30
Years in mental health
27
Years of clinical practice
1M+
One million+ readers reached monthly via GoodTherapy.org, as Founder and former CEO
25 years of
providing
IFS therapy
Noah trained in IFS directly with its developer, Richard Schwartz, PhD, beginning in 2002. He went on to assist in IFS trainings, host workshops, and supervise other IFS therapists. In 2007 he founded GoodTherapy.org, one of the world’s leading mental health resources, which he led until 2018.
Some of the things
I help people with...
People come to therapy for many reasons. Some know exactly what hurts, others know that something just doesn't feel right. When something's off it can show up in how you relate to yourself, how you relate to others, how you cope with stress or pain, or in the distance between how you feel and how you'd like to feel.
WHAT I OFFER
Two ways we might work together.
Each begins with a free 15 minute consultation so we can briefly connect and see whether the fit feels right.
Individual IFS Psychotherapy
For adults who want to better understand themselves, work through painful or long standing patterns, and create deeper, more lasting change. My work is strongly informed by Internal Family Systems therapy, which helps us approach the parts of ourselves that struggle, react, protect, defend, or carry hurt and fear with curiosity and compassion, so that old patterns can begin to loosen and new ways of being can emerge.
Couples and Marriage Counseling
For couples who feel distant, conflicted, or caught in patterns they don’t know how to change. Couples therapy can help each person communicate more openly and understand one another more deeply, so that both partners feel heard, cared for, and less alone in the relationship. Along the way, couples begin to recognize the patterns they create together and learn new ways of responding that can bring more understanding, connection, and compassion into difficult moments.
People Often Begin Searching for a Therapist Quietly
There may not be a dramatic crisis, only a growing sense that something in life feels harder, heavier, or less meaningful than it should. You may still be functioning well, yet feel as though too much of your life is spent managing, producing, or holding things together, and not enough of it is actually enjoyed. Online therapy can offer a way to begin shifting that pattern gently. Meeting by video or phone makes it easier to start from the privacy of your own space, without adding travel time or more demand to a full schedule. Therapy then becomes a place to understand what has been creating the unhappiness beneath the surface, and to reconnect with qualities like calm, confidence, joy, trust, optimism and a deeper sense of being fully alive.
It may start as a vague sense that something in life feels harder than it should. From the outside, things appear to be working. Career, relationships, financial stability, and the ability to manage responsibilities may all be intact. Yet internally, something feels unsettled. There may be stress that never totally lets up, persistent pressure, or a sense that life is being managed rather than enjoyed.
For many people who live in wealthy communities, including Hunts Point, Washington, the question is not whether they are capable. In fact, most successful people who begin therapy are exceptionally capable. They have spent years developing the skills needed to succeed in demanding environments. They tend to see the forest for the trees, discern important information, make difficult decisions, solve problems, and keep things moving forward even when circumstances are difficult.
But the very strengths that help people succeed professionally can sometimes create distance from their deeper emotional life.
Many people who eventually begin therapy in Hunts Point are not lacking intelligence, discipline, or determination. What they are often lacking is a place where the deeper aspects of their experience can be understood.
When Success Doesn’t Feel Like Success
One of the most common experiences among high functioning people is a quiet discrepancy between outer success and inner experience.
Life may look impressive from the outside. Yet internally, people can feel exhausted, restless, or subtly disconnected. Some describe it as constantly pushing themselves forward without ever feeling settled. Others notice that despite accomplishments, satisfaction fades quickly and the next challenge immediately appears before they’ve had the chance to enjoy the fruits of their labor.
Typically this happens because the parts of us responsible for managing life have pretty much taken over.
The manager side of our personality is remarkably capable. It plans, anticipates problems, maintains control, and ensures that important responsibilities are handled well. These parts help people build careers, lead organizations, raise families, and navigate complex environments.
The difficulty is that these parts often work so effectively that they begin running nearly everything as if one’s survival depends on it.
Over time, it can become harder to feel pleasure and to access deeper qualities that make life feel meaningful. Qualities such as calm, compassion, trust, appreciation, joy, laughter, playfulness, and emotional connection sometimes recede into the background while we remain focused on performance and responsibility.
When this happens, life can start to feel like something that must constantly be managed rather than enjoyed.
The Quiet Cost of Always Being Capable
Many people who begin therapy have spent years being the person others rely on.
They are the ones who handle problems, keep things organized, and maintain stability when situations become uncertain. They are often the leaders in their professional environments or the emotional anchor within their families.
Being this capable has advantages, but it can also create isolation.
When someone is known for being composed and reliable, others often assume they don't need support themselves. Conversations remain on the surface. Difficult feelings are handled privately. Over time it can become nearly impossible to find spaces where it feels safe to set down the responsibility of holding everything together and let go for a little while.
Therapy can offer a place where that responsibility is no longer required.
If you're curious about the kind of work I offer, you can learn more about my approach to individual therapy and how this work unfolds over time.
What Good Therapy Actually Offers
It makes sense that people searching for a therapist, and yes even people in Hunts Point, are looking for quick advice or simple techniques to feel better.
But to truly feel better, to make lasting change, it requires something more thoughtful. A space where people can slow down and understand themselves more clearly, discover how and why they’ve struggled in certain ways, and most importantly, begin changing.
In meaningful therapy, the end goal is not simply coping, and it’s not even understanding. Both of those are important and part of the process. In effective therapy, the goal is transforming oneself so a person can feel calm inside, enjoy life, feel hopeful and optimistic, and experience self compassion and appreciation for all the ups and downs of life.
No amount of striving for status, respect, wealth, recognition, and external appreciation will make a person feel better if there is some part of them that just does not feel good enough. This takes looking inside oneself and undoing the marks the past has left on one’s heart.
Many of the patterns people struggle with are explored in greater depth in articles such as why so many of us do not feel good and what is in the way of feeling good.
This kind of work begins with curiosity about the different aspects of ourselves that shape our experience. The parts of ourselves that work tirelessly to manage responsibilities. The parts that hold pressure, fear, or self criticism. The parts that push us to achieve more, even when we are already exhausted.
This perspective is influenced by approaches such as Internal Family Systems Therapy which explore the different parts of our personality and how they shape our lives.
When these inner dynamics become clearer, people often discover that the qualities they have been searching for are not missing. They have simply been overshadowed by parts of the system that have been working extremely hard for a long time.
As those parts begin to relax, something else often becomes more available:
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A quiet sense of clarity
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A knowing of what is more important in life
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An appreciation for one’s friendships and connections
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A steady, trusting, and safe feeling
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A deeper connection to oneself
These qualities tend to bring a different kind of confidence than the one built through constant effort.
Therapy as a Place to Step Outside the Role
In daily life, most people occupy roles.
Leader. Partner. Parent. Problem solver. Decision maker.
These roles often become so familiar that it can be difficult to remember what it feels like to step outside them. Therapy offers a rare environment where those roles can soften.
Instead of needing to perform or maintain control, people can begin noticing what is actually happening inside.
Sometimes that means recognizing the parts of themselves that have been working tirelessly for years. Parts that learned long ago that staying vigilant, prepared, or driven was the safest way to move through the world.
Rather than pushing those parts away, therapy creates space to understand them. When they are met with curiosity rather than pressure, when they are witnessed and understood, when we finally see why certain parts of our personality have been working overtime for years, this is when the work begins.
We finally understand what happened that made us this way. From here the therapy focuses on helping the parts of us that work too hard to finally soften, relax, and transform.
Over time people often discover that they have more access to the qualities that bring real satisfaction in life.
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Calm
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Perspective
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Connection
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Creativity
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Authenticity
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Love
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Joy
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Playfulness
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Optimism
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Trust
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Hope
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True confidence
Online Therapy for Hunts Point, Washington
Although I reside in Olympia, WA, I work with people all over Washington State through secure telehealth sessions.
For many adults living in wealthy communities such as Hunts Point and others, online therapy offers a level of privacy and convenience that fits well with busy schedules. Sessions can take place from the comfort of home or from a private office without the time required for commuting.
Online therapy has also proven to be just as effective as in person work for many forms of depth oriented psychotherapy.
What matters most is not the physical office, but the quality of attention, presence, and understanding that develops in the therapeutic relationship.
If you are looking for a therapist in Hunts Point, online therapy allows you to work with a Washington licensed therapist while remaining in the environment where your daily life unfolds.
You can also learn more about my therapy practice and the philosophy behind this work.
Choosing a Therapist
Finding the right therapist is an important decision. Credentials and training matter, but so does the feeling you have when speaking with someone. Therapy tends to work best when there is a sense of trust, curiosity, and mutual respect.
For this reason, I offer a complimentary consultation where we can briefly talk about what you are hoping to explore and whether my approach feels like a good fit for you.
If you would like additional perspective on choosing a therapist, you may also find this article helpful: How to Find the Right Therapist.
You can also read more about fees and scheduling before reaching out.
Therapy is not about fixing people. It is about helping people access their own wisdom and internal resources so they can become who they want to be and allow life to feel meaningful again.
When those qualities become more accessible, change often unfolds naturally.
Schedule a Free Phone Consultation
If you are searching for a therapist in Hunts Point and feel ready to explore this kind of work, you are welcome to schedule a complimentary consultation.
About Hunts Point, Washington
Hunts Point, Washington is a small residential community located along Lake Washington in King County. Many residents commute to nearby technology and business centers in Bellevue and Seattle. For people living in high performing environments like these, it can sometimes be difficult to find a quiet space to reflect on the deeper aspects of life and personal wellbeing.