CALIFORNIA, OREGON, WASHINGTON, NEVADA

A therapist who understands you holistically can be invaluable in helping you navigate life’s challenges with clarity, empowerment, and agency. Whether you are experiencing situational stress, unresolved trauma, or longstanding patterns that affect relationships and daily functioning, individual therapy offers a space to untangle thoughts and emotions that may feel overwhelming or limiting.

Because no two people share the same story, I tailor my approach to align with your unique needs, goals, and lived experience. Drawing from trauma-informed, evidence-based practices and informed by my work across multiple states and diverse populations, I collaborate with you using compassion, curiosity, and respect. Your story matters, and my role is to help illuminate insight, resilience, and direction as you work toward meaningful and sustainable change.

Our primary relationships have the capacity to shape our emotional well-being more profoundly than almost any other aspect of life. When a partnership feels secure, supportive, and connected, individuals are often better able to thrive both personally and professionally. Conversely, when communication breaks down or unresolved wounds surface, even strong relationships can feel strained or disconnected.

In my work with couples of all identities and relational structures, I provide a supportive, nonjudgmental space where each partner’s experience is honored. I integrate Emotionally Focused Therapy and Gottman-informed interventions within a client-centered, Rogerian framework, while also incorporating trauma-informed cognitive behavioral approaches when relationship challenges are rooted in past or relational trauma. My goal is to help couples strengthen emotional safety, improve communication, and develop practical tools that foster connection, understanding, and long-term relational health.

Families function as interconnected systems, and when one part of the system experiences strain, the impact is often felt throughout the family as a whole. Blended families, step- and half-sibling households, and families navigating co-parenting arrangements may encounter layered stressors, including multiple parental figures, financial pressures, visitation schedules, cultural or faith differences, and unresolved emotional wounds.

In addition, family estrangement, particularly between parents and adult children, has become increasingly common. These ruptures are often maintained by long-standing misunderstandings, unspoken grief, or rigid narratives that have become emotionally “frozen” over time. In my work with estranged or emotionally distant family members, I offer a compassionate, trauma-informed approach that supports the development of empathy, emotional insight, and reflective communication. Therapy focuses on softening entrenched perspectives, fostering emotional intelligence, and creating space for new understanding, whether the goal is reconciliation, clearer boundaries, or greater emotional peace.

Family therapy provides a structured and supportive environment where each member can express their needs, feel heard, and better understand their role within the family system. Sessions emphasize respectful communication, relational accountability, and meaningful connection while honoring the complexity of modern family dynamics.

Single-parent households also encounter unique challenges. Children may experience grief, confusion, or emotional loss related to an absent parent, and family therapy can offer a gentle, developmentally appropriate space for expression and connection. Single parents, in particular, benefit from validation and support as they navigate the demands of parenting, advocacy, and household leadership.

As a former single mother of children with AuDHD, I bring both professional expertise and lived experience to my work with blended families, single-parent households, and families supporting neurodivergent children. This personal understanding deepens my empathy and informs a strengths-based, trauma-informed approach that meets families with nuance, care, and respect.

California sessions are conducted through my two licenses as a Marriage and Family Therapist and a Professional Clinical Counselor.

California Board of Behavioral Sciences

Nevada sessions are conducted through my license as a Marriage and Family Therapist.

Nevada Board of Examiners

Washington sessions are conducted through my license as a Mental Health Counselor.

Washington State Board of Health

Oregon sessions are conducted through my license as a Professional Clinical Counselor.

Oregon Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Associates

Dr. Frank-Richter is also a clinical supervisor for California associates in Marriage & Family Therapy, Professional Clinical Counseling, and Social Work. If you are interested in her speaking at your institution or as a consultant, please email her at shannon@pacificcoasttherapist.com

I am an out of network provider and do not accept insurance.

Please check with your insurance company about your out-of-network benefits if you are relying upon reimbursement to pay for therapy. If your insurance carrier provides you this benefit, I can provide you monthly super bills for you to submit to your insurance company.

“The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination.” Carl Rogers