Larisa Garski

LMFT

She | Her | Hers

Chief of Clinical Staff

My Background

I am the Chief of Clinical Staff at Empowered therapy. I work closely with our dedicated administrative and clinical leadership teams to ensure that clients have the best possible experience while receiving treatment at Empowered. I help to supervise and manage our entire clinical team of talented supervisors, psychotherapists, psychologists, and Empowered’s family nurse practitioner. 

Empowered is a community of motivated clinical professionals who work together to support one another and their clients to change, grow, and heal. I am proud to be a part of this community where each day I have the opportunity to cultivate and support both individual and systemic change.

As an approved AAMFT supervisor, I believe that clear and compassionate boundaries help to foster safe and supportive relationships. This is the bedrock of all of my clinical work — both with clients and with Empowered staff. In practice, this means that I consider an individual within the context of their familial, cultural, economic, as well as national, political, and global communities.

As a licensed marriage and family therapist, I currently see both couples and individuals. I like to think of my training in terms of a building: Family systems therapy is the foundation of my training atop which sits narrative therapy and the two turrets or towers of this building are Internal family systems therapy (IFS) and Intimacy from the Inside out (IFIO), or IFS couples therapy. I am deeply committed to my clients and our work together. Though I take my clients and their journeys very seriously, I do not take myself too seriously at all! Therapeutic humor and play will absolutely be a part of our work together. I also like to take time to learn about the games, art, and creative activities that either have been or are currently meaningful to you. Often, the art that inspires you will open doorways into growth and change.

I tend to do “long haul” therapy which means that I generally work with my clients for a number of years to ensure they not only achieve the change they seek but are able to sustain this change over time. Once this initial period of therapy starts to resolve, I collaborate with my clients on an on-going care plan. For some clients, this means continuing to work together but at a decreased frequency (think monthly as opposed to weekly). For others we bid each other a fond farewell with the understanding that they can return as needed for more focused work as needed.

In addition to my clinical roles at Empowered, I have co-written two books, Starship Therapise: Using Therapeutic Fanfiction to Rewrite Your Life and The Grieving Therapist. I even used to co-host a podcast focused on the overlap between fandom, modern mythologies, and psychotherapy. Currently, I am working with my writing partner on our next book.

In my spare time, I enjoy exploring new brunch spots, spending time with my cats, Katsu and Tali, and taking my dog, Merlin, on lake walks. I enjoy stories in a variety of formats. One of my favorites of the past year has been the Alan Wake video game series. Like Alan and Saga, I find that change is not a circle but a spiral. As both a clinician and supervisor, I see myself as a guide on this spiral.