Gregory Kaplan

Your situation: Many individual adult clients I work with experience strife or strain in their family life: spouses disagree about raising kids, siblings about caring for elderly parents; cultural, religious, sexual and other values come into conflict; relations dispute finances; rules and roles become unworkable; differing communication styles become dysfunctional; low-contact or no-contact arrangements between family members (siblings, parents and adult children, etc) requires establishment, maintenance, reconsideration or reconciliation. Guilt and shame trail their reflections on family. In addition to individual adults, I see family units on a short-term basis. Lack of family harmony or balance can be addressed, even redressed, when we sort out different, distinct beliefs and values, positions and patterns; assess injuries including abuse and neglect, while opening or closing paths to rectify historical hurts; define clear boundaries. Whether marking distance or reaching for connection, therapy offers a place to have your own perceptions, needs, and wishes heard and respected. Our work: You are one free phone consultation away, with no commitments, from a path forward out of discord and dependency. I use Object Relations psychoanalysis so that we can build a therapeutic relationship to explore dynamics that play out in relationships among you and your family members, often painfully so with parents and siblings. Exposing the hidden dynamics of relationships often provide us with the signals of how to proceed in our chosen relations with others and ourselves. We may well discover unexplored avenues so that a unique, creatively adaptive life of your own could unexpectedly open up. In addition to individual and family therapy, I also run process groups on family estrangement and on using popular music in self-reflection. I also work with groups in family and music intensives. My approach: I approach our therapeutic work with curiosity, empathy, knowledge, and active listening for your own distinctive, personal voice. Before becoming a psychotherapist, while residing in several US cities and three other countries, I had careers in the fields of academia and publishing. I earned a PhD in comparative religious studies, which has helped me to understand how people interpret the meaning of their lives with the aid of rituals, symbols, dreams, images, sounds, and language—forms of expression that bring forth parts of ourselves and facets of our relationships which would otherwise elude, or get distorted by, cognitive, conscious awareness. I honed my facilitating skills as a book editor and publisher. I received an MA in mental health counseling from a psychodynamically focused program at Northwestern University (The Family Institute). My psychoanalytically-oriented approach is abetted by expert consultation and continuing education. I have worked well with students, professors, writers, musicians, engineers, entrepreneurs, LGBTQIA+ community members, and parents. I am a certified clinical trauma care provider, including trained use of EMDR; I have volunteered time with clients through the Returning Veterans Project; and I have taught courses in the clinical mental health program at Lewis & Clark University. I work with adults only, and do not accept clients under 18 years old. Patients with Aetna and Regence BlueShield insurance IN WASHINGTON STATE please book an initial appointment through HEADWAY.