Connection is a skill. Let’s practice!

Hi, I’m Katya Stark

I provide individual and couples counseling with a focus on connection, emotional insight, and practical change.

I help couples and individuals transform the way they connect, communicate, and grow together.

Most of my clients come to me feeling stuck in old patterns—overthinking, shutting down, fighting, or staying quiet when something really matter

Having lived in different parts of the world, I’ve learned how to adapt across cultures and ways of relating. Those experiences shaped how I see connection – not as something you either have or don’t, but as a skill that can be learned, practiced, and strengthened.

How I Can Help?

Individual Counseling

Many people come to me feeling overwhelmed—by anxiety, self-doubt, overthinking, or people-pleasing. Individual counseling is a place to understand your emotions, explore past experiences, and practice new ways of relating to yourself and others.

Religious Trauma & Faith Transitions

If you grew up in a high-control or fear-based religious environment, you may still carry shame, anxiety, or guilt. This is often how religious trauma shows up. Together, we untangle old messages so you can trust your own voice and build relationships that feel emotionally safe.

Relationship & Couples Counseling

I help couples move from reactivity and disconnection into understanding, dialogue, and repair. We work on communication, emotional safety, and rebuilding trust so your relationship can feel more connected and alive.

Marriage Counseling

Long-term partnerships sometimes fall into cycles of distance, tension, or miscommunication. Marriage counseling helps you reconnect, understand each other more deeply, and create more harmony and emotional closeness in your daily life.

Pre-Marriage Counseling

Whether you’re engaged or exploring long-term commitment, pre-marriage counseling helps you build a strong foundation. Together, we clarify expectations, communication patterns, values, and the skills needed to grow as a team.

LGBTQ+ Counseling

I provide an affirming space for LGBTQ+ clients seeking support with relationships, identity development, life transitions, or emotional stress. My approach is grounded, nonjudgmental, and centered on helping you feel more seen and supported.

My Approach to Therapy

Clients often tell me they feel both challenged and supported in my sessions. I’m known for being direct and honest while also warm and engaged. I help you see patterns clearly, try new responses, and move toward practical, lasting change—while bringing humor when it helps lighten the work.

What sets me apart is the way my professional training and my life experience come together. I’ve moved through cultural transitions, identity exploration, and major life changes myself, so I understand the complexity of growth and adaptation. Paired with my ongoing commitment to learning and self-development, I bring both expertise and a lived perspective that helps me connect with clients in a real and authentic way.

Life Experience & Education

BA in Public Relation - UK

Before becoming a counselor, I earned my bachelor’s degree in Public Relations in England and spent years working in the corporate sector. My career path shifted after moving to the U.S., when I decided to follow my deeper passion: helping people build stronger, healthier, more connected relationships.

M.S. Clinical Mental Health Counseling - Portland State University

I went on to earn my master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Portland State University and have been committed ever since to combining rigorous professional training with the richness of lived experience.

Cultural transitions & identity exploration

Together, my education and life experiences give me a wide lens: I bring both the discipline of clinical training and the perspective of someone who has walked through adaptation, growth, and transformation firsthand.

Who I Work With

Couples navigating big transitions

Cross-cultural and intercultural couples

Partners healing from betrayal or broken trust

Couples wanting stronger communication and connection

Individuals feeling stuck in patterns of anxiety or shutdown

Adults healing from religious trauma or high-control environments

Training & Clinical Approach

Why I Became a Therapist

My journey into psychotherapy began with curiosity.

I was born and raised in Estonia during a time of significant social and cultural change. Growing up in that environment sparked an early interest in people — how we adapt, how we protect ourselves, how relationships shape us, and how emotional life is influenced by family, culture, and society.

While living in London, this curiosity led me to study psychoanalytic ideas through the British Psychotherapy Foundation. Around the same time, I began my own personal psychotherapy, which became a turning point in my life. It showed me the power of feeling deeply understood and how greater awareness can lead to meaningful and lasting change.

What began as personal exploration gradually became a professional calling. I went on to earn my Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Portland State University and dedicated my work to helping others understand themselves more deeply, navigate life’s challenges with greater clarity, and build more fulfilling relationships with themselves and others.

Clinical Training

Break Free from Repeating Relationship Patterns

Psychodynamic Therapy | British Psychotherapy Foundation

How is your past influencing your present?

My earliest training was rooted in psychoanalytic and psychodynamic thinking.

Psychodynamic therapy explores how early experiences shape the way we relate to ourselves and others. Many of our beliefs about love, trust, conflict, vulnerability, and self-worth develop long before we are consciously aware of them.

This perspective helps people understand recurring relationship patterns, emotional triggers, attachment wounds, and self-limiting beliefs. It continues to influence the way I approach therapy today.

Building a strong clinical foundation

Clinical Mental Health Counseling | Portland State University

My graduate training provided a comprehensive foundation in psychotherapy, diagnosis, human development, family systems, human sexuality, trauma-informed care, ethics, and evidence-based treatment.

Through studying individuals, couples, families, and the broader social systems in which people live, I developed a deeper understanding of how relationships, identity, culture, and life experiences shape emotional wellbeing.

Most importantly, my training emphasized that effective therapy requires both clinical expertise and a strong ethical foundation. Therapy is not only about helping people reduce symptoms—it is about creating a safe, respectful, and collaborative space where meaningful change can occur.

This foundation continues to guide my work today and serves as the basis for all of my ongoing professional development and advanced clinical training.

Evidence-Based Therapy for Anxiety, Depression, and Self-Criticism

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy | Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy

My training through the Beck Institute strengthened my understanding of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), one of the most researched approaches for anxiety and depression.

CBT focuses on the relationship between thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. It helps people identify unhelpful patterns, challenge self-critical beliefs, reduce avoidance, and develop healthier ways of responding to life’s challenges.

I often integrate CBT tools when clients are looking for practical strategies alongside deeper therapeutic work.

Change Begins with Awareness

Gestalt Therapy | Seattle Ongoing Gestalt Therapy Training Program & GATLA European Residential

Gestalt Therapy has been one of the most influential approaches in my professional development and continues to shape the way I practice today.

What first attracted me to Gestalt was its belief that meaningful change begins with awareness rather than self-criticism. Instead of asking, “What’s wrong with me?” we learn to approach our experience with curiosity and ask, “What am I noticing right now?”

By bringing attention to emotions, bodily sensations, needs, thoughts, and relationship patterns as they unfold in the present moment, people often develop a deeper understanding of themselves and greater freedom in how they respond to life’s challenges.

Rather than focusing on fixing ourselves, Gestalt invites us to become more fully aware, authentic, and connected—to ourselves and to others.

Somatic Therapy for Anxiety, Trauma, and Chronic Stress

Somatic Psychotherapy | Somatic Psychotherapy Training Institute–PNW

What is your body trying to tell you?

My training through the Somatic Psychotherapy Training Institute–PNW deepened my understanding of the connection between emotions and the body.

Anxiety, trauma, grief, and chronic stress often live not only in our thoughts but also in our nervous systems. Somatic therapy helps people develop greater awareness of their physical experience, regulate emotions more effectively, and reconnect with themselves.

Couples Therapy for Conflict, Attachment, and Emotional Disconnection

Certified Imago Relationship Therapist | Imago Relationships North America

Imago combines attachment theory, neuroscience, and relationship psychology to help couples understand why certain interactions become so emotionally charged.

The model recognizes that our earliest relationships often shape how we experience intimacy, conflict, and connection as adults. Rather than viewing conflict as a sign of failure, Imago helps couples use conflict as an opportunity for understanding, healing, and growth.

Healthy Relationships Without Losing Your Sense of Self

Developmental Model™️of Relational Therapy | Queer Relationship Institute

Can I stay connected to you while remaining true to myself?

I completed intensive clinical training in the Developmental Model™️of Relational Therapy through the Queer Relationship Institute.

One of the model’s central ideas is differentiation: the ability to remain connected to someone you love while maintaining a strong sense of who you are.

Rather than helping couples become more alike, this approach helps partners navigate differences with greater confidence, flexibility, respect, and emotional maturity.

Learning from diverse experiences and communities

Multicultural Counseling | Ongoing Continuing Education

How do our backgrounds, identities, and communities influence the way we relate to ourselves and others?

In addition to my core clinical trainings, I regularly pursue continuing education in multicultural counseling, LGBTQ+ affirmative care, cultural humility, and the impact of social and cultural systems on mental health. These perspectives help me better understand the many ways that identity, belonging, family expectations, immigration, and life experiences shape emotional wellbeing and relationships.

This ongoing learning supports my work with individuals and couples from diverse backgrounds and encourages me to approach each client with curiosity, humility, and respect for their lived experience.

Why Relationships Became the Center of My Work?

Over time, I noticed that many of the challenges people brought to therapy were deeply connected to relationships.

Humans are wired for connection. When our relationships feel secure and supportive, we tend to thrive. When they feel strained or disconnected, emotional suffering often follows.

This realization inspired me to pursue advanced training in couples therapy.

My Approach to Therapy Today

Today, my work integrates psychodynamic insight, Gestalt awareness, somatic psychotherapy, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, attachment theory, Imago Relationship Therapy, and the Developmental Model.

I do not believe one approach fits everyone. Each person brings a unique history, personality, and set of goals. My role is to adapt therapy to your needs while creating a space that feels safe, collaborative, and meaningful.

Whether we are exploring childhood experiences, working through relationship challenges, managing anxiety, or navigating a life transition, our work will be guided by curiosity, compassion, and respect.

Therapy Is Not About Fixing You

I do not believe people are broken.

Most of us developed creative ways of adapting to difficult circumstances. The strategies that once protected us can sometimes create challenges later in life.

Therapy offers an opportunity to understand those patterns, develop new ways of relating to yourself and others, and move toward a life that feels more connected, authentic, and fulfilling.

If you’re looking for a therapist who will sit back quietly, I’m probably not the right fit. But if you want someone who will engage with you fully, help you see patterns clearly, and guide you toward practical and lasting change, I may be exactly the right person for you.

Katya Stark

Schedule Your Relationship Consultation

If what you’ve read resonates, I invite you to schedule a free consultation so we can explore whether working together is the right fit.