Katherine Barteck (she/her)

Anxiety often shows up as constant tension, overthinking, or a sense that something isn’t right even when nothing is obviously wrong. Many people have tried strategies that help in the moment but don’t change the underlying pattern. My work focuses on what is organizing the anxiety beneath the surface, including how it persists over time, rather than only managing symptoms as they appear. This tends to fit if you’ve tried to manage anxiety and found that understanding it hasn’t made it quieter.

Depression can feel like heaviness, disconnection, or a loss of energy and direction that doesn’t fully lift even when life circumstances change. Some people understand why they feel this way and still find the pattern continues. The work focuses on what's maintaining the depression, including patterns of withdrawal, self-perception, and relationship dynamics that keep it in place over time. This tends to fit if depression has persisted despite insight, effort, or changes in your circumstances.

I provide affirming therapy for LGBTQ+ individuals, couples, and families. Sessions offer a space where identity, relationships, and mental health can be explored without needing to explain or justify who you are. I work with a range of experiences, including coming out, gender identity, relationship dynamics, and the impact of family and cultural context, as well as supporting partners and families navigating identity, disclosure, and relational change.

Depth-oriented therapy looks beneath the presenting problem to understand what keeps it organized. Rather than focusing only on symptom management, the work stays with how patterns form, repeat, and persist over time. This often moves more slowly than short-term approaches, but the goal is change that holds across situations rather than relief that must be constantly maintained. This tends to fit if you’ve tried to address a problem directly and found that something underneath remains unchanged.

Relational therapy understands that patterns do not exist in isolation. They show up in connection, distance, trust, conflict, and vulnerability, including within the therapy relationship. The work pays attention to what emerges between us as a window into how you organize relationships, especially when the difficulty centers on being close to other people. This tends to fit if difficulties show up most clearly in how you relate to others, particularly in close or important relationships.

Depth-oriented therapy looks beneath the presenting problem to understand what keeps it organized. Rather than focusing only on symptom management, the work stays with how patterns form, repeat, and persist over time. This often moves more slowly than short-term approaches, but the goal is change that holds across situations rather than relief that must be constantly maintained. This tends to fit if you’ve tried to address a problem directly and found that something underneath remains unchanged.

Psychodynamic therapy focuses on parts of experience that operate outside immediate awareness. This includes early relational patterns, protective strategies, inner conflicts, and repeated ways of responding that feel automatic. The work makes these patterns more visible so they can be understood and engaged differently, rather than simply repeated. This tends to fit if you understand your patterns but still find yourself inside them when it matters, especially in relationships or under stress.

Relational therapy understands that patterns don't exist in isolation. They show up in connection, distance, trust, conflict, and vulnerability, including within the therapy relationship. The work pays attention to what emerges between us as a window into how you organize relationships, especially when the difficulty centers on being close to other people. This tends to fit if difficulties show up most clearly in how you relate to others, particularly in close or important relationships.

Psychodynamic therapy focuses on parts of experience that operate outside immediate awareness. This includes early relational patterns, protective strategies, inner conflicts, and repeated ways of responding that feel automatic. The work makes these patterns more visible so they can be understood and engaged differently, rather than simply repeated. This tends to fit if you understand your patterns but still find yourself inside them when it matters, especially in relationships or under stress.

Depth-oriented therapy looks beneath the presenting problem to understand what keeps it organized. Rather than focusing only on symptom management, the work stays with how patterns form, repeat, and persist over time. This often moves more slowly than short-term approaches, but the goal is change that holds across situations rather than relief that must be constantly maintained. This tends to fit if you’ve tried to address a problem directly and found that something underneath remains unchanged.