Axel Stanovsky, MA, LMHCA
Psychotherapist
(He/Him/His)
However you arrive at a new beginning in therapy, we can co-create conditions of security, acceptance, and respect. These conditions can be mysteriously elusive in our world, so I devote myself to nourishing them in our time together. I hope this gives you a chance to voice the things you can seldom voice, vent to your heart’s content, and explore dimensions of yourself that you often have to hide. I want you to feel alive in our conversation, and for that aliveness to allow hidden parts of you to emerge into our present reality. We can not know fully what might emerge, but the therapeutic bond may allow us to face each other anyway and find a dignity-in-relationship that inspires us to become who we are becoming and embrace what we have struggled to care for in ourselves.
I bring a grounded presence with me from my past as a civil engineer and flexibility I learned as a crisis case-manager in the pandemic. As a therapist, I draw on my education in the existential approach, as well as somatic wisdom from my past as an athlete, and my current artistic practice. As an artist, I enjoy the way creating clothing allows me to investigate fluidity in structure, and to wear what I produce.
I work with adults and young adults experiencing depression, anxiety, grief, loss and struggling with life transitions or relationships. I have experience in a college counseling center working with young adults navigating transitions to college and professional life, redefining family structures and seeking romantic partnership. Through my work as a case manager I have accompanied clients of a wide array of racial, class and gender identities, recovering from severe abuse, immigration issues, illness, chronic pain, suicidal ideation, human trafficking, housing insecurity, legal trouble, and incarceration. As humans, we experience indescribable suffering at times, and through therapy, we learn to face each other and the world with renewed security and desire for understanding.
Areas of Focus
Grief/Loss
Existential Questions
Somatic/Embodiment
Life Transitions
Relationships/Intimacy
Creative Practice
Gender Identity
Stress/Anxiety
Depression
Trauma/Abuse
Fees
Sliding Scale $120-$150 for 50min individual session
$175 for 50 min couples session
$185 for 75 min couples Session
Insurance
As an associate level clinician affiliated with the Shelterwood Collective, I am able to accept insurance through Premera, Blue Cross, and Lifewise. You can call your insurance and verify that Shelterwood Collective is in their network by providing their name & address. You can also ask your insurance about working with me out of network, and I will provide superbills for our sessions.
Location
I offer services online, and in two locations:
Central Plaza
19980 10th Ave NE
Poulsbo, WA 98370
Shelterwood Collective
108 S Jackson St
Seattle, WA 98104
Scheduling Information
To schedule an appointment, email as@axelstanovsky.com or call and leave a confidential voicemail at (206)-659-9333
“Clean pain hurts like hell. But it enables our bodies to grow through our difficulties, develop nuanced skills, and mend our trauma… Dirty pain is the pain of avoidance, blame, and denial.”
-Resmaa Menakem, My Grandmother's Hands