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Kathryn@GatesTherapy.com | 512-814-6580
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About Kathryn Gates

"I do this work because I know firsthand: therapy can help make life worth living."

Kathryn Gates is an Austin-based psychotherapist supporting adults in Texas who want to improve their relationships with themselves and their loved ones. 

Clients have said that their lives have become more fulfilling than they knew they could be. 

After high school, Kathryn taught dance and group exercise in St. Louis, making use of her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from Webster University. Personal training clients who wanted to “get in shape” when they came in brought so many factors to the table that affected the way their bodies worked: relationships, work environments, what they had for lunch... Kathryn learned quickly that a client's body function and how people felt about their bodies had so much more effect on their fitness level than the exercises she suggested for one hour/week. 

Feelings, thoughts, and relationships affect how and why we move. 

Beyond basic fitness advice, Kathryn couldn't deny that there were more profound ways to help people get what they really wanted. 

People regularly do things they say they don’t want to do. And avoid doing things they say they should do. Psychology has sought to understand this phenomenon, along with how people can claim the life they truly want despite it. In 2007, Kathryn began graduate training in Clinical Psychology at Pepperdine University in Southern California.

Education & Experience

While in grad school, Kathryn continued her work with people’s bodies as a Physical Therapy Aide and Personal Trainer, exploring the relationship between the physical self and the mental and emotional selves. As Kathryn interacted with Pain Management patients, with residents at Tarzana Treatment Center detoxing from substances and with the students she taught in the Kinesiology Department of California State University at Los Angeles, she observed how all were experiencing the interaction between what their bodies were doing and what their thoughts and feelings were doing. And how each person in the various circumstances used physical means to affect or alter their emotional state. Sometimes this was through use of a substance, sometimes through exercise, and sometimes people expressed emotions in hopes of gaining something through a relationship.

Physical parts contribute to mental stability or instability. Emotions affect physical status. Relationships affect to a person’s decision to change or not. The interdependence of the physical, mental, and emotional and social aspects of a person continued to fascinated Kathryn everywhere she was able to observe it.

Since moving to Austin in 2009, Kathryn has provided fitness consultation for recovery centers in Texas and regularly consults with experts in kinesiology, medicine, somatic healing and psychology. Kathryn provides online psychotherapy to residents across the state of Texas, as well as health coaching nationwide. 

Associations:

  • American Council on Exercise    
  • American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy 

~We can not be healthy without a consistent pursuit of balance.~

Licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist Supervisor in the State of Texas and nationally certified by the American Council on Exercise (ACE), Kathryn values individuals for their uniqueness. She illuminates the strengths of her clients, her LMFT-Associate supervisees, and her fitness clients. 


Austin-based Body Image Groups for women allow group members to build community and improve relationships: with others and with their own bodies. Kathryn’s personal group experience continues to prove the power of practicing relationships in a therapeutic space that translates to the “real world.” 

Kathryn Gates has Body Image Groups that meet weekly, alternating online with in-office meet-ups. For those who are unable to come to Austin twice a month, the Body Acceptance Project, group members’ weekly email supplement, is available to readers worldwide. Through this platform, Kathryn has been called “a consistent and professional presence” offering weekly suggestions, ideas, insights and exercises to heal your relationship with yourself.

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