Addiction therapists & psychiatrists in Gig Harbor, WA

I provide compassionate, evidence-based psychiatric care for children, adolescents, and adults. I specialize in the evaluation, diagnosis, and medication management of ADHD, anxiety disorders, depression, mood disorders, trauma-related conditions. My goal is to create a supportive, judgment-free environment where you feel heard, understood, and empowered throughout your mental health journey.

I believe that every person's story is unique, so I take the time to understand your concerns, symptoms, lifestyle, and treatment goals before developing an individualized care plan. I incorporate medication management with supportive counseling and evidence-based therapeutic approaches, including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) techniques and Motivational Interviewing, to help you build practical coping skills and achieve lasting improvement.

Whether you're struggling with difficulty focusing, persistent worry, overwhelming stress, low mood, emotional challenges, or life transitions, I work collaboratively with you to help you regain balance and improve your overall well-being. My focus is on delivering personalized, compassionate care that supports meaningful, long-term success in both your mental health and daily life.

I am passionate about health and wellbeing. I hope to be able to help people thrive. I work in a collaborative way with clients to identify the root of their problems, find creative solutions, and address their questions and concerns along the way. I aim to provide individualized care, not just follow a standard protocol. I have extensive experience as a diagnostician/prescriber in internal medicine, family practice, women's health, endocrine conditions, including hormone management and gender affirming care. I am passionate about mental health care and have experience providing treatment for many conditions, including mood, attention, and thought disorders. I have some experience working with children and families, and extensive experience working with adolescents, adults, and older adults.

As a dually certified provider, I offer a unique blend of clinical precision and compassionate, holistic care for both the body and soul. My journey began in 1995 as a nurse, followed by earning my medical degree in 2002 and completing a residency in General Pathology in Postgraduate Education Academy, Kharkov, Ukraine, which provided me with a profound understanding of the biological foundations of health. In 2006, I met my future husband and moved to the United States.

In the United States, I advanced my nursing career, working as a Registered Nurse and becoming a Family Practice Nurse Practitioner (FNP) in 2019. During this time, I managed complex primary care and detoxification protocols for adults and adolescents in behavioral health inpatient settings. In 2024, I achieved my Doctorate in Nursing Practice (DNP) and certification as a Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP).

I have over 30 years experience working with adults experiencing life challenges. I keep my practice small to ensure each of my patients feel connected, heard, and empowered.

My goal is that you feel genuinely seen, supported, and understood in our work together. I bring a warm, grounded, and collaborative style to therapy, helping adults who are navigating anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship stress, and long‐standing emotional patterns. I pay close attention to the deeper themes beneath the surface—your beliefs, your protective strategies, and the ways you’ve learned to cope—so we can create meaningful, lasting change. My goal is to help you feel safe, empowered, and more connected to yourself from the very beginning.

As a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, I approach therapy as a collaborative, relational process grounded in authenticity, trust, and respect. I believe meaningful change happens when individuals feel genuinely seen, understood, and supported, and I strive to create a space where clients can explore their experiences openly without fear of judgment. My work is informed not only by clinical training, but also by lived experience, which allows me to connect with clients in a way that is both empathetic and deeply human.

My therapeutic style is engaged, flexible, and tailored to each individual. I integrate evidence-based modalities including EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy, and Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). Through EMDR, I help clients process and resolve trauma and distressing life experiences. In Ketamine-Assisted Therapy, I support clients in accessing new perspectives and reducing symptoms that may feel stuck or resistant to traditional approaches. With DBT, I focus on building concrete skills in emotional regulation, distress tolerance, mindfulness, and interpersonal effectiveness. I aim to balance insight-oriented work with practical tools that clients can apply in their daily lives.

I believe therapy does not have to feel overly clinical or rigid to be effective. I intentionally incorporate humor, warmth, and relatability into my work, recognizing that moments of lightness can be incredibly grounding and healing. Humor can create connection, reduce shame, and make difficult conversations feel more approachable, while still honoring the depth and seriousness of each person’s experience.

I am a nurse practitioner with dual certifications in family practice and psychiatric mental health. My passion for holistic care drives my integrated approach, addressing both primary care and mental health to meet my patients' diverse needs. I provide care that considers the physical, emotional, and mental well-being of each individual. By blending evidence-based practices with empathetic listening, I empower patients to take an active role in their health journey and achieve optimal outcomes.

I enjoy learning about ways we can change and understand our human existence. We are thinking, feeling and doing beings. Cognitive behavioral therapy provides a framework to identify ways to do it differently and better. Trauma treatment modalities like EMDR may support processing neurological and physiological reactions and being able to feel secure and safe while staying connected to others more fully. Our story is just that; we write it and edit it. We get to choose the chapters and path of our lives, through the unknowns, mysteries and celebrations.

I have worked with clients and their families in various capacities for the past 12 years. I have found that I love helping people heal from past traumas and overcome whatever is holding them back. Through my training, I have found that the brain and body have incredible healing mechanisms hardwired into them. I am honored to be able to help others unlock those healing aspects and to help people enjoy their lives more fully. I earned a Bachelor of Science in Religious Studies and later completed my Master of Arts in Counseling at Multnomah University in Portland, Oregon. I am a Licensed Professional Counselor in Oregon and a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in Washington.

I have worked in the field of social services for over 31 years. I have experience working with adult survivors of child abuse, child neglect, domestic violence, commercial exploitation, and rape. I have experience working with adults dealing with anxiety, depression, divorce, family separation, and caretaker fatigue. I also have experience working with adults dealing with significant life/career changes, and those dealing with crisis situations.

My name is Jeffrey W. Danese, MS, MA, LMHC, LPCC, and I am a licensed mental health counselor in Washington State and California, currently based in Sacramento. I bring over 15 years of clinical experience across private practice, inpatient and outpatient mental health settings, and college counseling, along with a an academic background teaching psychology, religious studies, and the history of science in higher education from UCSB, FSU, and 10 years at SJSU to various community colleges in the Puget Sound region and in North Florida and cross-cultural experiences such as living in Taiwan, Zambia, Germany and traveling around the world; I studied Spanish, German, and Chinese language, world history and religions, psychology, evolutionary psychology and the cognitive science of religion; was raised Catholic but ordained as a Buddhist monk in Thailand; and continue to meditate, explore and read broadly. One of my favorite quotes is by the Roman writer, Terence: "I am human and there is nothing human foreign to me." (or, Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto. -- Publius Terentius Afer, 165 BCE)

Christina offers medication management, psychiatric evaluations, and computerized ADHD testing in unhurried appointments that allow her patients to feel heard and empowered. Christina is a board-certified psychiatric nurse practitioner with experience with teens, adults, and older adults. She empowers patients to take control of their treatment and their lives. She offers virtual and in person visits.