Mary Sanders, LMHC

Mary Sanders is a Washington-licensed mental health counselor with 17 years of experience. She blends a practical, person-centered style with creativity from an arts background to help people navigate relationship challenges, grief, trauma, and life transitions such as midlife shifts.

She keeps sessions straightforward and focused on what matters to each person. Conversations move between talking, problem-solving, and creative exercises when helpful. Mary draws on simple mindfulness practices and cognitive techniques to address unhelpful thoughts and everyday coping skills.

Her background includes long experience in community mental health and private practice, where she supported people recovering from trauma and loss. She also has two decades of experience using theatre and expressive arts as part of healing work, and she offers practical guidance about nutrition and complementary approaches when relevant.

When working with trauma, Mary uses trauma-informed methods and integrates approaches designed to reduce distress and increase safety during treatment. She combines motivational methods and attachment-based thinking to help people rebuild connection and manage feelings like shame, abandonment, or isolation.

To begin, a person completes a short matching questionnaire and schedules a session according to the therapist's availability. Sessions are structured around the client’s goals, with Mary offering a collaborative, down-to-earth approach to finding a clearer path forward.

How Mary’s approaches translate to online work

Mary frequently uses Attachment-Based Therapy to look at how early relationships shape current patterns. This approach helps people notice how they connect, respond to rejection or abandonment, and rebuild healthier ways of relating. Client-Centered Therapy is another cornerstone of her work and focuses on listening, empathy, and following the client's priorities to create practical goals.

Finding the right approach is part of the process. Mary collaborates with each person to choose methods that match their needs, goals, and comfort level. Together they try different techniques, check what helps, and adjust the plan as work progresses.

Session formats are not specified here, so please confirm current session options before booking. Online work can make it easier to fit therapy into a busy week, shorten travel time, and allow for quieter, more focused check-ins. It can also let people use audio-only or shorter meetings when that better fits a schedule or energy level.