Seattle Therapy

Where to begin.

You don't need to have everything figured out before you start. Part of therapy is understanding what isn't working, what no longer feels sustainable, and where to begin.

Over time, experience has taught me what to listen for and what questions help bring clarity and focus from the beginning.

Get Started
Jason Lavalle, LICSW

Common reasons people begin therapy

Your mind keeps looking for what could go wrong, even when part of you knows there's nothing to worry about.

What we listen for

The emotional logic underneath the worry: what anxiety is trying to prevent, protect, or prepare you for.

What can shift

Less life organized around threat, reassurance, avoidance, or needing total certainty before you act.

You may look functional on the outside while feeling flat, stuck, unmotivated, or hard to reach inside.

What we listen for

The places where shutting down, withdrawing, or expecting less may have once made emotional sense.

What can shift

More access to energy, connection, self-understanding, and small actions that begin to matter again.

No amount of achievement fully settles the fear that you are behind, exposed, or not enough.

What we listen for

How self-pressure may be trying to protect you from failure, rejection, shame, or disappointing others.

What can shift

Confidence that is less dependent on perfection, overfunctioning, or constant internal monitoring.

You are always managing urgency, expectations, performance pressure, or the sense that you cannot fully stop.

What we listen for

The beliefs that make slowing down, setting limits, or disappointing someone feel unsafe or impossible.

What can shift

A steadier relationship to work, boundaries, recovery, and your own internal standards.

Your body is exhausted, but your mind stays alert, rehearsing, solving, anticipating, or checking.

What we listen for

Why wakefulness may feel necessary: staying prepared, staying in control, or preventing something from being missed.

What can shift

Less struggle around sleep and more trust in the body’s ability to settle when the alarm system quiets.

You may notice people-pleasing, withdrawal, conflict avoidance, resentment, or fear of being too much.

What we listen for

The emotional rules learned about closeness, conflict, needs, anger, or being accepted.

What can shift

More room to be direct, connected, boundaried, and less driven by old relational predictions.

No single approach works for everyone.

Therapy works best when it is tailored to the person. These are some of the approaches that may be integrated into our work together.

Practical work with thoughts, behaviors, symptoms, and situations.

CBT helps identify the patterns that maintain anxiety, depression, avoidance, and stress. The focus is not simply “thinking positive,” but learning how thoughts, emotions, body responses, and actions interact so you can respond with more flexibility.

Clarify values and reduce the struggle with internal experience.

ACT supports a different relationship to thoughts and emotions. Instead of trying to eliminate every uncomfortable internal experience, therapy focuses on making room for what shows up while moving toward what matters.

Understand why symptoms may make emotional sense.

Coherence Therapy looks for the deeper emotional learning or implicit belief that can make a symptom feel necessary, protective, or unavoidable. The goal is not to argue with the symptom, but to understand the emotional logic that keeps it in place and create conditions for real change.

Rebuild momentum through meaningful and doable action.

When mood is low or avoidance has narrowed life, behavioral activation helps reconnect with activities that provide structure, mastery, connection, and meaning. The emphasis is on small, realistic changes that create movement.

Work with ambivalence without pressure or judgment.

Motivational interviewing is useful when part of you wants change and another part has understandable reasons to hesitate. It helps clarify your own reasons, values, and readiness for change.

Build awareness of thoughts, emotions, urges, and reactions.

Mindfulness can help you notice internal experiences without being automatically driven by them. It is used in a practical way to support awareness, emotional regulation, and values-based action.

About

I have worked in mental health and human services since 2005 and have been in private practice since 2015.

Before private practice, I worked in community mental health throughout Seattle and later with University of Washington Medicine providing behavioral health assessment and counseling. Those experiences continue to shape how I work today and reinforced something I have found to be consistently true: people rarely fit neatly into categories, and therapy works best when it is adapted to the individual.

Many people I work with are thoughtful, capable, and carrying more than others realize. They are often managing anxiety, burnout, self criticism, relationship strain, uncertainty, or a sense that the way they have been functioning is no longer sustainable.

My approach is practical, collaborative, and tailored to the person rather than following a rigid formula. My goal is not to provide quick answers or one size fits all solutions, but to help people better understand themselves and create meaningful, workable change.

Jason Lavalle, LICSW

Get Started

Everything you need to decide on a next step is here: session fee, insurance information, and the appropriate inquiry form.

Individual Therapy
$200

50 minute session.

Out of network

If your plan includes out of network mental health benefits, you may be able to receive partial reimbursement. I can provide a superbill.

Insurance

Coverage, without the extra searching.

Insurance can be confusing. You can ask about benefits before scheduling to better understand what questions to ask and what information may be needed later.

Blue Care NetworkBlue CrossLifeWiseLyra HealthPremeraUnitedHealthcare

Ask about coverage before scheduling.
Share your insurance company and plan information and I’ll help clarify next steps, accepted plans, possible out of network reimbursement, and whether a more detailed benefits review would be helpful.

What can be clarified
If additional insurance details are needed, I’ll provide a more secure way to share them.

What would you like to do?

Choose a path below.

The form changes based on whether you want to ask a general question or check insurance.

General inquiry
This form sends a short message so I can reply about availability and possible next steps. I reply to all inquiries within 48 hours.
This is not an intake form and is not for emergencies. Please keep your note brief and avoid sensitive clinical details.