Renowned for her innovative approach, Kay fearlessly embraces risks to enact meaningful change. Recognized as a dependable "doer," she consistently achieves results with precision and compassion. What distinguishes Kay is her multifaceted skill set. Serving as a therapist, educator, visionary, and systems analyst, she offers a perspective that is both comprehensive and pragmatic. Kay's profound grasp of community dynamics and equity enhances her capacity to deliver impactful interventions and foster enduring healing. In a field often marked by burnout and isolation, Kay stands out as a beacon of community and collaboration.
Kay’s Story
A life journey that nurtured a deep appreciation for the complexity of the human experience, also provided me with a community driven therapeutic lens. My multicultural background supports genuine connection to individuals from various walks of life, fostering an inclusive and empathetic approach to mental health.
A Global Perspective
Kay was born into an intentional community of nonprofit workers in Kenya, Africa and then Brussels, Belgium that centered their work around consensus building and third world development. Kay’s first language was Kikuyu, a dialect of Swahili and she learned French by starting Kindergarten at a small community school in Brussels. She couldn’t read or write English (but was great in French) until she started 4th grade at the International School of Brussels. Before the age of 25 she had worked with high school students around HIV/AIDS in the townships of South Africa, supported infrastructure development in Portugal, Hungry and Germany, taught English and supported global conferences in Guatemala and participated in community projects in Egypt. She finally felt confident in her ability to communicate effectively in Spanish due to her studies and work in Mexico and Chile.
Professional Journey
In 1999, At the tender age of 18 Kay completed a year long Technology of Participation training alongside her mother in their new home of Minneapolis, MN. After receiving her Bachelors from UC Berkeley, The mother-daughter team led strategic planning sessions in the non-profit and for-profit sectors for years as Kay completed her first masters in Education. Kay was greatly influenced by her many canoe trips in the Boundary Waters of MN and found her way to Wilderness Therapy in Hawaii before returning to the mainland to complete her Masters in Social Work in 2012. Kay solidified her belief in the power of mindfulness through her advanced yoga training in Cambodia in 2015 before moving to the Columbia Gorge in 2016. Kay has been working with vulnerable populations ever since, most recently as an instrumental founder of programming at CultureSeed nonprofit that supports youth at the intersection of mental health and the outdoors. Kay started technically accruing hours towards licensure in 2021 and received her LICSW from the state of Washington in 2024 after passing her clinical exam.
How it all adds up to NOW
Kay recently left a lifetime of nonprofit work and has started this private practice, Alton Counseling and Consulting LLC, in early 2024 with a focus on de-mystifying and de-specializing therapeutic work for individuals and organizations across the nation and abroad. In 2025 she expanded her private practice into a group practice to offer accessible choice to folks in her community.
Kay continues her local community work through placing therapists in the White Salmon schools and providing counseling to survivors of domestic and sexual violence through the Center for Peaceful Living and to youth in Juvenile Hall at Northern Oregon Regional Correction Facility in The Dalles.
