About Catrina
Catrina Switzer is a licensed mental health counselor with 15 years of experience. She focuses on stress, anxiety, trauma and abuse, low self-esteem, and depression. She emphasizes practical steps and small wins to help people make change.
She works with adults and youth who identify with a variety of subcultures. That includes people from geek, LGBTQ, AAPI, neurodivergent, chronically ill, and kink communities. She pays attention to identity and community when planning care.
Background and approach
Catrina uses familiar, goal-oriented methods. She helps people set clear, manageable goals and practices skills between sessions. That work often includes cognitive behavioral approaches, emotion regulation skills, and motivational conversations to build momentum.
She also addresses related concerns like body image, communication problems, family of origin issues, guilt and shame, life purpose, chronic pain or illness, and mood concerns. She brings direct, down-to-earth guidance when navigating sexuality, polyamory and non-monogamous relationships, and women’s issues. Her practice draws on 15 years of clinical work in Washington.
Catrina likes to create tools that fit each person’s daily life. She encourages steady progress, celebrates small wins, and adjusts plans to match what actually works for each person.
How evidence-based approaches fit into online therapy
Two widely used methods Catrina brings into sessions are cognitive behavioral techniques and motivational interviewing. Cognitive behavioral techniques focus on spotting unhelpful thoughts and testing them with small behavioral experiments to reduce anxiety and low mood. Motivational interviewing is a conversational style that helps people clarify what matters to them and find internal motivation to change.She also uses skills drawn from dialectical behavior approaches to help manage intense emotions and improve day-to-day functioning. These skills teach practical strategies like grounding, distress tolerance, and step-by-step problem solving that can be practiced between sessions.
Finding the right approach is collaborative. Catrina works with each person to identify goals, try methods, and adjust what’s not helping. She explains options, checks in on progress, and adapts tools to match each person’s life and preferences.
Online formats available include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video sessions allow face-to-face conversation and visual cues, phone sessions can be useful when bandwidth is limited, and chat or messaging is helpful for brief check-ins or ongoing written reflection. These options make it easier to fit therapy into work, caregiving, or health-related schedules while keeping therapy consistent and practical.
Frequently asked questions
What concerns does Catrina commonly address?
What is her therapeutic style like?
How much clinical experience does she have?
What are her credentials and where is she located?
Which languages are offered and can she work with international clients?
In what formats are sessions offered?
How does pricing work for sessions?
How do I begin working together?
Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
Also works with
- BDSM, kink, and alternative sex culture
- Body image
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Communication problems
- Depression
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Guilt and shame
- Life purpose
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Polyamory / non-monogamous relationships
- Post-traumatic stress
- Self-harm
- Sexuality
- Women's issues
- Experience
- 15 years
- Licensed
- Washington
- Languages
- English