Mar Galizio, MSW, LSWAIC

Psychotherapy & DBT Skills Training | Adults and Young People | Seattle, WA

About My Approach

As a therapist, I love to work with individuals who are hoping to discover themselves and create the changes they want to see in their lives. My approach is to collaboratively work with you to connect with your hopes, dreams, and goals for a life within your values. In working together, we will focus on challenging and changing the unhelpful behaviors and thought patterns that make connecting with your inner-wisdom difficult.

Being someone who is emotionally sensitive myself, I understand the difficulties that many of us face when we feel things intensely and deeply. My mission as your therapist will be to support you in cherishing this aspect of yourself, while we work on any negative impacts it might have on your life. While diagnosis can be important to both understand what one is experiencing, and is highly valued by insurance companies, my goal is to work with you on the set of symptoms and experiences that are happening within the context that is unique to you. If you choose me as your therapist, my commitment to you is to show up with humor, compassion, and concrete, research-based methods for helping you achieve your goals.

I am rooted in affirming the experiences of folks who are queer, transgender, people of color, non-monogamous/polyamorous, neurodivergent, sex workers, kinky, fat, and disabled. While much of therapy is about connecting with your own resilience and building the skills you need to move through life in a way that works for you - I welcome open and honest conversation around the ways that power, privilege, and oppression impact you. As a white, non-binary, queer, neurodivergent and fat therapist, I am committed to understanding and acknowledging the ways my identities show up in my work with you.

About Me
My constellation of experiences as a nonbinary, queer, neurodivergent, chronically ill, and fat human play a huge role in how I engage in this work. I understand the need for therapists who know more personally what it is like to move through the world with marginalized experiences, and who are also aware of their own power and privilege - because I have been a therapy client who needs that too.
I came to the field of social work through community organizing and a passion for working as a collective towards a better future for everyone. Community organizing taught me skills needed for change making and imagining a future with hope, while moving through the pain of the present moment. I bring this balance of acceptance and change to my work, and teach my clients how to hold both.
When I’m not doing this work, I enjoy crafting through making homemade cards, knitting, and hopefully someday embroidery. I love animals, in particular my 9 year old cat Beeb. Sharing in the art of food is important to me, and I’m working towards learning more about cooking the foods I love to eat. If I’m not at home, I’m connecting with nature or my community.

Photo by: Caroline Catlin

About My Experience

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I have 7 years of experience working in the field of mental health and social services. I have worked in a variety of settings including community mental health clinics for folks struggling with complex emotional dysregulation, personality disorders, mood disorders, and substance use disorders, an inpatient and partial hospitalization program for eating disorders, as well as group practice settings. The early part of my career was spent supporting many people through moving out of crisis and towards achieving stability.

I have spent significant time facilitating adherent Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) skills groups for both teens and adults, and have since shifted my focus to be primarily individual therapy. Much of my training has been in high fidelity comprehensive DBT and behavioral therapies. More broadly, I have significant experience working with LGBTQIA+ folks on identity acceptance and exploration, and have even provided consultation and training to other mental health professionals around care for our community.

The primary evidence-based intervention I specialize in is Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, which I have extensive training in by several DBT Linehan Board-Certified clinicians. Other modalities I use and have training in include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Prolonged Exposure (DBT-PE), all with the lens of Feminist Therapy and a commitment to the application of anti-oppression frameworks. My approach to working with individuals with eating disorders is specifically shaped by Health At Every Size methods, is intentionally weight neutral, and fat positive.

You might be wondering, “What does all of that therapist-speak even mean?” Sessions with me are active, structured, and will focus primarily on behavior (the things you do) and experiencing your emotions.

About My Credentials

I am an associate licensed independent clinical social worker in the state of Washington, license #SC60968018. I am currently working under the supervision of an independently licensed clinician while I work towards independent licensure. I plan to obtain independent licensure this summer of 2024.

I hold a Masters in Social Science Administration (equivalent to a Master’s of Social Work) with an emphasis on clinical mental health practice with adults from the Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio.

I earned my Bachelor of Arts in Sociology, and Peace, Justice, and Conflict Studies, with a minor in Women’s and Gender Studies from DePaul University in Chicago, Illinois.

I have obtained certification as a neurodivergent affirming clinician through Cascadia Training, in addition to intensive trainings in DBT. I am committed to using evidence based treatment models and tailoring them to suit your therapeutic needs. I am frequently engaged in on-going training for the modalities I practice, and receive both consultation and supervision from highly skilled and experienced senior clinicians.