Diana Elstad, LMHC
Experienced LMHC offering practical support for parents and adults
Book with Diana- Years in practice
- 35
- Credentials
- LMHC
- Licensed in
- Washington
- Languages
- English
- Focus
- Addictions
- Focus
- Relationship issues
- Focus
- Trauma and abuse
About Diana
Diana Elstad is a licensed mental health counselor (LMHC) with 35 years of experience in community clinics, treatment centers, hospitals, and independent practice. She helps people who are dealing with addiction and recovery, depression, anxiety, trauma, relationship challenges, grief, and parenting concerns. Her approach is warm and respectful and aims to make people feel heard.
Diana listens for the feelings that are sometimes left unsaid. She uses an eclectic counseling style that pulls from different therapy approaches to match each person's needs.
Background and approach
Sessions focus on practical steps people can try between appointments as well as talking through difficult moments. She has worked with a wide range of concerns including stress, sleep and eating issues, codependency, intimacy-related problems, and substance use. Diana also brings experience with aging and geriatric mental health and adoption and foster care topics.
Her background includes helping people navigate major life changes and the complex emotions that follow. In sessions she aims to be present, kind, and nonjudgmental. Many people find this helps them slow down, name what matters, and make clearer choices.
She draws on techniques that help with coping skills, behavior change, and making sense of personal stories. Diana practices in Washington and conducts sessions in English. She encourages parents and individuals who are weighing therapy to consider what they want to change and to start with a short conversation to see if her style fits their needs.
What Diana works with
Everything Diana lists, in the therapist's own terms. Parenting is the reason this directory exists; the rest shows what else Diana helps people with.
- Addictions
- Relationship issues
- Trauma and abuse
- Coping with life changes
- Stress, Anxiety
- LGBT
- Family conflicts
- Grief
- Intimacy-related issues
- Eating disorders
- Sleeping disorders
- Parenting issues
- Anger management
- Self esteem
- Career difficulties
- Bipolar disorder
- Depression
- Abandonment
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Attachment issues
- Body image
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating and food-related issues
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Forgiveness
- Gender dysphoria
- Guilt and shame
- Hoarding
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Immigration issues
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Narcissism
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Post-traumatic stress
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Women's issues
- Workplace issues
Approaches Diana lists
- Client-Centered Therapy
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
- Motivational Interviewing
- Narrative Therapy
- Solution-Focused Therapy
- Trauma-Focused Therapy
Listing an approach is not evidence of training in it. This directory copies what each therapist names and does not check training records.
Therapeutic approaches adaptable to online care
Client-centered therapy focuses on listening and responding to each person's experience without judgment, helping people feel heard and guiding them to find their own solutions. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, looks at the links between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and offers concrete strategies to change unhelpful patterns, which can help with anxiety, depression, and stress.Finding the right approach is part of the work. Diana collaborates with clients to choose methods that fit their goals, needs, and comfort level, adjusting techniques as progress is made. Together they identify what to try first and how to measure small steps forward.
Online sessions are available as video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging, providing flexibility for different schedules and needs. Video calls let people use visual cues and a fuller conversation, phone sessions work well when bandwidth is limited, live chat supports shorter check-ins, and messaging lets people share updates and reflections between sessions. These options help people fit therapy into busy lives and maintain contact between appointments.
Questions people ask about Diana
What kinds of concerns does this therapist address?
Diana works with a broad range of issues including addictions, depression, anxiety, trauma and abuse, parenting challenges, grief, relationship and intimacy-related concerns, stress, sleep and eating problems, and mood disorders such as bipolar and depression.
How would you describe the therapist's style in sessions?
Her style is warm, kind, and listener-centered. She aims to hear underlying feelings and to collaborate on practical steps between sessions.
What background and experience does she bring?
She has 35 years of experience working in community clinics, treatment centers, hospitals, and independent practice, with experience in geriatric mental health and substance use work.
Where is the therapist located and what are her credentials?
She practices in Washington and holds the LMHC credential, listed as WA LMHC LH.
Which languages are supported for sessions?
Sessions are offered in English.
What session formats are offered?
Sessions can be scheduled as video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging to suit different needs and rhythms.
How is cost handled for sessions?
Cost varies with location and therapist availability; sessions use a subscription that can be canceled at any time.
How do I begin working with this therapist?
Start by selecting the Start Therapy button, complete a short matching questionnaire, and then schedule according to therapist availability.
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