Michael Elder, a licensed marriage and family therapist, has opened an office in Eastsound Square, upstairs behind Mia’s Café.

He and his wife Linda moved to the island in early April after 10 years of planning and preparation. Their new home is currently under construction in the Doe Bay neighborhood.

Elder, pictured left, comes as a “Certified Trauma Specialist” with specific training and experience working with first responders as well as active service members and veterans.

He returns to the Pacific Northwest after moving from Oregon to the San Francisco Bay area to pursue his education and training.  There he earned a masters in counseling psychology at JFK University in 1992 and a marriage and family therapist license in 1998. Elder bills his practice as “brief, targeted psychotherapy.” He begins with two questions for his clients: “Is there a memory or event from your past that continues to affect your life in non-productive ways?” and “What do you do in your life that you would like to do more of or less of?”

By offering methods that resolve past memories and gently shift current behavior without having to discuss the painful past, he hopes to make help available to a broader community.

Elder can be reached by phone at 376-3255 ext.2, by email at michaelelderMFT@gmail.com or visit his website at www.michaeleldermft.com.