ABOUT TRAINING AND CREDENTIALS
Hi, I’m Kathy.
My name is Kathryn “Kathy” Manning. I am a licensed clinical social worker and certified IFS practitioner. I hold independent clinical licenses in Colorado, Maine, Oregon, Virginia, and Washington DC, and I provide psychotherapy online to people in all five.
Licensed Clinical Social Worker in five jurisdictions
IFS Institute Levels 1, 2, and 3
IFS certified, 2025
Two master’s degrees
One focused approach: Internal Family Systems therapy with somatic awareness.
WHAT I BRING TO COUPLES WORK
I learned this in my own marriages
When my first marriage ended, a part of me made a vow: I was going to figure this out. I wanted to understand what had happened, in me and between us, so I wouldn’t repeat it.
In my second marriage I’ve been living what that vow was reaching for: being real, loving and being loved, and having the hard conversations instead of avoiding them. It is ongoing work, and it is the work I help couples do.
I know from the inside how much courage it takes for two people to turn toward each other. That is the heart of Intimacy from the Inside Out, the IFS approach to couples therapy I’m trained in.
WHY I DO THIS WORK
I’ve walked this ground myself
I came to IFS as a client long before I came to it as a therapist. I was doing my own IFS work years before I changed careers and went back to graduate school. I chose to specialize in it because I felt its impact directly, in my own life, before I ever saw it in the lives of the people I work with.
I’ve been through menopause. I live with lipedema. I left a career in international affairs to become a therapist. I know what it is to stop recognizing yourself, and what it takes to remake a life.
I have built my practice around a single, focused approach: Internal Family Systems therapy with somatic awareness.
THE BODY IN THE WORK
Somatic awareness
My IFS training includes Somatic IFS, which brings the body fully into the work. Parts don’t live only in our thoughts. They show up as tightness in the chest, heaviness in the legs, a breath that won’t go all the way down. In session I help you notice those sensations, get curious about them, and follow them to the part that is speaking.
This matters to me personally. I live with lipedema, and for many people with lipedema the body has been treated as the problem for years, by doctors, by mirrors, and by our own inner critics. Somatic awareness offers a different relationship: the body as a source of information, and a place where you can feel your Self, not only your pain.
I bring that to all of my work, and especially to my work with women living with lipedema.
MY PROFESSION
What a licensed clinical social worker is
Clinical social work is one of the core licensed mental health professions. The letters LCSW and LICSW after my name stand for specific requirements I had to meet and standards I’m held to.
A graduate clinical degree
A Master of Social Work from an accredited program, including supervised clinical internships.Supervised practice after the degree
Years of post-graduate clinical work under an approved supervisor before independent licensure.A national clinical examination
A passing score on the clinical licensing exam used across the United States.Authority to diagnose and treat
My license allows me to assess, diagnose, and treat mental health conditions. That is what separates psychotherapy from coaching.Continuing education
Ongoing required training, including ethics, to keep each license active.A code of ethics
I’m bound by the laws and rules of each board that licenses me and by the ethical standards of the social work profession, including confidentiality.
MY EDUCATION
Two master’s degrees
2015
Master of Social Work, The Catholic University of America. My clinical internship was at the VA Medical Center in Washington DC, working with veterans.
2011
Master of Science in Conflict Analysis and Resolution, George Mason University. I studied how conflicts escalate and how they are repaired, which informs my work with couples.
LICENSURE
The boards I answer to
I hold an independent clinical license in each place I practice. Each license is issued and overseen by a government board that sets the standards, investigates complaints, and can discipline a licensee. You can verify any of my licenses on that board’s website.
Colorado
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
State Board of Social Work Examiners, Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies
License #CSW09932302
Issued September 12, 2025
Maine
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
State Board of Social Worker Licensure, State of Maine
License #LC22221
Issued March 7, 2023
Oregon
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Oregon Board of Licensed Social Workers
License #L8253
Issued July 2019
Virginia
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Virginia Board of Social Work, Department of Health Professions
License #0904012381
Issued September 29, 2020
Washington DC
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
District of Columbia Board of Social Work, DC Health
License #LC200001948
Issued May 22, 2022
IFS TRAINING AND CERTIFICATION
Trained through the IFS Institute
All of my IFS training is through the IFS Institute, the training and credentialing organization founded by Dr. Richard Schwartz, who developed the model.
2020
Level 1 and Level 2 trainings completed.
2021
Intimacy from the Inside Out (IFIO) training completed, the IFS approach to couples therapy.
Since 2022
Program Assistant in Level 1 and Level 2 trainings, including ten Level 1 trainings. I delight in working alongside other therapists as they deepen their understanding of IFS, and of themselves.
2025
Level 3 training completed.
2025
IFS Practitioner Certification, the IFS Institute’s formal credentialing process.
2026
Somatic IFS training, which brings body-based awareness into the work.
Ongoing
IFS consultation and peer practice groups. I take part regularly, which keeps my work grounded, growing, and accountable to the model.
MY PATH
From diplomacy to psychotherapy
Peace Corps
I served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Jordan, then worked at Peace Corps headquarters in Washington DC. Living inside another culture taught me to listen before assuming.
State Department
At the U.S. Department of State I worked as a Public Affairs Specialist and led a team of more than twenty officers, helping people with very different views understand each other.
Crisis care
In Oregon I provided intensive therapeutic care to adolescents in acute crisis at the state’s residential facility. That work gave me steadiness in the presence of deep pain.
Private practice
I founded Pinashka Psychotherapy in 2019. Today I see clients online across five jurisdictions.
HOW I WORK
Licensed psychotherapy, at your pace
What I offer is psychotherapy. It begins with a clinical assessment and diagnosis, follows a treatment plan we build together, and draws on training to work safely with trauma, anxiety, and depression.
In sessions I’m warm, direct, and unhurried. I won’t push you toward anything your system isn’t ready for. I will help you get curious about the parts of you that are working hardest, and I’ll stay steady while you do.
OUTSIDE THE OFFICE
A little more about me
I live in Maine, where I garden. A garden is a patient teacher. It has taught me that you can’t force a bud open, that turned soil looks like a mess before it looks like anything else, and that some of the best flowers bloom in autumn.
TAKE THE FIRST STEP
Let’s talk
Fill out a short form and schedule a free 30-minute video call. We’ll talk about what’s been happening and whether working together is a good fit.