Sam Krehel (they/them)

LH61022687
Accepting Clients

Before You Step Outside: Therapy for the Heart. I work virtually, usually from lands tended by the Chemakum & Klallam since time immemorial.

Mental Health Counselor in , WA

About My Clients

I work most with those battling with the impacts of complex trauma (low self-esteem, relationship challenges, anxiety, depression, dissociation, PTSD, and/or personality disorders), always noticing how identity is implicated through explorations of race, ethnicity, nationality, indigenousness, dis/ability, neurodivergence, fatness, age, life cycle stage, socioeconomic status, gender, religion, spirituality, sexuality, sexual orientation, and relationship orientation.

My Background and Approach

My private practice is called Before You Step Outside, a title inspired by the work of Travis Alabanza, a black nonbinary transfeminine performance artist, poet, and writer from the UK. In their chapbook "Before I Step Outside [You Love Me]," Travis wrote: "It is not me who is the problem, more the world that cannot hold me." This quote defines much of how I approach therapy -- in a way that honors your majesty, strengths, and unique lived experiences while noticing the ways the world does not. I work from a relational perspective that values and utilizes Black, Indigenous, trans, queer, disabled, and feminist ideologies, and I strive to decolonize my practice in all ways possible. Client support systems are welcome in the room to build from our collective wisdom in the face of systemic, structural, and internalized oppression. Let's reconnect you to your strengths, inherent goodness, and sense of community by working to be in safe and healing relationship Before You Step Outside.

My Personal Beliefs and Interests

Clients of all backgrounds are welcome at Before You Step Outside. By preparing myself to work with the most marginalized among us, I have simultaneously become equipped to work with clients who experience many places of privilege. My framework includes compassion for the harm that occurs to all people, and I strive to work from a place of sensitivity and care with all of my clients, no matter their background. I am body, trans, queer, kink, sex work, nonmonogamy, polyamory, and relationship anarchy affirming. I come to this place of affirmation partly through my own lived experience. This sense of shared identity can offer some built-in safety and security. At the same time, I will always seek to understand your unique perspective in our work together. If my profile resonates with you and you're ready to get to work, let's talk! Send me a message through TherapyDen or directly via email (info@beforeyoustepoutside.com) to start the conversation.

I offer online counseling in the following states:
I have experience with the following
  • Christianity

At A Glance

  • Experience: 7 years of practice
  • Languages: English
  • Rate: $165/session

Reach out to Sam