My name is Lilee Karwoski, and I continually remind myself to take nothing for granted, including the incredible honor of being able to do the work I do. It takes a significant degree of self-awareness, vulnerability, strength, and courage for people to seek therapy, and so I want to honor my clients and be the best therapist I can for them. 

I strongly value the client-therapist relationship, and I believe in client-centered care, where clients and I work as a collaborative team built upon mutual trust and respect. I also strive to create a safe, nonjudgmental environment, and ensure that my clients receive an abundance of care, openness, patience, diligence, empathy, compassion, creativity, and a good sense of humor (when appropriate) from me, so that sessions are not only productive, but positive as well. 

I also strongly believe in the importance of individualized treatment. Because each client is unique, I utilize an integration of evidence-based approaches and techniques tailored toward clients’ individual backgrounds, personalities, preferences, and needs. I also navigate the therapeutic process through a systemic lens, where I always consider context. I consider my client as not only a powerful individual, but as a person operating within various relationships, cultures, and environments. I work with clients to gain insight about themselves and their relationships, identify strengths and patterns, establish goals, improve intimacy and emotional connection, strengthen friendship and shared life meaning, develop effective communication and conflict resolution skills, and truly take action toward desired change and growth. 

I hold an M.A. in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis on Marriage and Family Therapy from Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California. Since then, I have worked with individuals, couples, families, and groups of all ages and diverse backgrounds. I believe in lifelong learning, and so I have continued to grow professionally and personally by taking classes and volunteering in the community too. I have also completed Level 1 and Level 2 training in the Gottman Method, a research-based approach to relationship work.

I am also a mother of two children, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a black belt (in Tang Soo Do), and a bicultural, second-generation Asian American woman. I love spending quality time with family and friends, eating delicious food, dancing in empty living rooms, watching guilty-pleasure television shows, exploring the beautiful Pacific Northwest, and savoring experiences life has to offer!