ABOUT THE DR KIRK HONDA

My Parents

My father's ancestors emigrated from Japan around 1900, and my mother’s lineage came mainly from Britain and Sweden from the 1600s through the 1800s. Due to racist attitudes about mixed-race couples, my parents had a secret relationship in high school. In 1963, they eloped at 19 years old and have been happily married for over 60 years.

For work, my mother ran a home daycare and my dad worked as a commercial artist for Boeing. My mother continues to inspire me to be open, present, grateful, attentive, and joyful, and my father models how to be loving, fun, trustworthy, loyal, and generous.

Childhood (1970s)

I have a lot of fond memories of my childhood. My family was close and loving. My neighbor friends and I would have all-day adventures in the woods. As a mixed-race child, I experienced occasional racist attitudes and behavior. Although these experiences were difficult, I consider these experiences to have taught me to question society and my own internalized assumptions.

Teen Years (1980s)

As a teen, I worked hard in school, hung out with a close group of friends, played various sports, attended church, sang in choir, performed (not so well) in theater, and had conversations about the meaning of life. I also formed a rock band which spurred a lifelong passion for writing music.

Becoming a Therapist (1995)

In my early 20s, I had various jobs, including dishwasher, bus boy, cashier, pizza driver, security guard, and ice cream man. After completing a bachelor's degree in business at the University of Washington in 1993, I ended up working in market research.

In 1995, at age 24, I was once again stuck in traffic on my commute home from work in my Honda Civic, and I had time to contemplate the rest of my life. I longed for a career that made the world a better place. Becoming a therapist suddenly popped into my head, even though I had never before considered a career in psychology. A short time later, I started graduate school at Antioch University, and a couple years later, I received a master's degree in psychology with a concentration in couple and family therapy. Later, I went back to graduate school to become trained as a psychologist, and I received another master's and a doctorate in psychology, also from Antioch University.

I have been a therapist since 1996. I’ve mostly been in private practice, but I have also worked in various organizations, including community mental health agencies, an addiction treatment center, high schools, adolescent group homes, and a domestic violence perpetrator treatment program. I have worked with a wide variety of clients, including individual adults, teens, children, couples, families, and groups. I’ve helped people with various issues, including relationships, personality disorders, trauma recovery, couple conflict, societal oppression, self-actualization, parenting, intimate partner violence, eating disorders, addiction, and sexuality.

Becoming a Professor (1997)

Since 1997, I have been a professor at Antioch University Seattle. I provided clinical supervision and mentoring to hundreds of novice clinicians. In 2022, after 25 years of teaching at the university, I semi-retired from academia, clinical supervision, and mentoring.

Becoming a Podcaster (2008)

Currently, aside from my small private practice, I spend all my working hours on the podcast and YouTube channel. Since starting the podcast in 2008, I have slowly built the Psychology In Seattle podcast into a full-time job with paid co-hosts and employees.

Stacy

I love my wife dearly. Stacy is a wonderful person. She’s caring, intelligent, funny, dependable, and a good listener. Behind the scenes, she’s a crucial part of this podcast, and many of the best things about this podcast were originally her ideas.

Current Life

Currently, I spend most of my free time with my wife and our dogs. Stacy and I both work from home, so we get to hang out throughout the day. A perfect day for me would be to wake up slowly, kiss Stacy, play with the dogs, work on the podcast for a bit, take a long walk through a Seattle forest with Stacy and the dogs, go to an estate sale with Rebecca, have a cozy dinner with Stacy at a local restaurant, play a challenging video game with Humberto, play late-night cards with Bob, and finish the day with a dance party in the living room.

Written in April 2024