Jordan Olson

I would like to start by saying the act of asking for help is often a frightful one especially in a society that can often demonize needing help. I respect the bravery necessary to be willing to open up and be vulnerable about difficult parts of your life and to embrace the desire to grow and heal. Depression, grief, anxiety, and more are all powerful forces and seeking help for those is an admirable act. By sharing a bit about my frame of practice and what my approach to care is; I hope I can help to alleviate some of the anxiety associated with starting your therapy journey. I am an Associate Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHCA) in the state of Washington, who has the honor of providing service through Eastside Counseling Center (ECC) in Kirkland, WA. I was trained at The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology and earned my Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology as well as conducted my internship that earned my LMHCA via a non-profit counseling agency serving low income and vulnerable demographics. I have learned a great deal not just from my therapeutic training and experience, and would like to share with you a window into my therapeutic approach. The critical core of my therapeutic frame is Relationships. Relationships are at the core of what makes us humans, we all absorb information through the context of the relationships we have had throughout our lives. Oftentimes traumatic wounds, beliefs, values, and patterns of relating are things we absorb without realizing from our early relationships. My goal is to use my empathic listening to reflect emotional content, and ask thoughtful questions to create a collaborative space to process what is going on for you in your life. By modeling a healthy therapeutic relationship my hope is to help you foster a healthy relationship with yourself and then carry that into relationships with others. I use a couple of tools to achieve this in my practice, and those are narrative and acceptance. First is narrative, which humans have a natural talent for absorbing understanding from. Carl Jung believed that stories evolved with humans and due to this we have ingrained archetypes that reside in the core of our subconscious. I use narrative and its “archetypes” as landmarks for understanding the landscape that has shaped who you are and where you come from. I hope to walk with you in the narrative landscape of your life so that we can both identify the important landmarks, map the common trails that are tread, and find the hidden potential just out of reach. Second is acceptance, or a process of grounding ourselves right where we are at. This means accepting the story we have lived, accepting the world around us, and accepting the things we can and can’t control. Growth happens when we find grounding because our story IS our roots, and thus it creates our support for the future. By bringing in mindfulness and presence such as breathing or meditation, I hope to help my clients move towards acceptance of the past and acceptance of their environment so their roots and bark can grow strong and provide the support needed for growth into the future. I hope you will join me in my therapeutic frame and together we can discover every twist and turn, wade through storms, rest by the fire, lie in healing waters, and discover new places along your journey toward healing and growth. It won’t always be easy but you won’t be alone.