I’m Ariel Andersen, a U.S.-trained psychotherapist (MA, MPF)
...Offering individual and relational therapy for adults and children navigating transitions, relationships, anxiety disorders, and mood disorders. I specialize in treating anxiety, phobias, and OCD.
I graduated in 2022 with my Masters in Couple & Family Therapy from Seattle University. I gained licensure as a Marriage & Family Therapist in the state of Washington that same year.
2022 was a big year for me, as that is also the year I had my first child, and moved to Denmark. I then became a certified psychotherapist and member of the Danish Psychotherapy Union (Dansk Psykoterapeut Forening).
Although my training included extensive work with couples and families, my internship experience drew me toward individual therapy and helped me find my niche in treating anxiety and related disorders. I later trained in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) to better support clients working through trauma and past experiences that still feel unresolved.
My approach is collaborative, existential, and down-to-earth. I believe therapy should feel like a real conversation but also a place where you feel like you're getting invaluable tools for improving your life. Together, we’ll look at the patterns and stories shaping your life and explore what needs attention, healing, or release.
Outside of my work as a psychotherapist, I enjoy spending time with my family, and my hobbies and interests include film, television, books, music, and gaming. If it’s an indoorsy activity, I probably enjoy it :)
Widely considered the gold standard treatment option for anxiety and depression. CBT stands for Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy. Together the psychotherapist and client assess dysfunctional thought patterns and how they affect both behaviors and emotions, and vice-versa. Homework and worksheets are a staple of this style of therapy.
The gold standard treatment for trauma. Using bilateral stimulation (that is, moving the eyes back and forth laterally, or tapping oneself on each side of the body), this highly manualized treatment desensitizes the client from their traumatic memory and allows them to reprocess it in a healthy way so that it no longer causes symptoms.
A type of couples therapy that places high importance on reconnecting, acknowledging past wounds, and rebuilding trust and safety. If you are familiar with the work of Esther Perel, she draws heavily from EFT in her work with couples.
A type of CBT specifically for treatment of phobias, OCD, and trauma. ERP is widely considered to be the gold standard treatment for OCD. ERP involves graduated exposure (meaning smallest possible exposure, e.g. imagining, before physical exposure) to the anxiety-causing stimulus while using specific tools to prevent anxious response in order to break the cycle of anxiety.
A therapeutic stance rooted in the idea that most mental dysfunction can be tied to the fear of death. Grappling with this fear can alleviate symptoms. Clients are also encouraged to reclaim their agency by accepting freedom and responsibility in their lives, as well as finding meaning. At Village Therapy, the therapists who use this modality use it in concert with other more structured modalities. Existential Psychotherapy thus serves as a sort of foundational stance rather than a source of interventions.
Used with children, this modality uses the power of play to resolve difficulties children face. Play is the language of children and is a powerful tool to unlock processing in children who may not have the cognitive or emotional capabilities to process as adults do. Open-ended toys and activities are used in concert with unconditional positive regard to allow children to process psychosocial difficulties and overcome obstacles to growth.