Laura J. Halford, SUDP, LMHC
Founder/Director/Clinical Supervisor
Substance Use Disorder Professional
Licensed Mental Health Counselor
First Responders
Veterans
Couples Therapist
EMDR Therapist
Direct Cell: 425-477-9074
Laura is a highly-skilled, deeply compassionate therapist whose approach is warm, supportive, and inquisitive. She brings 32 years of both inpatient and outpatient chemical dependency treatment experience to her work, including time in her career at the esteemed Betty Ford Center in Rancho Mirage, California.
Laura brings a holistic approach to mental health and recovery utilizing EMDR, CBT, DBT, Gottman Method Relationship Therapy and Family Systems counseling. She is a third-generation therapist, mentored by her late grandfather, a psychiatrist whose practice in Orange County and Hemet, California exposed her to the healing effects of meditation, nutrition, and group therapy as a basis for healing. Her father was a devoted social worker in community mental health in Southern California and Spokane, Washington, and recently retired after many years of work as an elementary school counselor. A Navy Reserve veteran, Laura has extensive experience supporting recovery for first responders and military personnel, both active and veteran. As a business owner she is driven and visionary, enabling her to develop an acute and intuitive sense about people and trends while balancing her own family obligations that include raising a newly-driving teenaged boy.
Through years of counseling executives, high-profile individuals, and others of significant responsibility, she has developed a pragmatic, humorous, collaborative, and direct approach, working to get to the root of problem-sustaining behavior and thinking in order to drive more effective methodologies in work and home life. Drawing from Napoleon Hill’s 17 success principles, she maintains a “keep it simple” approach to managing complex problems. She also invests time in training therapists in mindful wellness and life balance as she supervises those gaining their credentials.
Laura began her family work at Ryther Child Center in 1990 with adolescents and their families. While working at Ryther, she learned of the importance of family involvement in all aspects of counseling. The lessons learned early on with teens and their families formed the basis for her belief that families are a vital resource that need to be included in an individual’s counseling and treatment.
In 1993, Laura went on to work at Central Youth and Family Services in Seattle, conducting in-home family and adolescent counseling. At Therapeutic Health Services, she counseled and supervised people detoxing from methadone by facilitating mindfulness and meditation groups, counseled people with chronic mental illness, and later developed a young adult treatment program at the Bellevue branch. She worked as a counselor for five years with Lake Washington Schools before beginning a private practice in 2004 when she graduated from Bastyr’s Leadership Institute of Seattle in applied behavior science. Her post-graduate work has included studying Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, Gottman Method Relationship Counseling, and PTSD with veterans and others recovering from trauma, and she is currently working to complete training to enhance her work with couples seeking a collaborative divorce.
Laura founded Eastside Center for Family in 2011, a family-based treatment and counseling clinic for all ages. The clinic emphasizes wellness within entrepreneurial, high tech, and executive family systems, requiring an understanding of the need to maintain high productivity without losing the heart and soul of one’s self or the family unit. She believes in unifying families by providing multiple counseling services under one roof. In her current professional studies, she continues to research and learn about trauma effects and the healing power of appreciative inquiry, and values greatly a philosophy of mindfulness, compassion, and empathy in all counseling work.
Laura Williamson, EdD, LMHCA
Licensed Mental Health Counselor Associate
Couples Therapist
Lifespan Integration Therapist
Direct Cell: 425-728-0068
What I love about life is that it is relentless. In the best way, life requires full participation and will not let up until you are transformed. Knowing this, I am truly passionate about supporting people, at any stage and ability, to pivot from a static position toward a more creative, dynamic, and emerging way of being.
Simple, but not easy. A price has to be paid, and that price is giving up old patterns. Leave them behind. Join us in investing in your growth, in designing your life, in reinvigorating the passion within yourself, your department, and your organization!
I have worked with the Washington State Women’s Correctional Facility, YWCA Angeline’s Day Center, PEER Seattle, Social Advocates for Youth, L3/Wescam Corporation, Boeing Computer Services, Physio-Control, Los Angeles Police Department, United States Air Force, Air National Guard, and several universities including Central Washington University, City University of Seattle, Argosy University, DeVry University, and Ashford University.
I have extensive academic training with a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy, three master’s degrees in Counseling, Adult Education, and Business Administration, and a doctorate in Education. I also have extensive professional training in Gottman Couples Training – Level I, LifeSpan Integration (LI) – Level I, Relational Life Therapy (RLT) – Level I, AIDS Training, TeleHealth for Mental Health Professionals, Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), “The Work” Byron Katie (BK) – No Body Intensive and Mental Cleanse, and Psychological First Aid.
As a family system, addictions, Buddhist-infused, and trauma-informed center, I was attracted to Eastside Center for Family (ECFF), for its integrated and holistic approach to therapy and wellness. If you want to get well, come here. We do not mess around and will get right at it. I am honored to join ECFF, working under the clinical supervision of Laura J. Halford, LMHC, SUDP.
Janelle Natividad, MS, SUDPT, LMHCA
Pronouns: She/Her
Licensed Mental Health Counselor Associate
Substance Use Disorder Professional Trainee
Janelle is a holistic, compassionate, and empathetic therapist who focuses on integrated and holistic approaches to therapy, which Eastside Center for Family (ECFF) offers. She values creating a safe environment and therapeutic relationship with her clients and their families. She starts by identifying problematic patterns and strengths while helping people feel encouraged and self-empowered. Janelle is highly interested in eating disorder recovery, trauma-informed care, ecotherapy, and mindfulness interventions.
Janelle has four years of experience working in the mental health counseling field with youth, adolescents, young adults, adults, and families in a variety of settings including residential treatment, milieu treatment, inpatient, PHP, individual, and group.
She completed her undergraduate degree in 2018 at the University of Washington where she received her bachelor’s degree in Community Psychology with a minor in Gender, Women, Sexuality Studies then received her master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Capella University in 2021. Prior to joining Eastside Center for Family (ECFF), Janelle worked with youth and young adults with differing cultural backgrounds in individual and group therapy.
Although, she is a young therapist she has experience and training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), extensive training for Dialectal Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Radically Open Dialectal Behavioral Therapy (RO DBT), trauma-informed counseling, holistic and mindfulness approaches. She is a proud member of Chi Sigma Iota and the American Counseling Association. As Janelle works towards her LMCH licensure, she is under the clinical supervision of Laura Halford, LMHC, SUDP.
Fun facts: Janelle enjoys the great outdoors taking walks with her dog, hiking, and kayaking. She also enjoys traveling during her time off
Amber Schneider, LMHCA
Licensed Mental Health Counselor Associate
Couples Therapist
Children/Teens/Adults
Amber is an upbeat, skilled and compassionate clinician who believes in creating a supportive and safe space for people, which she believes is the first step in creating a beneficial therapeutic experience. Amber did her undergrad work at Western Washington University where she double majored in Psychology and Sociology, graduating in 2001. She then went on to City University where she obtained her master’s degree in counseling psychology.
Amber enjoys working with a variety of clients including kids, teens, adults of all ages, couples, families, and first responders. She has extensive experience providing therapy for grief and loss, At the start of her career Amber worked very closely with the Alzheimer’ Association and provided support in a therapeutic environment for those caring for a loved one with chronic illness. During this time, she became a master level trainer for the program called, “Powerful tools for Caregivers.” She taught caregivers for eight years on ways to cope with caregiver stress, sadness, anxiety and depression that is often associated with caregiving. She also taught caregivers ways to incorporate self-care into their routines.
Amber has over 20 years of experience working with individuals with a diagnosis of autism, asperger’s, schizophrenia, and dementia. Amber has a extensive experience helping people and their families understand the diagnosis and how it can impact individuals’ relationships and friendships.
Amber also has an extensive background in CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy), Gottman Method Relationship therapy, and family systems. She has a strong background in supporting people dealing with trauma and providing a safe space for people to process their emotions and feelings around traumatic events while also empowering them to find hope and be effective in their lives as they heal. Currently she is working on expanding her knowledge in treating trauma by studying cognitive processing therapy, a trauma protocol to help address stuck points that are impacting one's life and effective functioning.
Amber is married and with her husband they have a blended family of three kids. She loves creating fun memories with her family as well spending time caring for her two pugs, Lola and Hank.