Kayla Swanson

Life can change quickly, and sometimes the strategies that once helped you cope no longer feel like enough. Anxiety may leave you constantly anticipating what could go wrong, depression can make it difficult to feel motivated or connected, and family or relationship challenges may leave you feeling overwhelmed by the needs and expectations around you. I work with children, adolescents, adults, and seniors experiencing anxiety, depression, family issues, trauma, and PTSD. These concerns can also overlap with ADHD, stress, panic, grief or loss, cultural and ethnic concerns, bipolar disorder, or anger, especially when difficult experiences begin affecting several areas of your life at once. You deserve a space where you can make sense of what you are feeling without having to manage it all alone. Together, we can understand what is keeping you stuck, build on the strengths you already have, and work toward feeling safer, more confident, and more connected to yourself and others.

Our work will make room for both what you are experiencing today and the experiences, relationships, and patterns that have shaped how you got here. We’ll explore how anxiety, depression, family issues, trauma, and PTSD may be affecting your emotional wellbeing, relationships, and ability to feel safe and grounded. I may use Solution Focused Brief Therapy to help you identify strengths and turn the changes you want to make into practical, manageable steps, Motivational Interviewing to help you explore change at your own pace without pressure, and Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy to help you become more aware of difficult thoughts and emotions without immediately becoming overwhelmed by them. Person Centered approaches can give you a supportive space to explore your experiences while feeling heard and accepted, and Play Therapy can offer younger clients a natural way to express and work through emotions that may be difficult to put into words. Our sessions will be collaborative, compassionate, and tailored to the person in front of me, balancing emotional support with practical strategies that can help create meaningful change outside of therapy.

You do not need to arrive with everything figured out before we begin. During our first few sessions, we will take time to understand what has brought you to therapy, what has been most difficult, and what you or your family hope will feel different. Together, we will identify goals that feel meaningful and realistic and decide where it makes the most sense to begin. You can expect me to meet you with warmth, patience, and curiosity while creating a space where difficult experiences can be explored without judgment or pressure. Progress may look like feeling less overwhelmed by anxiety, reconnecting with yourself when depression feels heavy, improving communication within your family, processing trauma at a manageable pace, or feeling safer and more confident when difficult emotions arise. We will continue checking in on your goals and adjust our work based on what is helping you most. When you are ready, you can schedule your first session with me through Headway.