About Us-jen

About Real Life Counseling

At Real Life Counseling, we believe everyone deserves support on their journey to healing and growth. Since 2010, we’ve been proudly serving communities across Washington, offering compassionate, client-centered mental health care for individuals of all ages and backgrounds.

We understand that sometimes support goes beyond therapy. As active members of our community, we’re committed to bridging the gap to vital resources to help individuals meet their broader needs.

With a diverse team of over 100 dedicated providers, we tailor our services to meet the unique needs of each person we serve.

Whether you want in office sessions or virtual care, we’re here to walk alongside you—wherever you are in your real life.

Our Why

At Real Life Counseling, our mission is to provide compassionate, strengths-based, and client-centered mental health services that honor the dignity of every individual. We are committed to making care accessible and personalized, supporting individuals across Washington in their journey toward healing and growth. We also foster a supportive and collaborative environment for our clinicians and interns, empowering them to develop their skills and thrive in their careers.

Our vision is to build a community where mental health care is universally accessible, stigma-free, and integrated with vital resources—creating a world where everyone has the support they need to live fulfilling, resilient lives.

Careers

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Our Origin

RLC originated out of the vision of its 2 original business owners, Joe Klemz and Justin Farrell, to establish a unique opportunity for clinicians to discover a pathway of empowerment over their careers and job opportunities, while meeting the tremendous mental health needs of Clark County, WA. RLC's business model is to provide a service to counselors to allow them to do the part of counseling they love - working with clients - while supporting them with an administrative infrastructure that meets both their and their client’s needs. It also originated out of business owner Joe Klemz's desire to provide a private practice standard of quality to the community as a whole, coming alongside already established community mental health clinics of Clark County, WA.

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We believe that clients are the experts on their own lives. They know their stories, their needs, and the direction they hope to go. Our role as clinicians is to serve as expert guides—familiar with the terrain, but walking alongside the client on their journey, not leading it for them. Every therapeutic relationship is a 50/50 partnership: 50% clinician, bringing professional training and insight; 50% client, bringing self-knowledge, lived experience, and the wisdom to know what “fits.”
When one stops listening to the other, progress stalls. That’s why we prioritize compassionate listening and accurate understanding—because a client can only trust and grow when they feel truly seen and heard.

We believe every client holds innate strengths—some recognized, others waiting to be discovered. Our role is to help identify and nurture these strengths, supporting the development of self-worth, confidence, and a grounded sense of identity. We approach every client from a strengths-based perspective, honoring their dignity not only in session, but in how we speak about and represent them at all times.

We don’t just curse the darkness—we help clients find their light. Being solutions-focused doesn’t mean rushing toward quick fixes; it means creating a safe, supportive space where clients can reflect, process, and discover their own path forward. We believe that true empowerment comes when individuals uncover their own insights and solutions—often revealing strengths they didn’t know they had.

Our providers don’t take a “I’m the professional so you should listen to me” approach. Every counseling session is a “collaborative conversation”, the client informing us on what they are processing or needing, us sharing our reflections and insights and any education aspects that could be helpful and empowering.

We provide non-judgmental approaches with an inherent expectancy that all people strive for the same positive goals of sustained satisfaction and genuine happiness. Often, even maladaptive behaviors originate from a healthy and very human desire. Helping clients identify that and find alternative ways to meet those needs is part of the work we do.

Many clients who work with us may not present with clear PTSD related symptoms, but instead, have developed alternative symptoms that are very much rooted from either traumatic experiences or behaviors that are now “coming out sideways”. We assess for the impacts of both Big T and small t traumas to inform our process with clients.

Regardless of who is the provider and who is the client, we are all equal in value and worth. Regardless of position, title, experience, education or heritage, no one person is more inherently valuable than another. We seek to embody and model this in the work we do with clients. People have different roles, different strengths but not different value.

No one knows everyone’s ethnic, national or even family culture. Being culturally humble means we practively educate ourselves while maintaining a posture of being a “learner”. This includes but is not limited to getting informed by our clients on their individualized experience with their culture. Then, as the counselor, we revisit those cultural dynamics as well as integrate them into the treatment process.