Heidi Halsey MA LMFT
I am accepting new clients for:
counseling, life coaching, relationship training, parenting plan mediation and psychotherapy.
*LAKEWOOD / SOUTH TACOMA on Monday & Wednesday
Wednesday only after November 30, 2017
*PUYALLUP on
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday
also Monday after November 30, 2017
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist
As a Marriage & Family Therapist I see:
Couples: Married Partners
Cohabitating Separated
Engaged Divorcing
Dating Divorced
Individuals: Adults Teens
(Children 12 and under must have permission and participation from both parents unless specifically allowed via a parenting plan or other provision.)
Families: Immediate family Extended family
Partial family Newly combined families
Children who are mature & talkative (email me).
As a Marriage & Family Therapist or Individual or Couple's therapist I work with individuals, families, couples, teens and children - with their parents. With over 33 years as a therapist and counselor, I have considerable experience working with couples and families regarding marriage, divorce, affairs, communication issues, parenting, blending and combining families, issues arising from various family stage transitions and emotional, physical and psychological conditions including substance abuse, anger management issues, depression and anxiety.
I work with all couples. I have experience working with polyamourous couples and with couples where one person discovers their partner is bi-sexual or gay.
I previously taught both Advanced Family Therapy and Advanced Marriage Therapy at the graduate level, and Psychology and Developmental Psychology at the Undergraduate level.
What are the differences between a
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist/ LMFT, and a
Licensed Mental Health Counselor/ LMHC?
As explained in the RCWs of the Washington State, Licensed Marriage & Family Therapists have training in addition to the training and education of Licensed Mental Health Counselors. Both utilize and apply the principles of human development, learning theory, psychotherapy, origins of mental and emotional distress or unproductive behavior to individuals, couples and families. Both include the assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of mental and emotional disorders. Marriage and Family Therapists, also utilize a variety of theories and treatment strategies, including cognitive, affective, dialectic or behavioral, to assess and resolve the impact of mental and emotional distress or disorders, various forms of abuse, substance use and life events within the context of a client's relationships.
By utilizing psychotherapeutic and family systems theories and techniques along with mental health development theories, clients learn the origin and impacts of their relationships, life events and mental or emotional distress. Clients learn ways to resolve symptoms, feelings, thoughts and behavior patterns that are ineffective or problematic, adopt more productive ways of coping with or responding to symptoms, people or events so that their lives and relationships are more fulfilling and less negatively impacted by the events, relationships or symptoms that brought them to therapy.
The American Association for Marriage & Family Therapy :
"Marriage and family therapists are mental health professionals with a minimum of a master’s degree and two years supervised clinical experience. Marriage and family therapists (commonly referred to as MFTs or family therapists) are trained and licensed to independently diagnose and treat mental health and substance abuse problems. Marriage and family therapy is one of the core mental health disciplines and is based on the research and theory that mental illness and family problems are best treated in a family context. Trained in psychotherapy and family systems, marriage and family therapists focus on understanding their clients’ symptoms and interaction patterns within their existing environment. MFTs treat predominantly individuals, but also provide couples, family and group therapy. Whomever the client, Family Therapists treat from a relationship perspective that incorporates family systems. "