“Who are you? I must know.”
~Inigo Montoya,
The Princess Bride
About Breda
Hello, you! Finding a therapist can feel a bit like online dating: overwhelming and exhausting, not to mention vulnerable. Hopefully I can ease some of those nerves by sharing a bit about myself. Contrary to what Freud thought, therapists are not “Blank Slates.” We bring ourselves to the work we do, and we are human beings, so it tends to work better when we name our biases, identity, and history. Here’s a bit more information about me.
*Side Note: I am a big film nerd and often quote movies & tv shows. Being a child of the 80’s, The Princess Bride is one of my all-time favorites and will be referenced often.
“I never let my schooling interfere with my education.”
Education
Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology from The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology - 2015
Bachelor of Science in Psychology, with a Certificate in Abnormal Child Psychology, from Washington State University - 2010
Certificates in Screenwriting and Directing from Langara College Film Arts, Vancouver, BC - 2021-2022.
Work Experience
Residential Counselor at a Children's Longterm Inpatient Program (CLIP) at Navos (2018-2019)
Integrative Mental Health Therapist at Sea Mar (2019-2020).
These were community mental health programs for teens and adults in crisis.
Lived Experience
While I deeply value education, a large part of what I bring to my therapeutic work is my lived experience. I am a late-diagnosed Autistic person with ADHD. I was Assigned Female At Birth (AFAB), and now identify as gender fluid and use She/They pronouns. I am married to a woman.
I am white and work to own my privilege and my responsibility to unlearn my internalized biases and racism. I prioritize working from an anti-oppressive, trauma-informed lens.
Much of my experience of being Neurodivergent and Queer was significantly affected by being raised in a high-control evangelical church. I left this community to go to graduate school, and began my own therapy journey to deconstruct and unpack how theology and psychology impact each other. I enjoy meeting clients anywhere in their journey around spirituality & identity with kindness and nonjudgmental curiosity. I will not tell you what you should or shouldn’t believe. My focus is to empower you to build the life that you long for.
Why is your practice called Blue Topaz?
I was told as a kid that my birthstone was a Topaz, a weird yellow/orange gemstone that I thought was the ugliest color possible. As an adult, I learned that Topazes come in every single color of the rainbow, and I can have a birthstone in a color I love. This story mirrors my journey as an AuDHD & LGBTQ adult, realizing that I don't have to fit within arbitrary confines of other people's expectations, and I can exist on multiple spectrums at once.
My Specialties
ADHD
I enjoy working with teens and adults who are diagnosed with or think they may possibly have ADHD. I love providing psycho-education about how an ADHD brain works and unpacking the way this impacts our daily lives and identity.
Autism
Whether you were clinically diagnosed as a kid, as an adult, or self-diagnosed as Autistic, I am here for you. We can discuss the unmasking process and how to prevent or recover from Autistic burnout. You are not broken, and you are not alone. Life doesn’t have to be this hard.
LGBTQ+
This is an identity, not a disorder. Each person’s experience and understanding of their gender and sexuality is unique. Whether you are just beginning to explore or you’ve known who you are since birth, I am here for the rainbow sheep of the family.
Religious Trauma
Religious trauma happens in what is supposed to be a safe environment. Faith and spirituality can be core parts of your identity and sense of self, and can also be misused against you and become a source of harm. Unpacking this can be difficult, especially if you were raised in a high-control religious group.
As we talk about your experiences, I will not pressure you to find the positives, nor will I encourage you to abandon your faith. My job is to provide a safer space for you to explore and determine what you want and need, not to tell you what to do or believe.
My Approach
“Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.”
My approach to therapy is a compilation of different theories that are relational in nature. Most of my work and focus are centered in Attachment Theory, Internal Family Systems (IFS), and Lifespan Integration.
Much of our work together will be naming your needs, identifying ways those needs can be met, and helping you regulate your nervous system when your needs can’t be met (i.e. Attachment Theory). IFS and Lifespan Integration work with younger parts of you that found ways to meet your needs, and then bring those parts into conversation with your present self to determine if those ways of meeting your needs are still helpful.
Change and growth take time.