Meet Your Therapist

Katherine O'Connell

MS, LMHCA
Postdoctoral Fellow
Relationship & Intimacy Specialist

Therapeutic Specialties

Betrayal Trauma

Couple or Marriage Therapy

Communication & Conflict

Intimacy & sexuality

Infidelity

Discernment counseling

Sexual Behavior Problems

Infidelity

Sex Therapy

Anorgasmia

Infertility

Low Sexual Desire

Sexual Pain

Sexual Shame

Sexual Trauma

Vaginismus

Individual Therapy

Anxiety

Chronic Pain

Chronic Illness

Depression

Shame & Self-Esteem

Trauma & PTSD

Populations

Adults

Chronic Health Concerns

LGBTQIA+

Multicultural Relationships

Teens

Veterans

Katherine will be accepting new clients starting in September of 2025

Katherine helps her clients heal and grow through the difficulties and transitions of life. We all face challenges, whether it’s struggling with intimacy in our relationships, the trauma of loss and pain, or relational conflicts.  She will help you tap into your potential to make meaningful life changes so you can begin to live the life you want.   Katherine helps individuals who are experiencing interpersonal difficulties, relationship challenges, and other painful struggles such as grief, complex trauma, infidelity, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. She also has a unique niche for working with neurodiverse adults and supporting them to live a full and connected life. Katherine believes in honoring each person’s life history, experiences, values, and beliefs they carry that may impact how they feel today. She will support you and your desire to be heard and understood to make meaningful connections in your relationships.

Katherine appreciates that individuals experience and interact with the world in different ways. She understands that neurodiverse adults often spend a great amount of energy trying to “fit in” or struggle to feel understood in their relationships. She will not limit you by labels and believes diagnoses fail to capture your unique strengths and brilliance. Katherine will support you with your struggles and help you identify and share your true needs. She will help you explore what matters to you and support you in obtaining your goals. This can foster deeper healing and connection in your life.

Katherine loves supporting couples in repairing their relationship, helping them communicate to understand, not just listen, and getting couples to connect on a deeper level. She is certified in Gottman Method Levels I and II and incorporates an attachment-based lens in her work for healing relationship wounds and addressing destructive cycles that keeps couples stuck.  She particularly values the role sexuality and intimacy holds for individuals and couples; it is a core part of the human experience yet so rarely addressed, even in most therapy offices. She will support your vision for healthy intimacy and help you achieve a closer connection. Katherine helps couples stop the painful and destructive cycles they may have found themselves in. She will teach you how to openly share, be vulnerable, and empathize to reach each other on a more intimate level.

Katherine uses a variety of empirically supported therapies and techniques to help her clients heal and move towards growth. She offers cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), trauma-focused CBT, Gottman Method, Attachment-based family therapy, and the collaborative Assessment and Management of Suicidality (CAMS). In supporting clients healing from infidelity, Katherine uses the Posttraumatic Growth Model for Intimate Betrayal, and enjoys creating a space to encourage healing and recovery from betrayal trauma.

About Katherine

Katherine attended Mary Baldwin University for her undergraduate degree studying history and international relations before joining the Army.  She served for 10 years during which time she was intrigued by the mental health toll of geographical separations upon couples and families, the trauma of war upon servicemembers, and increased suicidality in veterans.  She completed two Master of Science degrees studying Psychology at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and Psychological Sciences at Seattle Pacific University in Washington.  She is currently a fourth-year doctoral student at Seattle Pacific University and is on track to receive her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology in May 2025. When Katherine is not studying or working, she enjoys spending time with her husband and three children camping, hiking, and travelling.

Education & Credentials
  • Master of Science in Psychological Sciences (M.S), Seattle Pacific University

  • Washington State Agency-Affiliated Counselor

  • Washington State Licensed Mental Health Counselor Associate

  • Gottman Level 1 & 2 Certified

  • CAMS Trained (Collaborative Assessment for Managing Suicidality)

Scientific Publications

O’Connell, K. L., Jacobson, S. V., Ton, A. T., & Law, K. C. (2022). Association between race and socioeconomic factors and suicide-related 911 call rate. Social Science & Medicine, 306, 115106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115106

Marks, R.B., Wee, J.Y., Jacobson, S.V., Hashimoto, K., O’Connell, K.L., Golden, S.A., Baker, P.M., & Law, K.C. (2022). The role of the lateral habenula in suicide: A call for further exploration. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2022.812952 

Moreira, N., O’Connell, K.L., Wee, J.Y., Lin, Y.C., Marks, R.B., Jacobson, S.V., Hassler, M., Layton, J.L., O’Boyle, M., Hashimoto, K.H., Ton, A.T., & Knight, J., Law, K.C. (in press). A qualitative examination of mental health needs and managing suicide risk in COVID-19 frontline medical professionals. Inquiries Journal.

Lin, Y.-C., Wee, J.Y., M., Marks, R.B., O’Connell, K. L., Hassler, M., & Law, K.C. (2022). Shame-proneness and suicidal ideation: The role of depressive and anger rumination. Journal of Affective Disorders Reports, 7,  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadr.2021.100303