Jungian Therapy Washington

I provide Jungian therapy for Washington state via secure video platform, or in person in Shoreline, Washington. Jungian therapy (also called analytical psychology or depth psychology) grew out of the work of Carl Jung, though it has evolved greatly since his time. When working with clients I am deeply curious about the unconscious wisdom moving in your life and calling you to growth and deep change. You are not just a list of ways you have been hurt and behaviors you have learned as a result. You are a deeply mysterious, powerful, and wonder-inspiring being. I am honored to sit with you, an amazing human, as you explore the depths of your past, the breadth of your emotional, mental, and spiritual resources and connect to that which is at the root of all human longing: connection, meaning, wonder, and joy.

Your whole self is welcome in my therapy room, your glimmers of intuition, your dreams (and nightmares), your spiritual practices, your ancestral and personal traumas and strengths, your skills, and your wisdom. Ritual is an important and instinctual part of being human and ritual figures into all of my therapy sessions. Whether you prefer to weave breathwork, tarot (or other archetypal imagery), meditation, dream work, or other practices into your sessions we will acknowledge the sacredness of the therapy space through practices that set it apart as different from, and vital to, your everyday life.

Like Jung, I practice long term therapy. Over and over research has revealed that what is most healing in psychotherapy is the relationship, not specific techniques, or manualized therapy approaches (though these also have their place). Relationships take time to form, develop, and mature. Whatever it is you struggle with did not come about overnight, and it will not be truly healed in six insurance mandated sessions. For this reason I work primarily with those who seek a long term healing relationship where they can reorganize their attachment patterns, fully explore the why underneath their unhealthy behaviors and beliefs, and within the radically accepting and supportive relationship build a better, healthier, and more mature future. 

For information about cost click here.

Dream interpretation in Therapy

Jungian therapy uses dream interpretation to dive deeper into the world of our unconcious. Our dreams are our psyche's way of letting us know what needs attention. I use a Jungian influenced dream work method which approaches dreams as stories create by our unconscious speaking to us in the only language it has available: symbols.

Because dreams arise out of our personal unconscious material I do not use AI (ever) or dream interpretation books, and I will not interpret your dreams. Instead I will help you interpret your own dreams. You are the only one who can understand the mysterious imagery and mythic story written by your unconscious. Dreams are not literal, and we approach them without shame no matter how strange or confusing they might seem. What if you never remember your dreams? That's OK. It is not unusual to remember few dreams but most people find that when they start taking care of their dreams and listening to them they find themselves remembering more and more dreams.

There is mounting research that shows that PTSD, trauma, and nightmares are closely related and that treating nightmares is an effective method to treat trauma. We are also learning the ways that nightmares and broken sleep impact all areas of your health. Nightmares are not our enemy, but they can be harmful when they are frequent and recurrent. The good news is that there are evidenced based ways of turning those nightmares into tools for healing. Ways we can explore together.

Complex, what?

Jung noticed that his patients had almost scripted, repeating, and predicable way of reacting to certain situations. Sometimes it almost seemed as if the person he had come to know had vanished and in its place was what Jung termed a "complex" but which later thinkers might call a "part" or an "ego state."

We are none of us quite as simple as we might think we are. What we might think of as a whole cohesive self is actually multilayered and even fractured. Complexes develop in many ways, a trauma might create a complex, or a complex might arise to match a specific environment you find yourself in over and over again. Jung viewed complexes not as necessarily bad, as a symptom to solve but as a way of meeting the whole of yourself. Jung's concept of Archetypes informed his complexes heavily such that when a complex is activated the energy of an archetype becomes embodied in the person. Do you always leap to rescue the people around you, embodying the hero archetype without knowing it? Or do you find yourself freezing and collapsing under the onslaught of a trauma trigger, feeling as if you are trapped within the Archetype of victim. Perhaps you cannot escape your Mothering side, so much so even your friends feel smothered? Or you have a hard time feeling or being vulnerable leaning into your intellectual Professor, or Teacher self?

Complexes help us see that there is more to what is happening for us than simply behaviors, and that changing the script requires understanding the root, rather than just trying to plaster over the behavior, lest the complex erupt in a new and destructive way.

Personas & Shadow Work

Jung gave us the concept of both personas, and shadow work. Shadow work has become very popular these days from the tarot community to spiritual groups, to self help books. But Jung's concept of the shadow might be a little different than you expect. For Jung the shadow meant those parts of ourselves we do not have conscious access to because we have suppressed, repressed, or intentionally forgot them, or because they were never nurtured in the first place. Shadow material includes both things we would be ashamed of, afraid of, or disgusted by about ourselves as well as the more familiar socially rejected parts. Jung famously claimed that unless we could look into the face of our own worst impulses and accept them (which does not mean to give in to them or to act on them) we would forever be unconsciously controlled by them, projecting them onto others in destructive ways. 

Shadow work involves not only reclaiming those parts of ourselves we've rejected because family or society incorrectly rejected our gifts, but also coming to accept that we (as humans) are far closer to hate, anger, malice, and unhealthy instincts than we might like to think. Shadow work is uncomfortable, but it puts the power to choose back firmly in your court.

The flip side of the shadow is the persona. Jung taught that we all have many personas, public facing versions of ourselves that fit certain situations. We might have one persona at work, another with the parents in our children's soccer league, and a different persona with our in-laws. Personas are part of living in a society, they are not bad in and of themselves. Rather, they are necessary. We cannot walk around with our full vulnerable selves on display for everyone to see! The issue becomes when we become so fused with a persona that we mistake it for our true identity. Recognizing our personas and being intentional about how we build and maintain them (and having safe spaces such as therapy where we can remove them) is a vital part of the individuation process.

Tarot for Therapy

Why tarot you ask? Isn't that all woo woo weirdness for gullible people who think some paper cards can predict the future? When we work with tarot we do not view it as a predictive medium. Rather, tarot, like our dreams utilizes archetypal imagery (another concept from Jungian therapy) that is present in our shared cultural unconscious. Because tarot uses images that have cultural weight and meaning it can help us confront things we have been avoiding, or see a situation or people from a different angle than we'd been able to in the past.

Used therapeutically tarot is a way of exploring your own rich context and making associations you might never have noticed before! The way we use tarot in your sessions is really up to you. Some people like to pull a card and see what the images connect to from their week, or in their past as a way of breaking through overwhelm or feelings of being stuck. Others like shuffling through a deck to find a card that represents (for them) a situation, emotion, memory, or experience they are trying to explore. You might even choose to make your own symbolic cards using collage, drawing, photography, or other art mediums. Tarot (and other archetypal pictures) helps us speak with images when words just aren't enough. Looking for more books on tarot and Jungian therapy? This list is quite good. And my favorites:

• Tarot Psychology: Handbook for the Jungian Tarot
  
• The Jungian Tarot and Its Archetypal Imagery
  
• Discovering Yourself Through the Tarot

Specializations

My training and background have prepared me to work with a variety of issues. But I love most working with women in midlife as they process their trauma, heal generations of broken relationship patterns, and reclaim their voice and power to build a life of meaning and purpose.

• Questions of identity (values, career change, sexuality, gender)
• Trauma, both recent, past, and complex (PTSD & CPTSD)
• Unlearning unhealthy relationship patterns from our family of origin & our past and building new healthy patterns
• Times of transition (e.g. loss, pregnancy, gender transition, life stage transition, career change)
  
• Care-giver issues (adjusting to changes in relationship, care-giver stress, burnout, grief)

Because of my approach, I also see psychotherapy as a process of self care and growth, and especially enjoy working with individuals who would like to use therapy as a  means of self-exploration.

If you are ready to experience the benefits of psychotherapy, tell your own story, and begin to build healthier relationships and a meaning filled life, reach out! I look forward to meeting you.