My name is Dominique (daw-mi-neek) Manns (manz). My approach to therapy is grounded in the belief that people’s behavior makes sense, even when it causes pain or creates challenges in their lives.

I do not view symptoms, emotions, or coping strategies as evidence that something is wrong with a person. Instead, I see them as signals that tell us something important about a person’s experiences, relationships, needs, and environment. There are no “bad” behaviors, only behaviors that are more or less effective in helping us create the lives we want.

Many of the people I work with have spent years surviving difficult experiences. The strategies that helped them make it through those experiences often continue long after they are needed, creating patterns that no longer serve them. Therapy provides an opportunity to understand those patterns with curiosity rather than judgment.

I believe my clients are the experts on their own lives. My role is not to tell people who they are or what they should do. My role is to bring clinical knowledge, perspective, and tools, and to work collaboratively to make sense of what is happening and identify meaningful paths forward.

I cannot do the work for my clients, nor can I take away their pain. What I can do is sit with people in some of life’s most difficult moments, help them understand what their experiences may be telling them, and support them as they build lives that are no longer organized around survival alone.

I earned my Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology from Saint Martin’s University in May 2018. I have been fully licensed in Washington state since 2023.