MA, LMHC
Sarah Valrejean
Individual Counseling
My approach is rooted in the present moment and relational. I have a neuropsychological and relational understanding of trauma and use somatic awareness, intersectional feminism and psychodynamic and family systems theory to understand how your mental health is impacted by both internal and external systems.
Audre Lorde
Couples and Relational Counseling
My work is deeply influenced by attachment theory and relational models such as Stan Tatkin's Psychobiological Approach to Couples Therapy (PACT) and Sue Johnsons's Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT).
Parenting
I have rich experience as a mom,
step-mother and professional
nanny for over 15 years, all of
which I draw on.
I have a rich back ground in child development and family dynamics
and often utilized The Circle of
Security Model and Hand in Hand Parenting.
*It is important to note that Stan Tatkin Asserts "if you are in an abuse relationship, you must get out!" However only you will know what is best and safest for you, and no one has the right, or ability to tell you what to do. Relational therapy is contraindicated in relationships where there are abusive uses of power and control. Family-system work is only appropriate when there is a base of equality, respect and safety. With folx who may be in abusive relationships, Trauma-informed, harm-reduction and client-empowered models of individual work are the best way to engage relational distress.
The Invitation
I want to know you.
What sparks your passion?
What makes you feel alive, connected,
safe?
Where are the places where your very bones
are sad and weeping, trauma- pulsing through your system like fire, oscillating with deafening numbness?
Where are you breaking from the weight of oppression, the dismantling of your very limbs?
What brings you back to life?
Causes you to move your feet and hands once more;
to get up and rise again,
to begin anew,
an adventure yet unknown?
What is your resilience?
How have your survived?
What would allow you freedom,
connection and love?
Where does your journey connect to others?
For we are an intricate system, dependent
on connection for survival,
and It is a political act to rise up and meet.
Changing one part of the system is where it begins and
we were never meant to be alone.
As a politicized healer, I believe this work is greater than the individual work, but this is where it starts...
For when we find our flower,
our own deeper, connected self than
we can find others.
What would allow you to bloom?
To open up
and thrive,
to find your life source,
your center,
the roots
the ground
As the buds begin to push out,
the leaves widening to the sun,
what will ignite your passion
embolden you as it softens you.
Where will your boldness meet your compassion?
How can we sit
together and learn to stay
long enough at the thresholds
to see what will emerge
when the death has decayed and
life begins again
to bloom?
ABOUT ME
I am a Licensed Mental Health Counselor. My Masters in Psychology is from LIOS the Seattle campus of Saybrook University. I trained at Seattle Therapy Alliance and have completed multiple trainings on the therapeutic integration of domestic violence education, specific immigration issues and social justice. I have a background in Communications and Art history. My BA is from Trinity Western University in Langely, BC Canada. I am a reader, a researcher and I have a strong background in child development.
I am an introvert who loves community, being playful and finding joy. I am passionate about seeing and being seen, being honest and vulnerable. I am terrified by all of that, and yet I continue to pursue it.
My passion is holding space for womxn to find their center. For couples and families to find their home. Allowing the other the comfort and safety to come out and be fully seen. To hold the tensions together, the pain and the passion, the wounds and the celebrations, to find again the places of connection. To help mediate the anxiety as we move through the long process it takes a system to change its shape.
I am passionate about making shifts in the world of therapy, how it is practiced and engages in systemic oppression. It is my commitment to continue to learn, to continue to question, to address the gaps. To challenge my own whiteness. To work my own privilege and to stay engaged in the messy, difficult places where my own intersections smashes up together-the privilege and the disadvantage.
I am a ceremonialist, I live surrounded by alters, Ceremony is filled with symbolism and I am entranced by the emerging pattern, I am fascinated with the shadow, waking dreams, and synchronicity. I am committed to presence-to a tended awareness of my body, the world and the way they merge together. I am dedicated to marking transitions, to hold sacred the space of transformation, and to doing it in culturally-affirming ways.
I love this work and am continually inspired and in awe of the resilience, creativity, empowerment and beauty of those who have been wounded, oppressed and made to feel voiceless. I am honored to be a part of the journey.
Fees
$140 for 50 minutes
Sliding scale fee is available to those who would not otherwise be able to do this work. One of the missions of Reclamation Counseling and Consultation is to support survivors of gender-based violence. In order to do this work, I ask that you pay the full fee whenever possible and that we remain in conversation about financial shifts.
Locations
Currently all session are online via telehealth.
Poulsbo and Seattle