Our Vision

Anne van Roden, LMFT and Gloria Sandford, LMHC

Gifted Together is a group of psychotherapists who intentionally collaborate with each other and with outside professionals to provide “wrap around” care for gifted and twice exceptional (2e) families and individuals of all ages. 

We have formed Gifted Together to have one central location in the Seattle region where gifted and 2e individuals/families can access information, treatment, care, resources, professional referrals, training, support, and community around the issues that impact their lives.  The gifted/2e life experience is often one of isolation and feeling “different” without any explanation for the differences.  Without understanding core gifted traits, many are left with the question “what’s wrong with me?” Or, “what’s wrong with my child?”  We aim to answer that question with “there’s nothing wrong with you/your child – here’s what you need to know in order to understand your core identity as a gifted person.”  That understanding enables an ability to accept yourself, find your “people” and have some community.  It also leads to an ability to build tools for self-care that really work to reduce anxiety and create new patterns of growth and health.  In the same manner, increased understanding leads to parenting the gifted/2e child appropriately rather than swinging wildly between too much permissiveness and strict authoritarianism.

We are therapists who believe in the power of truly understanding, accepting, and learning to love oneself and each other as we are (one’s child, one’s spouse, etc).  We find many of our gifted and 2e clients love “the world” or “the whales” but have difficulty loving themselves and each other well.  Accepting well researched foundational theories of the social and emotional development of gifted individuals can lead to an understanding which reframes how we see behaviors that appear to be pathological, obstinate, challenging or “deficits.”  Our goal with each client/family is to unlock transformational change based upon seeing, understanding and using gifted abilities and  strengths to “work around” challenges.  We invite our clients into a paradigm shift as our experience shows that meeting real underlying needs in appropriate ways will cause challenging behaviors to reduce more effectively than reward/punishment systems of behavioral management.  We are strength-based therapists, we are not behavioral management therapists.

We are specialists in that we deeply understand the intensity, sensitivity, and challenges of being “gifted” based upon SENG research, our clinical experience, and our own lived experiences.  As specialists in the gifted piece of being 2e, we also frequently work with clients who have been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder, Anxiety, BiPolar Disorder, Depression, Dyslexia, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, and Sensory Processing Disorder among others.  Accurately diagnosing complex gifted and 2e individuals can be extremely challenging; therefore we work closely with a few excellent neuropsychologists who understand how gifted traits can appear to be pathological diagnoses.  We are not specialists in any one of these diagnoses, nor do we do neuropsychological testing ourselves.

If you choose to work with us, you will receive the care of a team dedicated to gifted/2e needs which embraces the whole individual, the whole child, the whole family, not just focusing on one dysfunctional “part.” One metaphor is that we act as a kaleidoscope, bringing so many complicated, apparently disparate “fragments” or “inexplicable pieces” of the individual and the family together into focus as a unified beautiful picture that allows for positive integration on every level – individual, family, community.  Each gifted/2e individual will form an utterly unique, incredibly intricate and complex beautiful integrated picture once the kaleidoscope comes into focus.  We seek to bring healing, wholeness and unconditional, compassionate love for oneself and for each other. We are passionate about this work and look forward to exploring the beauty each client brings.  We invite you to consider joining us on this journey of healing and discovery.