Hello. I'm Ileara.
Licensed therapist in Gig Harbor, WA · Ages 14–35 · Individual & couples therapy
Credentials
- MA, Counseling Psychology
- LMFT, Washington (#61117086)
- 12+ years experience
Hello. I'm Ileara.
I became a therapist because I know what it feels like to have things you cannot say out loud. I've been working with people who feel that way at 16, at 22, at 30. The age changes. That feeling doesn't.
I work with teenagers and young adults who have lost track of themselves — through crisis, through relationships that changed them, through the slow erosion of knowing who they are. And through couples who need to find their way back to each other. My sessions feel like something else entirely. And that's exactly the point.
You knew who you were once. You can find your way back.
Before we start anything else
Before you can heal, you need to remember who you are. That's where we start — not with a diagnosis, not with a worksheet, but with the question of who you actually are underneath everything that's happened.
Education & Training
2025
CPI Training
Crisis Prevention Institute
2025
Cultural Competence for Community Non-Profit
Training
2021
SCID: Introduction to Psychosis
Training
2020
LivingWorks ASIST
Applied Suicide Intervention Skills Training — Trained Trainer
2012
Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology
Marriage & Family Therapy Focus
National University
2002
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology
California State University, Long Beach
Professional Licenses
Washington State
Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist
License #61117086
Licensed since 2021
How I work
Humans have been using story and symbol to make sense of the hardest things since the beginning of time. I bring that ancient toolkit into a modern clinical setting. That means folklore, metaphor, sandtray, storytelling — approaches that reach the part of you that words can't always get to.
I don't work from a checklist. I won't hand you a worksheet and ask you to rate your feelings on a scale of 1 to 10. You don't have to know what you're going to say before you come in. You just have to show up.
What therapy with me actually looks like:
Identity-centered — we start with who you are, not what's wrong with you
Clinically grounded — CBT, DBT, trauma-focused work as the foundation
Your pace — no pressure to share more than you're ready to
How I work
- Folklore & Metaphor
- Sandtray Therapy
- Creative & Experiential Approaches
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
- Attachment-Based Approaches
- Safety Planning
Who I work with
- Post-crisis teens (ages 14–17)
- Identity & self-discovery (ages 14–35)
- Anxiety & panic
- Trauma & PTSD
- Depression
- Suicidality & self-harm
- Relational healing & recovery
- Life transitions
- ADHD support
- Couples therapy
When I'm not in session
The Pacific Northwest is where I landed and where I stay. I believe in walking through things, not around them — in life and outside it. You'll find me on trails, in the kitchen, or somewhere deep in a book. The same curiosity I bring to sessions is the one I bring to everything else.
Reaching out is the hardest part. You've already done it.
I work with individuals ages 14–35 and couples. In-person in Gig Harbor and telehealth throughout Washington. Let's talk.