Biography
Joe Klemz’s lived experience as a trauma survivor with 30+ placements in foster care is matched with more than 20 years in the mental health field. The combination of personal and professional practice has given Joe an unyielding commitment to authentic, safe, and unarmored relationships - with ourselves and each other.
As a therapist, Joe’s approach with clients is somewhat unusual in the level of transparency and insight he brings. He is perceptive and unassuming, wise and adaptive. His most deeply held value is creating a safe center for his clients, free of judgement or expectation. This relational humility is not merely a professional boundary - it is the guiding principle of his practice as a counselor and trainer of other therapists.
Joe models personal integrity by actively and openly addressing his own lived experiences, fears, and biases by constantly seeking to improve, heal, and move forward with peace and resilience. His superpower is his willingness to show up with clients and colleagues as a full human - to mess up, repair, and show vulnerability and strength in equal measure.
A 2006 graduate from Eastern Washington University with a Masters in Social Work, Joe has continued to grow his skillset and understanding to best serve the unmet needs of both his clients and colleagues.
In addition to ongoing community-based training on Sexual Trauma, and the intersections of Trauma and Gender/Sexuality/Intimacy, Joe is an EMDR Therapist and member of the EMDR International Association. He’s also earned certification on “Understanding and Treating Complex Trauma in Youth, Adults, and Families” from the Boston Trauma Center founded by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk.
As founder of Real Life Counseling in Vancouver, Washington, Joe leads a growing team of innovative and skilled practitioners providing more than 40,000 hours a year of comprehensive mental health services to youth and adults in SW Washington. With a career spanning more than two decades across various community mental health settings, Joe brings depth of knowledge, compassion, candor, and empathetic accountability to clients as well as colleagues he mentors and consults with.
As a husband, father, and business owner, Joe spends his free time in the woods or working on his family’s inland northwest property. He aspires to launch a new EMDR training program for therapists in the coming year and is looking forward to hobby homesteading and exploring new trails and lakes in the woods of the northwest with my family and friends.
Company No.1 (Klemz Consulting)
After completing training to be an EMDR Counselor, Joe realized that more therapists needed access to the powerful and impactful tools that allowed him to successfully support many clients through EMDR therapy. Joe began by sharing experiences and teachings on his website, and attending training to be a consultant.
Klemz Consulting launched in 2021 to offer support to therapists interested in using EMDR with their clients in the Vancouver, Washington area. Joe can work with you (or your team) to design a training schedule that allows you to become EMDR Certfied while supporting your patients. Joe is also available for refresher training courses and one-time team conversations for those already EMDR certified.
Real Life Counseling
Real Life Counseling (RLC) was founded in 2010 by Joe Klemz with a vision to inspire and empower change in our clients. We focus on guiding clients to rally their strengths, and discover new one, so that they can first overcome their barriers and then reach their goals.
Driven by the concept of courageously loving ourselves and others, RLC invests in the lives of our clients and our team to ignite change and spark achievement both personally and throughout our community.
