Karen King LMHC

Karen has been a licensed psychotherapist for almost 20 years and has loved every minute of it. Her background in dance and meditation informs all that she does in her work with both clients and clinicians. She has been trained in DBT, EMDR and Expressive Arts Therapies as well as studied trauma-based interventions over the years. Her areas of clinical expertise in Attachment-based theory and application, the practice of Contemplative Psychotherapy and Buddhist Philosophy. Her passion is working with clients and clinicians from a Post Traumatic Growth perspective. She helps clinicians gain confidence in their abilities and professionalism and also helps clients recover their sense of hope and wonder after loss and grief.

Karen has worked not only in private practice specializing in children of Narcissistic parents and offering Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapy, but also as a therapist in community mental health, inpatient psychiatric treatment, a children’s group home, a PNW Indian Tribe and as a counselor working with teen homeless in Houston.

She is formerly the founder of Emerge Clinic, providing Integrated care for 9 years, and is currently offering KAP training for clinicians, Consultation for Psychedelic Assisted Psychotherapists and WA State Supervision for therapists. Karen has also been a practicing Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) Therapist since adding Ketamine treatments to the clinic in 2020. She is a Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) trained MDMA Assisted and Psychedelic Assisted Therapy trainee.

Karen currently supervises Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP) therapists in WA and consults nationally and also trains clinicians in safely adding Ketamine Assisted Therapy to their practices. See more about her clinical work with clients at her website.

Karen is deeply inspired to help guide and support new professionals as they navigate an increasingly complex world of providing therapy, and to help clinicians learn the ins and outs of Business as well as the Art of Practice.

Karen draws from an eclectic background of professional dance, choreography, meditation, contemplative meditation studies and her training in Psychedelic Assisted Therapy and Ketamine Assisted Therapy. You might be a therapist entering the field knowing exactly what you want to specialize in, focus on and achieve, while some enter just knowing they want to help people who struggle without having a theoretical passion or focus. Both of these perspectives are welcome at Therapist Circle. This is the time for you to explore and define your theory of therapy while you have solid Admin/Clinical and Billing support and yet also total independence in your clinical practice.

Karen supports new clinicians in their journeys to become their most skillful and professional selves, and also challenges them with humor and grace. She will often bring up articles and books she is reading, podcasts, or other tools to discuss and inspire clinicians who want deep understanding and a relationship with the powerful underpinning of Psychotherapy and how it works.

Karen uses the tools of Mindfulness, Western Philosophy & Ideas, knowledge of Neurobiology, Attachment Theory, Solution Focused Brief Treatment, Expressive Arts techniques as well as a Humanistic, collaborative therapy style as a framework for teaching and mentoring new therapists. She invests in her Associates to find their passions, and helps them achieve their goal and dreams for their therapy careers.

Helping clinicians absorb these skills and see the world open up to them is her passion and motivation for practicing psychotherapy and teaching these perspectives to new therapists is a dynamic and exciting journey.

After attending North Carolina School of the Arts and New World School of the Arts, Karen completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts Dance/Religious Studies degree from Naropa University (1996) and a Master of Science in Counseling Psychology from Our Lady of the Lake University (2006). She is a trainee in MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) MDMA Assisted Therapy and also completed the yearlong MAPS Psychedelic Assisted Therapy training through Naropa. She has completed extensive training in Ketamine Assisted Therapy and guided KAP consultation groups for many years.
She holds specialized Training in:
Meditation Instruction and Contemplative Psychotherapy
Expressive Arts
Integrative Medicine for Mental Health
Grief Practitioner Certification
Psychedelic Assisted Therapies
Ketamine Assisted Therapies
Neurobiology of Attachment
Karen is engaged in continuous training in new and evolving counseling therapies and techniques, and is deeply invested in learning how to deepen and expand her skills so that clients have impactful and more long-lasting change in their lives. She is playfully curious and explorative about therapy and therapeutic ideas and concepts as she helps her supervisees gain deeper awareness of their craft. Karen’s history in contemplative practices such as meditation and her study of Buddhist philosophy greatly inform her perspective on emotional healing.