About
Josh Bell, MA, LMFTA (he/him)
I earned my Master’s degree in Couples and Family Therapy from Seattle University and have completed over 1,500 hours of supervised clinical training. I work with individuals, couples, families via Telehealth. I have received extensive training in systems approaches and all things relational.
Before becoming a therapist, I spent nearly a decade in the tech industry. I saw firsthand how work, relationships, communication, and the pressure to perform can become intertwined, and that experience continues to shape how I think about the people I work with today.
Training & Experience
You can expect a warm, encouraging, and direct approach to therapy with me. We will explore your thoughts, emotions, and the “why” behind negative patterns, as well as the “how” to creating change.
Therapy can give you the space to understand yourself differently, make intentional changes, and move toward the life you want. My goal is to create a space where you feel safe enough to be honest, challenged enough to grow, and supported through the process.
My Style
I’m married, a dad, and a Pacific Northwest native, with a dog in the family. I enjoy being active and social, and getting outside, whether that’s in the mountains or at the beach. Therapy is about you, but I think it helps to know there’s a real person on the other side of the conversation.
A Little About Me
My Approach to therapy – more further below
Being in a helping profession – scroll to bottom
What People Are Saying
"Having witnessed Josh's work firsthand, he's exactly the clinician you'd want in your corner. I've been especially inspired by his work with couples and families, seeing relationships heal, transform, and find renewed connection."
Olivia Sherry, LMFTA
"Josh is one of the most thoughtful therapists I know. He has a genuine gift for seeing the strengths in every person he works with. He's also skilled at offering structure for clients when needed to
create momentum."
Alex Criss, LMFTA
"I would absolutely recommend Josh. He is a rare therapist whose presence is deeply authentic, making you feel truly seen, heard, and understood. He guides with insight, challenges with compassion, and empowers real change. Simply put, he's one of a kind."
Kendall Matthews, Individual & Couples Therapist
Approach to therapy
How I work
I don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all approach to therapy. I tailor the work to each person, couple, or family, and draw from different therapeutic approaches depending on the context. My goal is for therapy to serve as a springboard to better understand what brought you to therapy and to move forward with greater confidence and direction.
Collaborative & Strengths Based
My role is not so much prescribing what to do in (x) situation with your life. Instead, my role is to help you unpack what you bring to session and guide therapy in a way that creates space for you to sort through the clutter and reorganize it in a way that offers new perspective.
Moving Toward Change
Insight is important, but I don’t think therapy should stop there. The goal isn’t simply to understand yourself better; it’s to use that understanding to make intentional changes in your life and relationships. Whether that means having a difficult conversation, setting a boundary, responding differently to an old pattern, or reconnecting with what matters to you, we’ll work toward change that feels worthwhile and sustainable.
Therapeutic Approaches
The approaches I use depend on what’s brought you to therapy. When working with couples, I often use a combination of Emotionally Focused Therapy, the Gottman Method, and Solution-Focused Therapy. With family-related topics, I often use Bowen Family Systems. If you’re navigating change, life transitions, or anxiety–I often draw from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy. When working with individuals, I’m often utilizing two or three of the below approaches over the course of our work together.
Each approach is a different lens for different purposes. My work draws from Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Motivational Interviewing to explore values, motivation, and the choices available to you in the present, and Solution-Focused Therapy to helps identify what you want to be different and how to move toward it. Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) brings attention to emotions, communication, and the ways we connect with the people. I also draw from Attachment Theory to understand patterns of connection and relationships, Bowen Family Systems to explore how families and broader context shape us, and Narrative Therapy to examine the stories we’ve developed about ourselves and our lives.
Being in a helping profession
My curiosity about people started early. I grew up experiencing family and relationships in multiple forms, including life with divorced and married parents, biological and adoptive families, being an only child and having siblings. I also experienced living in multigenerational households and in a home with just the nuclear family, along with living through poverty and with wealth, in both urban and rural communities.
Those experiences gave me an early appreciation for how much context matters. The environments we live in, the transitions we navigate, and the people we surround ourselves with all play a part in shaping who we are. There are rarely simple explanations for why people think, feel, or act the way they do.
That perspective continues to shape how I work as a therapist. I’m interested in looking beyond the surface and understanding the larger story.
While our past may inform the present, today informs the future. Therapy can be a place to make sense of where you’ve been, create clarity about where you are, and find hope for where you want to go.
Ready to Talk?
I offer a 15-min consultation, free of charge.
Whether you’re ready to begin therapy or simply wondering if we might be a good fit, I offer a complimentary 15-minute consultation to answer your questions, talk about what brings you here, and explore what working together might look like.
