About Washington Middle School Counseling

David Bilides MSW, NCC
6th Grade & Head Counselor
Washington Middle School
2101 S. Jackson Street
Seattle, WA 98144
office (206) 252-2645
swb (206) 252-2600
fax (206) 252-2601
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David Bilides began working in social services in 1977, when he was the administrative director as well as a trainer and clinical supervisor for a crisis and drug hotline in Boston. He received his Masters in Social Work from Boston University in 1982, and did school-based counseling and program development in the Boston Public Schools for several agencies. He also served as a consultant and workshop leader on school-based group work with children, child physical and sexual abuse, sex education, and rape and wife battering.

David moved to the west coast in 1986. In San Francisco and Santa Fe he worked as an individual and family therapist in three different venues: an alternative public high school special education program, a rape crisis center, and juvenile probation. He also was the project coordinator for the City of Santa Fe’s Youth Yellow Pages Directory and Community Resources Directory.

Since settling in Seattle in 1999, David has worked at Harborview Hospital as a therapist in the Sexual Assault and Trauma Services outpatient unit, in private practice, as a consultant to Seattle Public Schools on drug prevention, and as the head counselor at Salmon Bay School (K-8) and, since 2003, here at Washington. David, a National Certified Counselor, has published in the areas of men who batter, school-based group work, and race, color, ethnicity and class issues of bicultural adolescents.

Takiyah Jackson, M.Ed., NBCC
7th Grade Counselor
Washington Middle School
2101 S. Jackson Street
Seattle, WA 98144
office (206) 252-2646
swb (206) 252-2600
fax (206) 252-2601
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Takiyah Jackson has been working with students since she was 16 years old.  As a hard working student and athlete, she taught younger students how to play sports and be successful in school and sports.  Throughout her high school and college years, she continued to mentor and teach younger students about academics and sports.  After High School, she accepted a Scholarship to play basketball for UCLA.  She loved being an All-American athlete but the goal she was most set on was getting her Masters Degree and coming back to her city of Seattle to give back to children.  She graduated with her BA in Sociology in 2000.  Two years later, she graduated from Seattle Pacific Universities School Counseling Program with a Masters Degree in Education.  While in Graduate School, she worked for the Seattle School District as a Transition Specialist and Assessment Coordinator.  After receiving her Master’s Degree and Counseling Certification, she began her counseling career as the 8th Grade Counselor for Washington Middle School.  Takiyah, a National Board Certified Counselor, is now entering her 7th year as a Counselor at Washington Middle School. 

Her passion has always been to give back to kids.  Her goals are to impact student learning and growth in all areas of their lives.  She also loves to give students the tools they need to empower themselves to be able to cope with all the situations and circumstances they encounter in life.  Her rules in life are to stay positive at all times, be respectful, be optimistic, be giving and compassionate, be understanding and last but not least, smile as often as you can and have fun in life!

Corey Goldstein, M.Ed.
8th Grade Counselor
Washington Middle School
2101 S. Jackson Street
Seattle, WA 98144
office (206) 252-2614
swb (206) 252-2600
fax (206) 252-2601
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Hey students and parents/guardians of Washington Middle School,

My name is Corey Goldstein, and I’m going to be the 8th grade counselor for the 2008-2009 school year. This will be a special school year for me because it’ll be my first as an actual school guidance counselor. For the past 20 years, I’ve worked for Central Youth/Family Services and Group Health Cooperative, as a school-based mental health counselor at three locations: Rainier Beach High School, Franklin High School, and most recently at Aki Kurose Middle School. While I’ve enjoyed my time working as a mental health counselor, I wanted to work with students in a different way. So I went back to graduate school at Seattle University, and graduated this last June in school counseling. I’m totally excited to start my new “career” at Washington Middle School.

I came to Seattle in 1966, via Soap Lake, Washington and Tampa, Florida. I was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota way back in 1959—before desk-top computers, cell phones, I-pods, or recycling. I grew up loving the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team, and later, played for Bellevue High School and in various summer leagues. Although I like musical artists like Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, and the Dave Matthews Band, I think that ‘70s music is still THE BEST. My 14 year old nephew however, thinks that makes me sound too old. I enjoy tending my strawberry and raspberry gardens in the summer, and like reading in my back yard during a nice sunny day. I’ve been lucky enough to have travelled to Africa and Asia, and have taken students from Franklin High School to Europe and Cuba. I live in the Rainier Valley with my wife, Shannon, and our 11 year old cat, Lucy.

One of my all time favorite quotes is taped on my file cabinet at work. It comes from the late Christine McAuliffe who was a teacher and NASA astronaut who died in the 1986 Challenger explosion. It reads, “I touch the future…I teach.” I love this quote because it reminds me of how deeply purposeful it is to work with young people inside a school setting. It reminds me of how much I believe that education is the great equalizer that allows young people to realize their academic, personal, and economic dreams. My main goal for the upcoming school year is to support the academic and personal growth of every student that I work with, so that they’ll be ready to start their high school career with confidence. I know that Washington Middle School will be a great place to be a school counselor, and I look forward to being a part of such an academically rich community. I also look forward to creating strong relationships with ALL of my 8th grade students and their families, and to serve them as well as I can.

Marilynn Moritz, M.Ed.
Middle School Support Grant Counselor
Washington Middle School
2101 S. Jackson Street
Seattle, WA 98144
office (206) 276-9844
swb (206) 252-2600
fax (206) 252-2601
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Marilynn Moritz has been a private practice Marriage and Family therapist for 35 years in both the Seattle and Dallas, Texas areas working with kids and families in crisis. While in Texas, Marilynn was the head of the psychology department and instructor at a small private college and was an adolescent therapist in private practice, working with juvenile offenders and families and lecturing in the Dallas school system.

After returning to the Northwest, Marilynn continued working with adult and child victims of sexual abuse and trauma in private practice in the north end of Seattle. For two years she taught in a private high school teaching both history and psychology.

Marilynn graduated from the University of Washington, Seattle receiving a BA in both Psychology and History. Master’s work in psychology and counseling was done in Dallas, Texas at Southern Methodist University. Post Graduate work includes certifications in Bereavement /Grief issues for Adolescents, and certification in Child and Adolescent Mental Health from the University of Washington school of social work.

Marilynn has served as the mental health specialist at Washington Middle School for the past four years besides continuing her private practice. Prior to Washington Middle School, she was the family therapist at Laurelhurst elementary school in Seattle for three years.  She loves the middle school years and working in a school setting. She is most interested in working with issues of grief, loss and trauma for teens.

Marilynn has five children who have all attended the Seattle Public schools.

Julie Seltzer, MSW
Wellness Center Counselor
Washington Middle School
2101 S. Jackson Street
Seattle, WA 98144
office (206) 568-3325
swb (206) 568-3327
fax (206) 568-0519
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Julie graduated from the School of Social Work at Loyola University Chicago with a Master of Social Work degree with a focus in school social work. Since her graduation she has spent over 10 years working with youth from a variety of different backgrounds. Julie worked as a social worker in high schools in the Chicago area for over 6 years. She then moved to Seattle in the fall of 2003 and spent her first year working as a case manager for homeless youth. Julie has been working for Group Health since the fall of 2005 and has been at WMS since the spring of 2006. Her background, professional experience and training have been dedicated to working with children and their families and the particular social, emotional and developmental issues that they may encounter.

Erin Byrnes, M.Ed.
Wellness Center Counselor
Washington Middle School
2101 S. Jackson Street
Seattle, WA 98144
office (206) 568-3324
swb (206) 568-3327
fax (206) 568-0519
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Erin Byrnes has spent nearly 20 years working in schools and community agencies as a counselor, a case manager and a consultant, providing individual case management and counseling services, running groups, and facilitating workshops.

Prior to working at Group Health, Erin spent four years as a School Counselor at Foster High School in Tukwila, providing therapeutic intervention and academic guidance to students. Erin was a specialist in the Behavior Disorders program in the Bellingham School District and worked on contract as a Behavior Consultant with several schools in the Bay Area. Erin also spent a number of years developing and implementing behavior programs for children and young adults in group homes and mental health settings.

Erin holds a master’s degree in educational psychology and counseling from the University of Washington and a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Western Washington University.