Madrona Therapeutics
Welcome to Madrona Therapeutics!
Therapy Can Go Further:
Practicing Wholeness Restoration In a Wounded World
There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost
—Martha Graham
Mission Statement
At Madrona Therapeutics, we aim to expand the practice of mental healthcare and therapy beyond the dichotomy of sick & well to include the full-potential growth of the whole person—body, mind, psyche, spirit, ancestry, community—and the realm of the spirit and intergenerational forces that are in our midst at all times.
The methods used in this practice are experiential & ceremonial therapies, and the focus of that work is relational, attachment- & trauma-informed, spirit-inclusive, and collaborative.
The human condition cannot be cured, nor should we try
At Madrona Therapeutics, We Believe In:
The transformative nature of compassionate care in collaborative inner healing work
Psycho-spiritual & embodied healing: modern & ancient techniques in combination
The power of sacred medicines & ceremonies
Collective/group (and not just individual) healing work
Innovations for deep-level therapeutics which think beyond the weekly one-hour session model
We understand the need to go beyond trauma and stabilization work, and toward transformative depth and ascendence work
Beyond Allopathic Mental Health Therapy
Modern mental healthcare has sprung from the medical model and has at its core the desire to cure disease. However, the human condition cannot be cured, nor should we try. We seek to move away from that tradition toward others that are rooted in perennial wisdom, evolving science, and thought leadership that is responsive to the shifting currents of these, our wild times.
MENTAL HEALTH CARE IS WHOLENESS RESTORATION WORK...
IN THIS PRACTICE WE WORK WITH TREATMENTS THAT ADDRESS OUR INNATE WHOLENESS
We plumb the depths of the psyche in order to re-pattern trauma, all the while acknowledging the precarity and injustice of the world in which we live. Forever aiming for greater healing and wholing to assist in the betterment of the world, one human being (in relationship) at a time.
We work with treatments that address our innate wholeness
We Believe That Therapy Can Be Better
Certain principles of psychology are successful for symptom reduction and stabilization and are highly valued and utilized in this practice.
However, we understand the need to go beyond trauma and stabilization work, and toward transformative depth and ascendence work.
As it is stated in many wisdom traditions: AS ABOVE, SO BELOW. In this practice we believe both in the downward trajectory of deep healing as well as in rising to the high heights of our full human and spiritual potential (as detailed in The Wholeness Diagram).
The most common form of despair is not being who you are
—Soren Kierkegaard
We Believe That Therapy Is In Need of Disruption
We are informed by Adrienne Maree Brown's Emergent Strategy and the Elements & Core Principles, which points toward a vision of an interdependent whole where complex systems (both individual and collective) can apply more creative possibilities, treatments and modalities to healing work.
In longer, full or half-day experiential sessions, a client can experience innovative practices using IFS and Depth Psychology principles, but more than that, they can be held in a welcoming, sacred container in order to deepen their self-awareness in the service of their innate gifts and in-born potential. Beyond symptom-reduction or "return to baseline" goals is a whole person who was not made merely to survive and simply get-by, but to damn well thrive.
The approach in this practice centers the client's Self-sovereignty, agency, and wisdom. We apply spiritual and wisdom traditions in concert with leading-edge mental health practices to facilitate nothing more than one's natural growth, what James Hillman termed the "soul's code", and to help one remove key obstacles toward that end.
Our Practices
Therapeutic Approach: IFS, AEDP & Divine Composting
The inner world of the person, and the various parts, emotions and callings within, are the primary drivers of this work. In this practice, we deeply listen and attend to the internal system, often beginning with the parts within that are rooted in trauma and unmet childhood or cultural needs or harms. Once addressed, the deeper true Self states are more free to emerge and then the work can move from healing injuries (or negligences) to growing and tending to the full potential of the person.
We employ IFS & AEDP techniques along with Jungian Depth Psychology, and other spiritual, relational, and mindfulness practices to go deeper, and unlock the natural healing resources at the core of the person.
But more than anything, we believe in the core principle of Divine Compost in therapeutics...
As beings in nature, we intuitively grow and evolve, moving from phase to phase in an unending spiral of life. In so doing, much gets outgrown, discarded, and in one way or another becomes the "rot" that eventually reconstitutes into the fertile soil of our lives. We need only be open to the processes of life to facilitate this, which means attuning ourselves to be able to hear, see, know and act on that which is dying out in our lives.
The role of therapy is to help the seeker be conscious and make choices that help aid in that composting process as seemessly and organically as possible. Sometimes this looks like adding to the compost pile, sometimes beholding it's stench, sometimes churning it with intention, and then at other times, seeing the results as the waste material breaks down and becomes something else quite extraordinary over time...
We believe in a more flexible framework
Who Is a Good Fit for This Practice?
Most clients joining this practice will be over the age of 25 and will have a long background of personal therapy and recovery or spiritual & body work of an emotional/mental health nature prior to working in these modalities
Many of these past approaches have reached a point of limitation that cause one to look to further venues for healing work
Clients who seek experiential methods choose to work in more expanded ways, and welcome the unknown that can come in such work, knowing that this can lead to uncomfortable growing edges at times
Details About These Practices
A FLEXIBLE FRAMEWORK
Some folx benefit from weekly hourly sessions, and some do not. Some clients do spurts of work and full or half-day sessions to facilitate their growth, and have session work to complement those experiences. Any which way, the needs of the person dictate the frequency and treatment plan, not a pro forma idea of what therapy should be.
FULL OR HALF DAY SESSIONS & CEREMONIES
The centerpiece of this practice is full-day and half-day experiential & ceremonial sessions in your home (if nearby) or on our site, located in central Seattle on occupied Duwamish Territory. We provide pre-and post-session therapy following full- and half-day sessions to prepare, support and help integrate deeper level, experiential work.
PSYCHEDELIC or OTHER EXPANDED STATES INTEGRATION
We also offer comprehensive and skillful integration work following psychedelic experiences that have been had elsewhere. Liz has created a model for working in-depth in this area and The Wholeness Diagram is applied for maximizing the benefit of the time following very deep work through psychedelics, breathwork or other ceremonial practices
EQUITY POLICY
For more information on what range of therapies are offered in this practice, and about the BIPOC rate or sliding fee scale if that is applicable to you. Individualized therapies are expensive. Please reach out if you need healing work that you cannot afford, and we will do our best to accommodate you, with a priority for Black & Indigenous folx or those with multi-generational poverty.
Lower-cost group work is forthcoming in 2025 so stay tuned!
What Informs Us
Influences In This Practice
What Informs the Healing Modalities In This Practice
Anti-Racism of a uniquely American kind (where grievous harms are denied and not repaired)
Respect for Spirituality & Religion of all kinds
Gender & Sexuality Inclusivity
The ethics of consent
Ability Inclusivity
Neurodiversity
Sex Positivity
Fat Positivity
Change is constant. (Be like water).
—Adrienne Maree Brown
The Wholeness Diagram
Liz Covey, MA, has created this diagram to serve as a "map" for the work of understanding wholeness through the lens of depth work in therapy and integration. According to Depth Psychology and the Celtic cosmology that informs this practice, as well as through the perennial wisdom from cultures all around the world, much of the purpose of one's life is to reconnect the individual core self with the whole of the cosmos. But we westerners often need help understanding concretely how that works.
Surprising to many, that reconnecting of self-with-cosmos usually begins with the seeker descending into their own depths (into the Below aspect of the diagram)- whether through pain, loss or personal decree. Nonetheless, it is that turn toward descent that marks the first steps to making that reconnection of self-with-cosmos possible. This is largely the realm where therapy beings: in the descent work. We arrive with troubles, pains and things not working well. As one seeks to do that descent (in the spirit of reconnecting to their wholeness), there are nuances along the way that call for empathy, explanation, and companioning in order to be successful, and not simply re-traumatizing. That is where the therapist serves the role of helper or sometimes even guide on that quest.
Helpers that shepherd or act as mentor and guide along this deepening path are well documented throughout human history in healing, growth and spiritual work. Whether it was through a shaman, a medicine man or woman, a tribal elder, a venerated wise famly elder, a priest, priestesses or rabbi or imam, or through other forms of wise healers, such a figure is seen in cultures around the globe. Today in the West, we relegate some of that role to therapist, and thus, in this practice, we honor the time-honed need for humans to heal alongside one another. In particular, with those who have carved out their own depths and understanding of these realms and processes in order to help illuminate or interpret that path for others.
This model is based on Jungian Depth Psychology, IFS/parts work, Mysticism (mostly from Western theological traditions), and European folk traditions that are loosely termed "witching" practices today. A workbook is forthcoming to explain the processes outlined in this diagram for use by other practitioners and seekers as well.
Liz Covey, MA, has created this next diagram to orient the work in this practice to the greater dimenson of what is beyond the individual work of the psyche in wholeness restoration. This diagram illustrates what surrounds the individual, in both seen and unseen ways, and in ways that are familiar and sometimes less so, depending on one's abilities and sensitivities. This second diagram could be called the Spiritual Container of the Wholeness Work of the Individual, for it is what supports and surrounds the person in their personal explorations.
This is not the stance of "therapist-as-expert", but quite the opposite: Therapy in service of the innate wholeness of the seeker
Bio
Liz Covey, MA, LMHC, LMT, LPC & Associates
LIZ IS A LICENSED MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELOR (LMHC) and (retired) MASSAGE THERAPIST (LMT) in Washington State and in Oregon (LPC). She has decades of experience in traditional therapy practice as a trauma and attachment specialist, including family and child therapy, EMDR, adoption trauma specialty work, and mental health work within the jail and prison systems. She also has been a consultant, trainer and freelance writer in the mental health field for nearly 2 decades. She has also studied through Naropa University's Psychedelic Studies program.
THE EMPHASIS IN HER PRACTICE TODAY is on experiential therapeutic and divination work that delves into the depths of the psyche and soul, and which goes beyond the range of talk therapy to enter into the realm of what Jungians have termed "shadow work" or depth work. In this practice we acknowledge the realms that are beyond the visible in the here and now, such as the elements and directions, beings from other realms including the ancestral, the celestial, and beyond.
The determination of what methods are best suited for an individual to access their depths is done in collaboration, so that a course of right action for each person is sure to center their wisdom, personal cosmology, agency and self-knowledge from the very beginning.
This is not a stance of "therapist as expert", but quite the opposite: Therapy in service of the innate wholeness and wisdom of the seeker. Let's re-center our work on the principles of self-sovereignty, working down to our depths and up to our heights from there!
Liz Covey, MA, LMHC, LMT, LPC & Associates
LIZ IS A LICENSED MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELOR (LMHC) and (retired) MASSAGE THERAPIST (LMT) in Washington State and in Oregon (LPC). She has decades of experience in traditional therapy practice as a trauma and attachment specialist, including family and child therapy, EMDR, adoption trauma specialty work, and mental health work within the jail and prison systems. She also has been a consultant, trainer and freelance writer in the mental health field for nearly 2 decades. She has also studied through Naropa University's Psychedelic Studies program.
THE EMPHASIS IN HER PRACTICE TODAY is on experiential therapeutic and divination work that delves into the depths of the psyche and soul, and which goes beyond the range of talk therapy to enter into the realm of what Jungians have termed "shadow work" or depth work. In this practice we acknowledge the realms that are beyond the visible in the here and now, such as the elements and directions, beings from other realms including the ancestral, the celestial, and beyond.
The determination of what methods are best suited for an individual to access their depths is done in collaboration, so that a course of right action for each person is sure to center their wisdom, personal cosmology, agency and self-knowledge from the very beginning.
This is not a stance of "therapist as expert", but quite the opposite: Therapy in service of the innate wholeness and wisdom of the seeker. Let's re-center our work on the principles of self-sovereignty, working down to our depths and up to our heights from there!
Nothing I accept about myself can be used against me to diminish me. I remind you of your you-ness, as I discover you in myself.
—Audre Lorde
Theoretical Orientation
The core values at Madrona Therapeutics are related to addressing the Celtic concept of Soul Forgetfulness, which means that the individual has lost their full sense of self, the compass we humans have to move through the wonder and hardships of one's life and this world. Therapy in this practice is seen as Soul Remembering in the main. You were born to shine, and the light you have to shine is yours and yours alone. Recovery of that light from that which dims it- from injuries and limitations of living, often passed down from many generatons, is the aim of this work. Building awareness and skills needed to shine it once again, and at the fullest possible capacity, is the point this work.
Liz has been trained by Richard Schwartz in Internal Family Systems (IFS- Level 2) and Diana Fosha in Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), and has been theologically trained through Seattle University’s School of Theology and Ministry. She is a lifelong devotee to Jungian and mysticism studies. She is a (retired) licensed massage therapist (LMT- inactive) and has studied and practiced with the Golden Web Mystery School in Portland, Oregon as well as with Betsy Bergstrom through Spirit Wise in Seattle, WA . She has studied psychedelic therapy through Naropa University's Psychedelic Studies Program.
Madrona Therapeutics is committed to...thought leadership that teaches broadly to expand the hearts and minds of people during a time of immense disorder
Anti-Appropriation
Madrona Therapeutics is committed to not applying cultural appropriation of any kind to work in this practice. Liz draws learning and practice skills from wells that are within her legacy/rights to learn, such as northern European traditions and American and other thought leadership that teaches broadly to expand the hearts and minds of people during a time of immense disorder, change and much-needed evolution.
Land Acknowledgment:
We acknowledge that the land on which we work and live was not acquired by ethical means and that reparations for land theft and occupation have never been made. We honor the Suquamish, the Duwamish, the Muckleshoot, the Tulalip, the Puyallup, and the Stillaguamish peoples, and all of those who are unnamed here who tended and have full rights to this land. Madrona Therapeutics pays Real Rent to the Duwamish Tribe monthly as a nod to this travesty. All the while recognizing that this is meager, and that even a statement is only words. Nonetheless, the original peoples of this land are honored and deeply respected in all aspects of this work.
Contact Us
Send us a message and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.
Madrona, Seattle, WA 98122
206-462-0943