Riley Paterson

There are so many ways that life can be difficult and so many paths for healing to take. My priority is to be present for you in the unique difficulties of your unique situation and, together, to create a safe, warm, and open environment. I work with individuals who are healing from past traumas; who are looking to recover a sense of wholeness in the face of depression and demoralization; and those working to get a handle on anxiety. I strive to be warm, friendly, playful, direct, and conversational. The core of my approach is trauma-informed, meaning I believe that healing and growth can only happen in safe and secure relationships. ‘Trauma’ is anything that is ‘too much, too fast, or too soon’ that compromises our felt experience of safety. Feeling safe in relation is not cognitive, but an embodied and physiological experience of comfort and ease in sharing and connecting. My goal is to provide an interaction in which you can feel safe bringing normally overwhelming fears and worries. Many common difficulties – anxiety, depression, demoralization – can stem from chronic feelings of unsafety and insecurity. Together we can find new ways of meeting challenges that feel more authentic, whole, and safe. I was trained in the existential-phenomenological tradition of psychotherapy, a humanistic form of psychology that emphasizes the central role of relationships both in life and in therapy. I believe that relationships are the most important part of life: relationships with others, with ourselves and our bodies, with the varied roles we all fill, and with times and places. My approach has also been influenced by contemporary research on trauma, polyvagal theory, and scientific approaches that appreciate the role our bodies play in emotion and healing. I believe there is a time and place for all of these various perspectives on healing and growth. I’m very interested in the overlap of therapy and social-political life. Thus I am attentive to the pressures of different external roles: gender, professional, familial, and otherwise. Similarly, I am interested in the stress unique to social-political instability, including racism and white supremacy. I am also highly active as a scholar and writer in the world of psychology, psychotherapy, philosophy. I care deeply about and work very hard on understanding what humans are, what our situation is, how healing is possible, and how we can invite growth and learning into our lives. I grew up in Maryland and have lived in Seattle for over 10 years. After completing a bachelor’s degree in history at the University of Maryland, I spent many years working in the coffee industry as I studied literature, history, philosophy, and psychology. Ultimately I attended Seattle University to earn my Master’s in Existential-Phenomenological psychology. I spend most of my free time engaged with several reading groups, pursuing my own writing projects, painting and absorbing the art of others, and cooking.