Tracey Sutton, LICSW: A Therapist Whose Depth of Experience Is Exactly What Spokane Needs

When you’re looking for a therapist, credentials matter. But so does the kind of person sitting across from you.  someone who has spent 20 years walking alongside people through the hardest chapters of their lives, and who brings both clinical rigor and genuine human warmth to every session. Tracey Sutton, LICSW is exactly that.

Tracey recently joined Spokane Counseling Hub as both a therapist and clinical supervisor. In a short welcome video, she shares what brought her back to practice, what she loves most about clinical work, and the kind of clients she feels most called to serve. We encourage you to watch it. But first, here’s why her arrival is meaningful for Spokane.

20+ Years of Clinical Depth — From Age 4 to Age 97

Tracey Sutton has been a licensed independent clinical social worker since 2004. That’s two decades of showing up for people in their most vulnerable moments, navigating anxiety, depression, grief, trauma, and the kinds of life transitions that leave even the most grounded people feeling unsteady.

Her range is remarkable. She has worked with clients across the entire lifespan; her youngest client was four years old and her oldest was 97. That breadth isn’t just an interesting fact. It speaks to a clinician who can hold space for wherever someone is in life, whether they’re a child struggling to make sense of their world, a mid-career adult facing burnout, or an older adult reckoning with end-of-life questions.

“I see so many people that are wondering and asking the questions about what now and what next? Because nothing is static. Things change all the time — and yet it’s what we fight against.” 

— Tracey Sutton, LICSW

Tracey’s theoretical foundation is attachment-focused practice — meaning she pays close attention to how the relational patterns formed early in life continue to shape how we show up today, in our relationships, our self-perception, and our coping strategies. This lens allows her to work not just on symptoms, but on the deeper roots that drive them.

Trained at Smith College, Shaped by Decades of Real-World Practice

Tracey holds a Master of Social Work from Smith College, one of the most respected graduate social work programs in the country. She also holds advanced certificates in clinical supervision and contemplative clinical practice, which informs her work with clients through the integration of mindfulness, presence, and deep listening.

Her career before Spokane Counseling Hub was built on progressively complex leadership. She led therapy services at Heritage Health for over a decade, overseeing clinical operations, establishing rural outpatient clinics, and managing a team of more than 20 licensed therapists and paraprofessionals. As an adjunct faculty member at Boise State University from 2013 to 2018, she taught graduate-level social work courses. She has also trained more than 2,000 professionals in children’s psychiatric rehabilitation.

Training 2,000+ professionals doesn’t happen by accident — it happens when someone has found a way to make complex clinical concepts genuinely accessible. That’s the same skill that makes Tracey exceptional in the therapy room.

— Tracey Sutton, LICSW

Her advanced clinical training includes:

• EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) — Level I & II
• Internal Family Systems (IFS)
• Polyvagal and Somatic Therapy
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
• Contemplative Clinical Practice
• Licensed Clinical Supervisor

What Tracey Specializes In: Who She’s Best Suited to Help

Tracey works with individuals of all ages and brings particular depth to several areas:

Navigating Life Transitions

Whether you’re facing a career change, a relationship shift, a health challenge, or a loss of identity — Tracey specializes in helping people find footing when the ground has moved. Her approach invites clients to slow down, examine the meaning embedded in change, and develop a more grounded sense of self in response.

Anxiety and Depression

Using an attachment-based lens combined with evidence-based tools like CBT and somatic approaches, Tracey helps clients understand what’s driving their anxiety or depression — not just manage the surface symptoms, but address the patterns beneath them.

Grief and Loss

Tracey has accompanied clients through grief at every stage of life — from childhood loss to end-of-life processing. Her experience with an elderly client who simply needed someone to talk to as she approached the end of her life is emblematic of the attentiveness she brings to this work.

Trauma and Post-Traumatic Growth

With EMDR training (Level I & II) alongside IFS and somatic approaches, Tracey is equipped to work with trauma at multiple levels — both the nervous system response and the narrative meaning a person makes of their experience. Her interest is not just in recovery, but in post-traumatic growth.

Tracey’s approach to therapy is grounded in a single conviction: meaning emerges through attention, context, story, and the unseen connections between them. When a client finds that meaning, something shifts — and the heart becomes more receptive and flexible.

— Tracey Sutton, LICSW

Women’s Empowerment

Tracey lists women’s empowerment as a specific area of interest, bringing her experience with identity, self-expression, and the structural factors that affect women’s mental health.

A New Offering for Spokane: Clinical Supervision and Therapist Consultation

One of the most distinctive things Tracey brings to Spokane Counseling Hub is her role as a licensed clinical supervisor. This is a relatively rare offering in Spokane — a seasoned clinician available not only to clients, but to other therapists building their practice.

Supervision matters. Therapists — especially those newer to the field, or working through complex cases — benefit enormously from consultation with someone who has navigated similar terrain. Tracey brings over two decades of frontline clinical experience, leadership in multi-therapist practice settings, and formal training as a clinical supervisor.

For clinicians in Washington or Idaho working toward licensure, or licensed therapists seeking ongoing consultation to sharpen their practice, Tracey is available to support that work.

What Makes Tracey’s Approach Different

Tracey’s work is shaped by a few things that set her apart from a general therapist with a similar credential list.

First, her training in contemplative clinical practice. This is not standard in most clinical training programs. It brings a quality of presence and attentiveness into the therapeutic relationship that clients often describe as feeling truly heard — not just assessed.

Second, her focus on the therapeutic alliance itself. Tracey doesn’t just see therapy as a series of interventions. She sees it as a relationship — one that creates the safety for a client to bring their whole self to the process, imperfections and all.

Third, a genuine love of the craft. After 20 years, Tracey briefly retired — and came back. That return speaks volumes about her relationship to this work. She didn’t come back because she had to. She came back because she wanted to give more.

“I am at a place in my career that I want to give back to the profession — through clinical supervision and teaching the next generation of clinicians.” 

— Tracey Sutton, LICSW

Is Tracey the Right Therapist for You?

You might be a strong fit for Tracey’s practice if you’re:

• Navigating a major life transition and looking for someone to help you make meaning of it
• Struggling with anxiety, depression, or grief and want more than symptom management
• Working through trauma and want a therapist trained in both EMDR and somatic approaches
• Seeking a therapist who brings both clinical depth and genuine human warmth
• A woman working through identity, self-worth, or empowerment
• An adult at any stage of life — Tracey works across the full lifespan

Or, if you’re a therapist or clinical social worker seeking supervision or consultation, Tracey is available for that work as well.