Katy Clark (she/they)

My approach to therapy is collaborative, non-pathologizing, and grounded in reverence of human diversity and our capacities to survive, grow, and change. My work is informed by research on human development, neurobiology, trauma, and attachment, as well as by peer-support models and harm reduction principles. I work from a grounding principle of curiosity and strive to create a space where we can be curious together about what is happening in your life, why that might be, and what might be needed to move you towards your goals. My approach incorporates experiential and relational therapies. I draw from modalities such as Internal Family Systems, Emotionally Focused Therapy, and Time Limited Dynamic Psychotherapy. I sometimes incorporate cognitive therapies such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy or Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. With couples and families, I also integrate Imago Dialogue and Nonviolent Communication.

I come to this work after over a decade of involvement in peer-support, harm reduction, & popular education initiatives, mad pride movements, community organizing, and other grass roots social justice work. I have come to believe that attending to our own relational wounds and habits is an essential part of social change; as we work to create changes at policy and institutional levels, we must also attend to the intra- and inter-personal chaos we've taken on from the world around us via upbringing, socialization, and surviving in a world that encourages competition, violence, numbness, disconnection, and disengagement. A formal diagnostic framework is not central to how I understand clients and approach therapy, but rather a means to accessibility of care via insurance utilization. I align more with non-pathologizing approaches that see the sense, strength, and creativity in our adaptations, while also considering what those adaptations are costing us now.