01 · Who Patricia works with

Patricia works with stress, Anxiety, relationship issues and family conflicts

Patricia lists 20 specialisms and 72 further focus areas. Specialisms are the subjects Patricia chose to list first, which is the closest a listing gets to “this is my actual practice”.

02 · In Patricia's own words

What Patricia says about the work

Reproduced in full and unedited - not summarised, not tightened, not rewritten in a house voice.

Hi there, It takes grit and fortitude to do what you’re doing. Searching for a therapist is a big decision and maybe you’ve reached the point where you realize you can’t do it alone, and need support to work through the frustrations, challenges and struggles you are facing in your life right now.

As you read my profile, you’ll notice my professional experience spans over 20 years and my training background covers a wide range of diverse topics. My clinical approach combines psycho-dynamic as well as other modalities like DBT, and systems theory to insure you have access to the most update-to-date information available. While adhering to confidentiality, ethical and legal standards, the individualized treatment approach I employ draws from the latest evidence-based practices, emphasizing a supportive insight-oriented, practical and common sense, straightforward style. I am committed to building an honest, respectful and collaborative alliance with you, to develop a sustainable capacity for continued trust and effective skill building.

I make every effort to balance ego and humility, and pride myself on being honest, direct, and non-judgmental so you know you are believed, taken seriously, feel valued, and know you matter. It entails establishing boundaries, and striking a balance between recognizing the impact of confusion, anguish, conflict, suffering and turmoil to acknowledging and benefiting from understanding, insight/education, advice and feedback. The bottom line is; you gain the tools and coping skills necessary to regulate emotions, become mindful and insure that you gain confidence and competence in your ability to achieve a sense of personal safety, security and stability.

My areas of expertise include working with diverse, multicultural clients including both Native American and Native Alaskan populations. I have worked in private practice, created an outpatient clinic providing DBT groups for both men and women diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. I was the clinical director of a medical behavioral health setting focusing on chronic illness, a homeless shelter providing mental health, substance abuse and HIV+ AIDS treatment services, an all-men’s dual diagnosed residential program, a trauma informed treatment program in the 56 Yupik villages of Alaska, a recidivism re-entry program for ex-offenders from San Quentin and Folsom State Prisons. I also worked in the 1st hospice in the United States, providing death and dignity counseling services to terminally ill patients and bereavement counseling for families.

Currently, my focus is on, although not limited to, working with individuals living with depression, anxiety stemming from trauma histories, recovering from traumatic bonding/narcissistic abuse, and adults on the autistic spectrum who desire a need to understand Asperger’s and the impact it has on their lives and relationships. Also, treatment services for the LGBTQIA community; individuals with a wide range of concerns about sexual orientation, gender identity, sexual fluidity, the coming- out stages, intimacy social stigma, family/relationship conflict, parenting issues, employment concerns and advocacy approaches for the human rights campaign for civil rights. Most importantly, I am passionate about addressing visible, and invisible disability issues, the neuro-diversity of ADD/ADHD, Dyslexia, and the need to address the fundamental issues of disability rights, learning styles, inclusiveness, ableism, workplace bullying and the impact of internalized oppression.

What does this all mean for you? I would like to think, it demonstrates my competence and gives you some degree of confidence in my ability to help you achieve greater resiliency, authenticity, and happiness in your life. Chances are you are doing the best you can and you can do better. That's where your ingenuity, willingness, motivation, and commitment come into play. There are lots of reasons for you to consider entertaining the thought of on-line therapy. It is an effective way to navigate through your problems on your timetable, and support really makes a difference. It gives you the opportunity to start an action plan, get the help you need to stay on track, follow through and meet your goals consistently. It's also an emotional tune-up, putting energy and enthusiasm back into your life, so you are empowered to face reality, generate options, problem-solve, let go of the past and take the risks necessary to move forward. Putting the brakes on wishing things were different, you can break through your fears, self-sabotage, addictions, anger issues and codependency in order to set healthy boundaries and discover what it takes to stand up for yourself, say no, protect your own self-interest and become mindful.

Expand your capacity for recognizing the importance of TFK - thinking, feelings, and knowing, the pillars of EI, emotional intelligence. By increasing emotional self-regulation, interrupting escalating patterns of RUI, reactivity, urgency and intensity, you will be able to manage triggers which will help you respond more calmly, giving you the ability to take on and accomplish the daily challenges with poise while not allowing the past to dictate your responses.

Just think of that, being grounded and thriving, instead of simply surviving. Sounds simple, it's not nor do I pretend it is. Practice makes progress, there is no perfection. Successes and setbacks are inevitable, so it's one step at a time. Call it an incremental manageable approach to deal with getting impatient, bored, or overwhelmed. It’s not unusual for clients, maybe you included, to feel emotionally vulnerable, fragile, stuck, discouraged, helpless, hopeless and struggling with life-defeating behaviors or suicidal ideation. Regardless of the reasons you seek therapy, it is imperative that you feel understood, supported and can speak freely in order to benefit from the therapeutic experience so you can connect, learn, share, grow and pay it forward.

Everything is connected by chains of events, coupled with your vulnerabilities, temperament, and your life experiences while your identity is formed by both narratives, both internal and external. Perhaps it's time you learned to see yourself through kinder eyes, to look at the world from a more neutral stance, recognize that co-perspectives exist, repair and rebuild in some instances vs. re-enacting and repeating, that way, you can accept consequences gracefully, cultivate a willingness to wait, tread softly, play by the rules, make lemonade from lemons, advocate for living, confront and process guilt and shame and recognize that there is no point going to an empty well and expecting water.

Accessing online therapy is safe, secure, convenient, confidential, and cost effective. Keep in mind, you can work on understanding your underlying core issues, the impact of trauma, connecting the historical dots of your life, develop a mental health recovery plan, increase focus, concentration, motivation, and simply live without the drama and recurring crisis. Dramatically improve your ability to think and feel more positive and hopeful. It's like a long awaited of breath of fresh air! Instead of being on automatic pilot, you take ownership of your choices by being accountable and responsible, both deliberate, and intentional. Benefit from a trusting relationship with me, built on a foundation of mutual respect that gives you the best chance at personal growth and enhancing your own functioning. Improve your physical, mental and emotional well-being by stepping outside your comfort zone.

It's about living with hope, having both meaning and purpose, and identifying and living your own values. Instead of suffering in silence you can live, laugh, learn, lead, love and leave a legacy. It's your opportunity to build a life worth living. I invite you to reach out to me.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING BA in Humanities/Social Justice MA in Social Clinical Psychology Dual Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist Trained in EMDR Levels I and II Trained in Palliative Care and Hospice Care Trained in Aging, Grief & Loss, Transitions, Chronic Illness Trained and Nationally Certified in Dialectical Behavior Therapy Trained in Cinema ”Reel” to “Real” Film Group Therapy Trained in Co-Occurring Mental Health and Substance Abuse Treatment/Recovery Trained in Trauma-informed Care and Trauma-specific Practices Trained in Gottman Method Couples Therapy Level I Trained in Multiculturalism, Disability Rights, Ethnic Minorities, Culturally Diverse Populations including Race, Gender, Class, Religion, Power/Privilege and LGBTQIA Orientation/Identity and Coming-Out stages.

Patricia Sumlin, on the BetterHelp listing · read 9 Oct 2026

03 · How Patricia works

The 14 approaches Patricia lists, in plain English

These are the clinical methods Patricia lists. The descriptions are Maker Therapy's, not Patricia's - a general explanation of what each method is, so the list means something before you have spoken to anybody. They are not a claim about how Patricia runs a session.

Acceptance and Commitment TherapyACT

Rather than trying to argue a painful thought away, ACT works on loosening its grip and getting on with what matters to you anyway. Sessions spend real time naming your values, then building action around them while difficult feelings are still present.

Attachment-Based Therapy

Reads present-day relationship difficulty through the lens of how safety and closeness were learned early on. The therapeutic relationship itself is treated as part of the work, because it is where the pattern tends to show up first.

Client-Centred TherapyPerson-centred · Rogerian

The therapist does not steer toward a technique or a diagnosis. They offer sustained, non-judgemental attention and reflect back what they hear, on the premise that people find their own direction when they are genuinely listened to. Often what people mean by “someone who just gets it”.

Cognitive Behavioural TherapyCBT

Structured, present-focused work on the loop between what you think, how you feel and what you then do. Usually means noticing a thought pattern in the room, testing it against evidence, and practising something different between sessions. Among the most heavily researched talking therapies for depression and anxiety.

Dialectical Behaviour TherapyDBT

A structured skills-led adaptation of CBT built around holding two things at once: accepting yourself as you are and working to change. Teaches concrete skills for distress tolerance, emotion regulation and relationships. Developed for people whose feelings arrive at overwhelming intensity, and strongest-evidenced there.

Eye Movement Desensitisation and ReprocessingEMDR

A structured trauma protocol in which you hold a distressing memory in mind while following a repeated side-to-side cue. The mechanism is still debated; the outcome data in post-traumatic stress is strong enough that it appears in national treatment guidelines.

The Gottman Method

A couples approach built on decades of observational research into what distinguishes relationships that last. Structured and assessment-led: it maps friendship, conflict and shared meaning, then works on the specific mechanics of how the two of you argue.

Mindfulness-Based TherapyMBCT

Trains attention on what is happening right now - body, breath, the thought as it arrives - so distress can be observed rather than automatically acted on. Strongest evidence is in preventing depression from recurring, and it is usually taught as a practice you keep doing outside the session.

Motivational InterviewingMI

A way of talking about change with somebody who is genuinely in two minds about it. The therapist does not argue for the change; they help you say your own reasons out loud, which is the part that predicts whether it happens. Common around substance use and health behaviour.

Narrative Therapy

Treats the story you tell about your life as something that can be examined and retold rather than as the plain facts. Separates the person from the problem - “the anxiety” rather than “your anxiety” - to make room for the parts the current story leaves out.

Psychodynamic Therapy

Works on the assumption that current patterns - in relationships, at work, in how you treat yourself - have a history, and that seeing the history loosens the pattern. Less structured than CBT, usually longer, and more interested in what comes up unbidden than in a weekly agenda.

Solution-Focused Brief TherapySFBT

Starts from where you want to end up rather than from how you got here. Sessions look for the times the problem is already smaller and work out what is different about those, so the number of sessions tends to be short and the work concrete.

Trauma-Focused TherapyTF-CBT · trauma-informed

CBT adapted for people whose difficulty is rooted in a frightening or overwhelming event. Pacing is the point: safety and stabilisation come first, the memory itself is approached gradually and only when you are ready, and the aim is that recalling it stops hijacking the present.

Internal Family SystemsIFS

Treats the mind as made up of parts - the critic, the one who withdraws, the one that keeps everything running - each of which is trying to protect you. The work is getting to know them rather than overruling them.

Also listed

• Jungian Therapy

04 · What happens next

From this page to a first session

Patricia practises through BetterHelp, so the route in is BetterHelp's. This is that sequence, written by Maker Therapy from the platform's published process - not a description of Patricia's own practice, and not a promise about how quickly anything happens.

1. A questionnaire, not a booking form

   BetterHelp opens with a set of questions about what you are dealing with, what you want from therapy, and any preferences on the therapist. You are not booking Patricia at this point.

2. Naming Patricia specifically

   BetterHelp matches algorithmically by default, so asking for Patricia is a step you have to take. There is a field for requesting a specific therapist during sign-up, and you can switch afterwards from your account. Starting from a link on this page does not by itself assign you to Patricia.

3. If the caseload is full

   You will be offered somebody else rather than put on a waitlist. Worth knowing, because it is easy to assume a match is the person you asked for.

4. The first conversation

   A first session is typically history and orientation: what brought you, what has been tried, what you want to be different. It is also where the questions in the next section belong.

5. If the fit is wrong

   Changing therapist on BetterHelp does not need a reason. A first session that does not click is common and is not a verdict on therapy. That option existing is the main practical difference between a platform and a private practice.

05 · Before you commit

4 questions worth asking Patricia

Built from what Patricia actually lists, so they are answerable and specific rather than generic. Maker Therapy's, not Patricia's - Patricia has not seen them and is under no obligation to answer any of them.

• “You list both Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Attachment-Based Therapy. Which do you lean on with someone like me?”

  Those two point in different directions - one structured and led by the therapist, the other led by you. The answer tells you what the sessions will actually feel like.

• “How do you decide when someone is ready to work on a traumatic memory itself?”

  Pacing is the biggest safety question in trauma work. A clear, unhurried answer here matters more than any credential.

• “With 25 years in, what has changed most in how you work?”

  Long experience is only an advantage if it has been examined. This tends to surface whether it has.

• “How do you handle the gap between sessions if something comes up?”

  On BetterHelp this varies a great deal by therapist. Better to know the rhythm now than to discover it on a bad week.

06 · Practical details

Credentials and licensing

Credential

LMFT

Licensed in

Washington

Licence

WA LMFT LF 60059026, CA LMFT 44844

Licence number

44844

Licence expires

31 Oct 2026

NPI

1891899027

Years in practice

25

Gender

Female

Languages

English

International clients

Not accepted

Listed since

15 May 2026

07 · Provenance

Where every line on this page came from

Patricia's name, credential, state, subjects, approaches and biography are read from BetterHelp's therapist roster, which Maker Therapy re-reads once a day; this page reflects the reading taken on 9 Oct 2026. The licence number and NPI are cross-checked against public registers.

The plain-English method descriptions, the first-session walkthrough and the questions are written by Maker Therapy and labelled as such wherever they appear.

Maker Therapy is not BetterHelp, does not take bookings, and has not met Patricia. There are no reviews or ratings on this page because we have no way to verify one. If you start therapy through a link here, we may be paid a commission - it does not change your price and it does not affect who appears here or in what order.

Something on this page wrong or out of date? Report it and it will be checked against the source.