Mary Sanders

Mary Sanders is a Washington LMHC with 17 years of clinical work in private practice and community health settings. She helps people with relationship struggles, family conflict, trauma and abuse, grief, and coping with major life changes. Mary also lists life purpose and midlife transitions among her focus areas.

Her background includes the arts and creative arts therapies, with extensive experience using theater and expressive arts in healing work. She brings that experience into individual sessions and into work that involves family concerns when appropriate. Sessions are conversational and activity-friendly, depending on a person’s needs.

Mary uses a mix of approaches to match what each person brings. She often draws on attachment-based ideas to look at how past relationships shape current ones. Cognitive behavioral techniques help with symptoms such as anxiety and unhelpful thinking. Motivational interviewing supports people who are ambivalent about change.

She has worked for many years in community mental health with people affected by trauma. That background shapes how she structures pacing and safety in sessions. Mary also integrates mindfulness and creative arts exercises to help people access feeling, memory, and meaning in ways that talking alone may not.

People choosing to work with her typically start by identifying a few practical goals. From there they try short experiments, communication practice, and reflective exercises. The focus is on clearer next steps rather than promises of a single outcome.

How her approaches translate to online work

Mary often blends attachment-based work and cognitive behavioral techniques in therapy. Attachment-based work looks at how past relationship patterns affect present interactions and helps people notice recurring responses. Cognitive behavioral techniques break down thoughts and behaviors into manageable steps and teach practical skills for anxiety, shame, and communication problems.

Finding the right approach is part of the process. Mary will collaborate with each person to try methods that fit their goals and preferences. That may mean experimenting for a few sessions, adjusting pace, and adding mindfulness or creative-expressive tasks when they help.

The original biography does not specify which online session formats she provides, so please confirm current options before booking. Online sessions can make it easier to fit therapy into a busy week, reduce travel time, and allow for shorter check-ins when needed. They also let people use exercises between sessions, such as guided mindfulness or simple expressive activities, so therapy can connect more directly to everyday life.