Whitney M. Whitman

Whitney M. Whitman is a licensed professional counselor, and has been practicing in Alaska since 2002. She received a Bachelor’s Degree in Writing, Literature and Art Education from The New School for Social Research in New York City and a Master of Fine Arts in Interdisciplinary Art from Goddard College in Vermont, prior to completing her Master of Science in Counseling Psychology at Alaska Pacific University. In addition to her private practice, she has also worked in adolescent residential treatment and in crisis intervention at Providence Alaska Medical Center.

I began my career as a performance artist and poet in New York City. My artwork was consistently socially relevant, charged with the energy and belief that human beings harness the magical ability to create reality out of our imaginations. I felt my role as an artist was to assist others in engaging their own creative process. I found myself working with my audience to address topics such as stress, fear, closure, balance, and freedom. It seemed a natural transition when I decided that I could put my ideas to better work in the counseling arena.

While creating artwork, I also educated teens and young adults. I have taught interdisciplinary classes on African-American history and creative writing, collaboration and social activism, and performance poetry. In the New York City of the 1990s progressive education classrooms were considered “experimental,” and my students were at-risk of dropping or getting kicked out of the educational system. While working with these teens I discovered that their emotional needs were largely being unmet. These wonderful and beautiful young people were the inspiration for me to begin my current career as a counselor.

People choose to begin counseling for many reasons. Entering into a relationship with a counselor is an important decision that people make with the hope and faith that they can feel better and learn to live happier, more balanced lives. I believe that my role as a counselor is to assist you in reconnecting with strengths that you already possess, and to help you in developing new skills and techniques that empower you to live your dreams and meet your goals.

I enjoy working with adults on a variety of issues such as stress, anxiety, depression, healthy relationships, self-worth, identity, sexuality, substance abuse, parenting, and major life transitions. I happily work with couples and families to facilitate stronger relationships, healthy rituals, and communication skills.

Parent coaching, family therapy, group therapy, and the treatment of adolescents with behavioral problems and emotional disturbances are areas in which I specialize.

I am an active and engaging counselor. I draw from a large variety of psychotherapeutic backgrounds. I consider myself an eclectic counselor, meaning that I will choose an intervention or therapeutic model as needed to address a particular client’s needs at a particular time. I also create my own interventions for clients that are individually personalized. I work collaboratively with my clients, and strive for a holistic approach that considers your “psyche” (the Greek word for “soul”) to be interrelated and interconnected with both your mind and your body.

I have over a decade of experience working with troubled youth and young adults. It is one of my greatest pleasures in life to develop healthy, strong relationships with young people who have lost faith in themselves, the adults in their lives, and even in life itself. I am skilled at managing suicidality, emotional and behavioral crisis, self-harm, anger, co-dependency, major depression, severe anxiety, substance abuse, poor school performance/behavior, and oppositionality. I will take an active role in communicating with medical providers who are also treating my adolescent clients, and will work closely with Neuropsychologists when screening and testing is needed.

I have received, and continue to attend, annual training on working with the Alaska Native population. I have worked with adolescents and families from all over our very large state. As a Caucasian woman from the East Coast, I feel it is my responsibility to educate myself on appropriate and culturally sensitive approaches to helping Alaska Native youth and their families grow and heal. I also have a significant history of working with ethnically and religiously diverse people, having grown up in the “melting pot” of downtown Manhattan. I work with all of my clients to draw from their spiritual and cultural strengths when making change in thoughts, feelings and behaviors.