the radical center

My story

My name is Leslie and I am a native Texan living in the Northwest. I am a mother of four, and I have always had a somewhat unconventional perspective, questioning what I’m told and thinking outside the box.

I earned a BA in Psychology at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio in 2008. I was the recipient of an undergraduate research fellowship, and my education focused on research in clinical psychology. In 2009, I moved to Seattle to attend law school at Seattle University. During my second year of law school, I decided a legal career was not for me and that what I really wanted to do was become a counselor, working directly with individuals to help address their problems.

I left law school and spent the next several years raising my children and working part-time in the field of natural medicine before enrolling in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Master’s program at Antioch University in 2019. There I had the opportunity to learn and improve counseling skills and therapeutic approaches, but I also encountered something deeply disturbing: the usurpation of traditional therapy values by Critical Social Justice ideology. Compared with my previous experiences in college, university, and law school, what was now being taught seemed unethical and illogical.

To my surprise, future counselors were being instructed that a person’s race was perhaps his or her most significant characteristic. That we should always introduce ourselves to others by including the third person pronouns we expect them to use for us. That we should measure ourselves against our clients by listing our demographic categories and determining who is more privileged and who is more marginalized. That children can be “born transgender,” and that the word “woman” might be offensive.

What’s more, around this time the whole world became panic stricken over a virus and in a burst of authoritarianism, public officials everywhere decided to rewrite basic social scripts. These new policies cut people off from human connection, stripped them of autonomy, and treated them like mere vectors of disease. People lost jobs and businesses closed; friends and family became divided about what was happening and why; and perhaps most devastatingly, a generation of kids migrated from classrooms and playgrounds to screens.

As a life-long liberal, I watched as the political left promoted identity politics and medical authoritarianism. I looked to the political right and found some people making more sense than I had previously given them credit for- but although my views have shifted away from the left, I don’t always align with conservatives, either. Instead, I find myself in the center- which is a “radical” place to be in these strange times.

Despite my rejection of mainstream trends in mental health practice and counselor education, I have remained committed to working with individuals and families in a support capacity. In the fall of 2021 I opened a private coaching/consulting practice that is informed by my education, life experiences, passion for natural health and training as a health-coach, and my understanding that each person is whole and unique, not divisible into “identity” categories or political parties, nor into mind and body. Each of us is an idiosyncratic being on our own journey through life, and we deserve to be seen for who we really are by those who care for us.

So with all that said, I am not offering psychotherapy, clinical mental health counseling, or psychiatric diagnosis. And I don’t claim to have all the answers- you are the expert on your life, not me. What I can offer if you choose to become my client is my genuine interest, an authentic relationship, and my undivided attention as we explore your life patterns and goals together.