JOSHUA MONTOYA

As a therapist, I borrow from many modalities as I seek to discover the best fit for each client. My therapeutic approach is rooted in trauma-informed relational psychotherapy. This means that I am interested in the characters, key events, cultural systems, beliefs, and somatic experiences that bring you to therapy. I work with adult clients around issues of anxiety, depression, grief and loss, life transitions, trauma, and sexual abuse. Additionally, after much personal experience, I have focused my academic career on studying the effects of and recovery from spiritual abuse within Christianity. Clients who find themselves navigating disillusionment, anger, confusion and pain in connection with harmful experience in the context of church will find that I am deeply knowledgeable in the cultures, language and text of that world. Spiritual abuse includes categories that can become difficult for uninformed therapists to navigate and too often clients are left to chose between Christian counseling (which can introduce a conflict of interest) or traditional approaches to therapy that leave the client feeling they must spend more time translating their story than telling it. For clients effected by spiritual abuse, I offer a unique opportunity to engage more holistically in the healing process. Whatever brings you here, know that the decision to ask for help is one of the bravest and kindest things you can do for yourself. It can also feel terrifying. For this reason, I recommend that all clients speak to multiple therapists before deciding on one to work with. The research is clear. The single biggest determinate of positive outcomes in therapy is the quality of the relationship between the client and the therapist. Let your gut decide who deserves the opportunity to engage your story. In addition to my clinical practice I have worked as an Assistant Instructor at The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology training therapists since 2020. If you’d like to explore further the possibility of working together, I’d love to hear from you.