- many people do not recognize the agony that comes with changing your life and career. I take this very seriously and am passionate about providing my clients a deep space to consider the transitional grief so they can make a platform for moving forward in a beautiful way. I was also a career coach for many years so can help with seeding your next path).​
*Anxiety
*Complex trauma
*Treatment resistant depression or fatigue (I'm VERY passionate about this as well)
*Grief and loss
*Complex and acute trauma (This includes both very recent and long-held past traumas)
*Non-traditional life experiences (I am an artist. I know the life path is not
a straight arrow)
*Personal and creative growth
*Relationship challenges
*Enhancing intimacy with self and others
*Orphanhood
*Abandonment
*Sexual Trauma
*Disembodiment
