Austin Taylor Winchester
Counseling Resident
Hi! My name is Austin, and I use he/him pronouns. I’m excited you’re here. The play’s the thing, so let’s play.
My central framework as a drama therapist is based in the expressive arts therapies. As an expressive arts therapist, I combine psychodynamic, humanistic, and existential theory with the creative process to provide pathways to self-exploration and transformation alternative to traditional talk therapy. While creative practices such as playing, moving, or watercolors may be a part of our work together, I also pull from modalities such as parts work, cognitive approaches, mindfulness/self-compassion, and somatics. This provides me with a variety of tools to follow your lead and address your unique goals and visions for growth in the way that feels right to you.
I bring a sort of "gentle, playful, anti-oppressionist, trauma-informed" vibe to the function and value cultural humility and responsiveness. I have previously spent time in Maine, Wisconsin, and Western North Carolina working with adults and teens in physical and sexual abuse prevention, healthy relationships, life transitions, grief and loss, the immigrant/refugee community, ADHD, men’s issues, embodiment struggles, and nervous system regulation.
Before training to become a therapist, I lived and worked in New York City and Atlanta as an actor. Volunteering at the local soup kitchen inspired me to become a therapist. Acting taught me so much about myself, but these days I get the most fulfillment creatively out of writing music. Apart from all that, I am a pickleball, tennis, and outdoor enthusiast, as well as a proud student in the MA Clinical Mental Health Counseling program at Lesley University.
Areas of Focus
Stress and Anxiety
Depression
Relational Trauma
Complex Grief and Loss
Life Transitions
Shame
Men's Issues
Burnout
Systemic Oppression
Neurodivergence
Young Adulthood
Creativity and Expression
Creative Professionals
Fees
Through a partnership with Shelterwood Collective’s Sustainable Therapy Program, I provide weekly counseling and therapy for individuals on a sliding scale.
$50-$90 per 50-minute individual session
Location
I offer sessions in person and via telehealth. My practice is located at Shelterwood Collective’s home location in Seattle’s Pioneer Square district (108 S. Jackson St).
“Perhaps all the dragons in our lives...are only waiting for us to act, just once, with beauty and courage. Perhaps everything that frightens us is, in its deepest essence, something helpless that wants our love.
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