I’m Casi. I’m a Gig Harbor mental health counselor, play therapist, and educator who is passionate about helping people understand their emotions, their minds, and themselves.
In therapy, I strive to deeply understand each client while helping them to truly understand themselves. My goal is to promote clients’ self-acceptance and full potential through learning about their unique traits, exploring their emotions and experiences, and tuning into their inner world. I’m honored when clients invite me along on their journeys of understanding, growth, and healing.
Before becoming a counselor, I spent nine years in the classroom. As a Special Education teacher, I worked closely with students with a variety of special needs, advocating for them in the classroom as well as through the IEP and 504 process. I enjoyed supporting each student’s unique learning needs, encouraging them to define their own version of success, and scaffolding them toward greater confidence and independence. I loved teaching; there’s something incredibly special about seeing a student’s eyes light up with newfound pride or helping two quirky kids find their way to friendship.
As I worked with hundreds of students in various teaching roles and learned more about mental health and the social-emotional side of things, I realized how rare - and crucial - true understanding is. Too often in our fast-paced, results-oriented society, we downplay deep understanding in favor of efficiency. This lack of authentic understanding affects more than academic learning; it impacts how we feel about ourselves and how we see the world. In order to understand the world around us, we must understand ourselves. Before we can understand ourselves, we have to feel understood.
I am committed to providing compassionate and empowering counseling services that are evidence-based, strengths-focused, and developmentally-appropriate. My ultimate goal is to help clients live full, satisfying, and meaningful lives.
I highly value building an authentic, nonjudgmental relationship with my clients - to see them, hear them, believe them, and hold space for their unique process and growth. Accordingly, I strive to create a therapeutic environment where each person feels safe, accepted, and valued.
Instead of taking a one-size-fits-all approach or focusing on a collection of issues to fix, I view each client as the whole and unique individual they are. I use a prescriptive approach to therapy, which means that I seek to understand each client’s history, experience, needs, and goals before designing their treatment plan.
I utilize person-centered therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and attachment-based therapies, and my practice is informed by interpersonal neurobiology, cognitive-behavior therapy, human development, and family systems. Interventions may include talk therapy, play therapy, expressive arts activities, experiential exercises, psychoeducation, skills training, mindfulness, and coaching.
Bright Path Collaborative Counseling is based in Gig Harbor, Washington.
11505 Burnham Drive, Suite 301Gig Harbor, WA 98332
We are conveniently located right off Highway 16, our office is easily accessible from Gig Harbor, Tacoma, Bremerton, Silverdale, and the Kitsap Peninsula. Free parking is available.
Our office is ADA accessible.
