Tate Sprite

I specialize in helping people heal their relationship to themselves, to others, and to the world.

I describe my approach as attachment-based, mindful, somatic, experiential, trauma-informed, humanistic, holistic, and existential.

I usually work with self-conscious outsiders, who might even be helpers or leaders, and who are stressed out by people or who struggle with boundaries. They want to be free of the intense self-criticism and instead feel belonging and connection. In working with me, they develop a healthy sense of self-compassion, grow empowered to connect with people authentically, and find their voice in the world.

I do this work because I like genuinely caring about people. People are magic!

I haven’t always felt this way. As a kid, I was terrified of humans and ridden with toxic shame. Early on, I was seeking and I developed a special interest in psychology and spirituality - just from an intuition that something better than this life must exist. That started an upwards spiral for me, despite the bumpiness along the way. I know in my own direct experience that profound healing and transformation can happen in a lifetime.

I’m queer in various ways, I cultivate an ecosystem of non-typical intimate relationships, I’m a first-generation Eastern European immigrant, I’m neurodivergent (from the point of view of the dominant culture), childless by choice, come from a working class conservative family and town, experienced attachment trauma and isolation growing up, was raised Catholic in a communist country, lived through the country violently falling apart, spent most of my 20’s in a cult, and now don’t adhere to any religion or party. I’ve lost many identities. I’m older than I look.

For now, I identify as ‘curious’. A book about my life should be titled "What is Really Going on Here?"

I don’t have it all together, but I value authenticity, kindness, playfulness, interdependence, and vulnerable truth-telling. I have endless trust in our natural impulse to grow and learn to be more fully human as we go along.

Clients tell me that I have a surprising way of guiding them to deeper places than they had ever done in previous therapy, and they feel transformed for it. I show up in sessions as a real fellow human who authentically relates to you - oddly, many people haven’t had that experience with a therapist! I know that for many, therapy with me is one of the most meaningful things they are doing with their life. It’s meaningful and sacred for me too.