Existential Somatic Therapy So You Can Thrive
Therapy is a place where gentle curiosity, sensitivity, and courage to face what is difficult can allow a powerful healing process to unfold. It’s a place where you’re invited to bring yourself precisely as you are, especially if that’s messy, in-motion, or contradictory. I will hold space for you to find and feel your feelings, connect with the experiential wisdom of your body, and experiment with language that expresses your truth.
We all need connection to thrive. So many of our wounds have their origin in relationship and are best healed in relationship. Therapy is a wonderful opportunity to do just that, and to explore your relationship to intimacy and (dis)connection. Beyond this, showing up as your authentic self and being seen, understood, and accepted is a powerful healing experience.
Being a human is hard. We all face a world that is at times painful, confusing, and cruel, and it’s up to us to figure out how to live. How do we respond to the situation we find ourselves in? How do we live in integrity with our truth and values when there are so many obstacles? How do we accomplish our most cherished goals, and what even are those, exactly? As an existential therapist, I will join you in these murky waters. I will help you seek clarity and calm to live these challenging questions.
Phillip Coulson, MA, LMHC
I graduated with a Masters of Arts in Psychology from Seattle University where I studied Existential-Phenomenological Psychology, which focuses on understanding people in their full embodied uniqueness, rather than as reductive abstrations like categories or brain chemicals. Prior to starting my own therapy practice I worked as a therapist at the LGBTQ-focused Seattle Counseling Service until it tragically shut down in Spring 2022. Before making a career change to become a therapist, I have pursued a rich and varied career including working as an ESL teacher in South Korea, as a professional poker player, and as a product manager at Capital One.
I am nonbinary, pan/bi, and white. My work is informed by internal family systems, somatic, humanistic, and relational psychoanalytic techniques. I strongly believe in the importance of practicing in a trauma-informed way and will help you learn to monitor your body to know when our work is too much - or too little. My work is influenced by my interest in philosophy and its exploration of the human condition for millennia. Similarly, my work is influenced by Buddhism and my practice of Vipassana meditation. I strive to maintain a two hour daily meditation practice and have participated in or volunteered on more than 100 days of meditation retreats.
