Susan St Vrain , LMHC

Susan St Vrain is a Washington-based licensed mental health counselor with 30 years of experience. She focuses on helping people find balance during stress, anxiety, loss, and major life changes. Susan uses practical, body-aware methods alongside talk therapy to support healing and coping. Her style is collaborative and client-centered. Sessions are goal-focused and creative. She blends mindfulness, somatic practices, and therapeutic yoga with more traditional talk approaches to meet each person's needs. Susan has a long history working with trauma, anxiety, depression, grief, ADHD, and caregiving strain. She also supports people facing burnout, compassion fatigue, and career or relationship stress. Her background includes work with adoption and foster care issues, attachment concerns, and aging and geriatric matters. In the room she emphasizes simple, usable skills. That can mean breath and movement practices, mindfulness exercises, or cognitive strategies to manage thinking patterns. She pairs these with conversations about boundaries, communication, and life transitions. People who look for a mix of body-based practices and talk therapy often find her approach helpful. She encourages clients to notice what works and to shape the process collaboratively. The aim is steadier daily functioning and clearer choices about next steps. Susan aims to create a warm, nonjudgmental space for growth. Her work centers on helping people build sustainable self-care, repair attachment patterns, and move forward after loss or abuse.

Therapeutic approaches and online care

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) encourages people to notice difficult thoughts and feelings without getting stuck in them and to clarify personal values so actions match what matters. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focuses on identifying unhelpful thinking patterns and practicing concrete skills to change behavior and reduce symptoms. Attachment-Based Therapy looks at how early relationships shape current patterns and helps people try new ways of relating and regulating emotions.

Finding the best approach is part of the process. The therapist works collaboratively with each person to test methods, adjust based on what helps, and shape goals together. Clients can expect a mix of talking, skills practice, and body-aware techniques tailored to their needs and preferences.

Online therapy offers flexible ways to connect. Video calls let people work face-to-face from different locations. Phone sessions can fit into a short break or be easier when bandwidth is limited. Live chat and text-based messaging are useful for brief check-ins, coaching-style support, and ongoing practice between sessions. These options make it easier to maintain consistent work on stress, anxiety, trauma recovery, and other concerns while balancing daily life.