Mary Sanders

Mary Sanders is a licensed mental health counselor in Washington with 17 years of experience. She combines mindfulness-based work with practical tools to help people facing relationship strain, grief, trauma, and major life changes. Her style aims to be warm and down-to-earth so conversations feel manageable even during hard moments.

Mary draws on a background in the arts as well as mental health care. She has long used theatre and expressive arts to help people access feelings that are hard to name. That creative work sits alongside talk-based methods to give people different ways to make meaning and move forward.

In clinical practice she uses attachment-based ideas to look at how early and current relationships affect trust and connection. She also uses client-centered methods to keep the focus on each person's goals and values, and cognitive behavioral tools to identify unhelpful thinking and try different behaviors. Motivational interviewing is included when people want help deciding on next steps.

Mary has extensive community mental health experience supporting people affected by trauma and loss. She helps people process painful memories, rebuild routines, and find practical ways to manage anxiety and shame. Her work often addresses communication problems, isolation, and questions about life purpose.

She encourages a collaborative approach so people steer the pace and focus of therapy. To begin, readers are asked to use the site Start Therapy path to match and schedule a session according to availability.

How therapeutic approaches fit into online therapy

Mary often uses mindfulness therapy to help people build awareness of thoughts and bodily sensations. That approach teaches short practices people can use between sessions to reduce reactivity and come back to the present moment.

She also uses attachment-based work to look at patterns in how people connect and relate. This helps when relationship history shapes current trust, closeness, or communication struggles. Client-centered therapy keeps sessions focused on each person's goals, with the therapist following the client's lead and reflecting back what matters most.

Finding the right approach is part of the work. Mary typically discusses options with each person and together they decide which methods fit the client's needs, goals, and pace. The plan can shift as therapy moves forward in response to what feels helpful.

If you are considering online sessions, confirm the exact session formats before booking since formats were not specified in the biography. Online therapy can make it easier to fit appointments into a busy life, reduce travel time, and allow short check-ins when a full in-person visit is difficult. It also lets people try mindfulness practices and creative exercises from their own daily environment while working with a licensed professional to shape the work.