Annie Want, LSWAIC
(they/them)

“You do not need to be good. You do not need to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves.” - Mary Oliver

When I meet clients I use the metaphor of painting. Every week we come together and put another brush stroke on the canvas. Over time, images, textures, and motifs emerge. Capitalism, white supremacy, and ableism (to name a few) want us to move as fast as possible. I believe that healing requires something different - deep relationship, pacing, and a container that can hold all manner of mess. I strive to create and honor that container with you, giving you space to come as you are and be held in all your complexity. 

My Approach 
My practice is grounded in an anti-oppression and liberatory framework, and integrates elements of psychodynamic theory, somatic embodiment and trauma treatment, internal family systems (parts work), and narrative therapy. I am nurturing an interest in shame work, accountability practices, and restorative and transformative justice which I bring to my work with clients. A session with me may include breathing and grounding exercises, exploration of formative early experiences and narratives, humor and playfulness, and a focus on relational patterns in our work and in your life. 

Through our work, I hope that you gain

• A stronger ability to trust your intuition, inner knowing, and sense of self

• More access to self-compassion when dealing with shame, anger, causing harm, or feeling unworthy. 

• The feeling that you can change what you want to in your life

• The ability to deal with the feelings that come up when you encounter things you can’t change or control

• More power back from narratives that don’t serve you, whether they be from childhood, friends, family, or from broader cultural systems like anti-Blackness, colonialism, capitalism, ableism, homophobia, and transphobia. 

• Belief in the power of relationships with me and others to heal and transform 

I am transformed by my work with clients, whether that be inspired by the bravery required to heal or alerted to places I need to continue my own healing work. Sharing your story can feel very vulnerable, and I deeply value and respect when clients entrust their time and energy to me in this way. My belief is that each of us are experts in our own experiences and lives, and I hope to join you in that expertise to engage in the healing work you are seeking to do together. 

About Me
Partnering with QTBIPOC folks in healing work is one of the great honors of my life. I have particular love for working with folks around neurodivergence, gender and sexuality exploration, healing from systems trauma, family of origin and attachment concerns, and grief/loss. I recognize that as a white+East Asian, thin, able bodied person living on colonized land with class privilege I benefit from many systems of oppression and I am committed to doing my part to undo them in this lifetime and the next. I also contend with transphobia, homophobia, anti-Asian racism, and a world that is built for people with way more executive functioning than I have. These experiences inform my practice as well. 

Clients describe me as thoughtful, into metaphors and analogies, playful and funny, and in love with the non-normative of all kinds. I love to show you my cat in session and ask you wild check-in questions. In my non-therapy time, I am usually cooking and baking, romping around in the outdoors, and watching women’s sports. 

Questions that guide our work:

• What have you been given in your lineage, both generational burdens and generational gifts (Linda Thai)

• What stories were you taught about yourself by your family, your community, the broader world? 

• What parts of yourself have you needed to hide away to survive? 

• What parts have taken on the burden of keeping you going through the hardest moments of your life? 

• Where are you finding humor, joy, pleasure, and play in your life? How can we make more room for these as we live through difficult and overwhelming times?

Professional Training and Memberships
I am an Associate Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (SC 61379273) in the state of Washington. I earned my Masters in Social Work (MSW) from Smith College School for Social Work and completed my undergraduate degree in Politics at Whitman College. My career has included agency work with children, outpatient work with adults, and working with teens in extracurricular settings. 

Let’s Work Together