Bethany Yates
I define a therapy session as time set aside to connect with a trained therapist with the shared intention of healing. I especially enjoy working with clients who have complex inner worlds, including those with C-PTSD, Borderline Personality Disorder, or a late autism diagnosis. I also specialize in working with chronic illness, LGBTQ+ issues, and mom rage.
I especially enjoy working with clients who have complex inner worlds, including those with C-PTSD, Borderline Personality Disorder, or a late autism diagnosis.
I hold space for your complexity to be witnessed, understood, and transformed in a way that honors your whole self. My goal is to help you better understand your experiences, make meaning of them, and create change that is aligned with your authentic self.
First session
Expect curiosity, plenty of questions, and probably a little excitement during our first session! You always have autonomy over what you share and can skip any question or establish boundaries around topics. I also recognize that mental health doesn't exist in a vacuum. When relevant, I ask about physical health, energy, sleep, and sensory experiences to better understand the whole picture rather than assuming every struggle has a psychological explanation.
Strengths
I show up to sessions as my authentic self: witty, warm, transparent, and genuinely engaged. I believe the therapeutic relationship is at the heart of meaningful change, and I value connections that are genuine, collaborative, and human. As a neurodivergent therapist, I practice unmasking during sessions, so don't be surprised if you see me rocking or swaying while we talk! I want therapy to be a space where you can unmask, too, and feel comfortable showing up as yourself without worrying about fitting into someone else's expectations. My approach is flexible, creative, and intuitive. I draw from evidence-based modalities while incorporating interests like art, photography, nature, tarot, and dark humor when appropriate. I bring empathy, intuition, and clinical knowledge to help you better understand yourself and build a life that feels authentic to who you are.
Ideal clients
My ideal client is someone who is curious about themselves and open to exploring the parts of their story that may be difficult, uncomfortable, or not yet fully understood. I particularly enjoy working with people during "Tower moments," when everything they thought they knew is being turned upside down, creating opportunities for deconstruction, self-discovery, and becoming. I appreciate clients who are open to creative interventions and exploring themselves in ways that extend beyond traditional talk therapy. Whether through art, photography, metaphor, or other experiential approaches, I enjoy finding unique ways to make the therapeutic process meaningful, engaging, and sometimes unexpected. I also value working with people whose values align with my own, including a commitment to social justice, collective care, and socialist principles. I believe our social and political environments profoundly shape our experiences, and I welcome clients who are interested in exploring how larger systems influence their lives, relationships, and sense of self. Finally, I value radical honesty and strive to create a space where we can get curious about the things we might otherwise feel compelled to hide. I genuinely appreciate when a client tells me they've lied during a session, for example, because I see that as an opportunity for exploration rather than judgment. What felt difficult about being honest? What did the lie make possible, or protect them from? I believe these moments can offer some of the most meaningful opportunities for reflection, connection, and intellectual curiosity.
Origin story
I have always been fascinated by the human psyche and the complexities of what makes us who we are. I was researching psychological concepts as young as 12, driven by a desire to understand human behavior, relationships, and the experiences that shape us. That curiosity has always extended inward as I also genuinely enjoy introspection and exploring my own psyche. My path to becoming a therapist was not entirely linear. After dropping out of high school at 16, I eventually pursued social work with the intention of working with children in foster care. I never envisioned becoming a therapist, but through that work, I discovered that I was particularly drawn to the clinical relationships I developed with individuals and families. I found fulfillment in helping people explore their experiences, recognize patterns, and develop a deeper understanding of the darkest parts of themselves. My professional identity is also deeply informed by my lived experiences. Growing up around addiction and poverty, navigating chronic illness from childhood, and spending much of my life feeling as though I never quite belonged have shaped my understanding of the human experience. Receiving diagnoses of autism and several chronic illnesses in adulthood gave me a new framework for understanding myself. Becoming an adoptive parent has further expanded my perspective on attachment, trauma, identity, and resilience. These experiences have deepened my empathy for people whose struggles may be invisible, misunderstood, or dismissed. I am drawn to therapy because I believe in the transformative power of being genuinely witnessed and understood. I believe healing is not about becoming someone else or learning to fit into a world that may not have made room for you; it is about understanding yourself, recognizing your inherent worth, and building a life that feels authentic to who you are.
Ongoing work together
Ongoing work together would be a collaborative, evolving process of curiosity, deconstruction, and self-discovery. While we'd establish goals and a general direction, I approach therapy intuitively, making room for whatever is calling for our attention in the moment. We might follow an unexpected thread, explore a familiar pattern from a different perspective, or use creative interventions like art to access experiences that words alone don't always capture. I value creating a space for radical honesty, where discomfort, resistance, disagreement, and even ruptures in our therapeutic relationship can become opportunities for exploration rather than things to avoid. Ultimately, our work would involve questioning what no longer serves you while making room to imagine and experiment with what comes next.
Treatment methods
Acceptance and commitment (ACT)
ACT focuses on developing psychological flexibility: learning to make room for difficult thoughts, feelings, and experiences without allowing them to dictate your choices. Rather than trying to eliminate uncomfortable thoughts, we work on changing our relationship with them, identifying personal values, and taking meaningful action even when discomfort is present. It incorporates mindfulness, acceptance, cognitive defusion, and values-based living.
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
IFS is based on the idea that our internal world is made up of different parts, each with its own feelings, beliefs, needs, and protective roles. Some parts might be critical, some might be people-pleasing, and others might carry pain from earlier experiences. Rather than viewing these parts as problems to eliminate, IFS encourages curiosity and compassion toward them. The goal is to understand their roles, reduce internal conflict, and develop a more trusting relationship with ourselves. I appreciate that IFS allows room for contradiction and complexity, recognizing that we can hold seemingly opposing feelings, beliefs, and needs without one invalidating the other.
Attachment-based
Attachment-based therapy explores how our early relationships and experiences of connection influence the ways we relate to ourselves and others throughout life. It can help us understand patterns around intimacy, trust, vulnerability, boundaries, and emotional safety. Therapy also provides an opportunity to explore relational patterns as they emerge in the therapeutic relationship and experience a different kind of connection.
Dialectical Behavior (DBT)
DBT focuses on building practical skills for navigating intense emotions, distress, relationships, and everyday challenges. It balances acceptance and change, helping people learn to tolerate distress, regulate emotions, practice mindfulness, and communicate effectively. Skills can be adapted to individual needs, including sensory processing differences and neurodivergence.
EMDR
EMDR is a structured, trauma-focused therapy that helps people process distressing memories and experiences that continue to affect them in the present. It uses bilateral stimulation (such as guided eye movements or alternating taps) alongside memory processing to help reduce the emotional intensity associated with traumatic experiences and develop more adaptive beliefs about oneself. It can be particularly helpful when someone understands an experience intellectually but continues to feel emotionally or physically affected by it.
Location
Virtual sessions