MARLENA HAFFNER-LOVE, MSW, ACSW |
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Bellevue, WA 98004 Telephone Email: Back to Love Therapy Associates
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The Chinese character for the word "CRISIS" is a combination of the characters for "danger" and opportunity". Life in our culture is fast. Many times the only thing that slows us down from a react-and-move mode is a collision or crisis. Sometimes this is presented by forces outside ourselves - conflict with a spouse, career, troubled family, .....or an inner volcano that refuses to go away -- feeling directionless, or displaced from one's "true path", stuck in the rapids without a rudder. If you are in crisis it may be time to crawl up out of the current and stand on a bluff to gain a fuller perspective of changes ahead facing you and make some decisions that will help you chart a conscious course. Marlena Love's practice reflects a strong bias toward keeping marriages intact, understanding adult developmental hurdles, operating from self respect and willingness to risk sticking your neck out to achieve what you want.
PROFESSIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
Ms. Love has taught psychology at Bastyr University, Continuing Education Credits for physicians through Children's Hospital and University of Washington. Supervised interns and clinical staff members, and received clinical training in a variety of settings, including agency (Group Health Mental Health and YES, Hope Clinic) , hospital (Hospice of Tacoma, Good Samaritan of Puyallup, Children's) corporate and university, during her 19 years of professional practice. In addition to general counseling therapy experience with individuals, she has specialized training in Family Systems and Values Clarification, career and health transitions, treatment of victims of sexual assault; all phases of relationship adjustment, overcoming patterns of unhealthy coupling, divorce, grief, custody recommendations and has taught classes on parenting for non-custodial parents when children are reluctant to visit, remarriage, blended families, stepparenting. She has worked extensively with children in play therapy, helping organize an embrionic Children's Eastside ADD Clinic, and worked with special needs children in the Bellevue School District. Marlena is known to do classroom observations and offer suggestions as to how parents and teachers can team up effectively in behavior management cases. TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT Marlena currently sees clients Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, from 9a.m. to 5 p.m. Exceptions can sometimes be negotiated. Marlena has a number of off-site telephone clients in the airline industry who elect to pay in advance and maintain a credit balance. Every attempt is made to accommodate emergency situations and often an appointment can be scheduled the same day. Many clients prefer a standing appointment time. If your preferred appointment time is not available, we try to work into that slot over time. Call (425)455-9265 and leave a day and evening phone number and whether messages can be left safely on voicemail. When direct phone connection is made, callers will be asked to briefly describe their situation and scheduling specifics and Marlena will answer any questions you may have about her approach and general availability. WHAT CLIENTS HAVE TO SAY......... "My little boy no longer has that hardened edge of hurt and anger about the divorce. I am so glad we didn't wait to bring him in, Marlena. Your interpretations of the reasons for his acting out were right on. He needed to be held tight and reassured, not punished. Thank you for being there for us." "When you advocated that "structured separation" when Jack was so unsure of what he wanted, we were both scared. But living together in that constant limbo would have destroyed us otherwise. Thank you for challenging us not to settle (individually and jointly). We're inviting you to our recommitment ceremony June 7th. We love you." "I can't believe how many people I've referred to you. My extended family has all these changes they've attributed to therapy. I just want you to know you've touched a lot of hearts and.... family gatherings....they're still not perfect, but they're different now." "Remember when I was so ticked off that my husband wouldn't come in with me for sessions and you reassured me that changes would still happen? Man, have they EVER. People at work even ask me what's going on, I'm in such a good mood. I tell them it's OK to have what you want....get clear...go after it. " "I'm not the type to cause problems at work, but after that powerful closed-eye session having to do with squelching my voice growing up, I let this guy have it for being ill-prepared on our joint project and everyone was shocked. But you know, people treat me differently now. My wife couldn't believe it when I nailed her for criticizing my parenting of our daughter. She actually apologized. We been talking a lot more lately. " "I feel like our teenager is finally out of that awful, dangerous sexual acting out stage. We're so glad she had an adult she trusted. We have another one coming up soon and we keep hearing Heidi say, 'you need to make an appointment with Marlena.' to her sister." "There were days I just didn't think I could make it out of bed after Rachael was born. You think you want this child so badly, but your whole life changes overnight. Thank you for being there for all of us. You could see that Tom was going through hell, too, and I had no idea." "Stepparenting will always have its challenges, but I can't tell you how much easier it's gotten since we had those two joint sessions with Chuck's ex-wife and all committed to the idea that we'll support each other's positions with the kids and avoid good-guy/bad-guy manipulations. We were able to jointly plan a surprise birthday party for Jeff!". "..at some point you realize there's got to be more than work in your life. Spirit gets numbed out. Too damned busy to even return phone calls. Profound loneliness. Got money. Got success. What's it all for? I was dying inside. Thanks for not letting me snow you. Sometimes I hated you for that."
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Marlena Love is a Clinical
Social Worker , certified through the state of Washington Department of Health and
Licensing (#207-04-0001930), and also through the National Association of Social Workers
(ACSW #882-09-9580). She is a certified Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor through
Washington Dept. of Labor and Industries (A-3498). and graduated from University of Oregon
in 1975 with a B.S. in psychology and alcohol treatment. From University of Washington she
obtained a Masters in Social Work (MSW) in 1978.