Therapy with Gwen, Trauma & Addiction
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Professional Background
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Licensing and Credentials: Gwen is a licensed professional counselor (LPC-MHSP) and a licensed alcohol and drug counselor (LADAC II) in Tennessee. Her qualifications reflect her commitment to providing high-quality mental health and addiction counseling.
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Therapy Services
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Session Formats: Gwen offers both in-person and secure tele-health therapy sessions, allowing clients to choose the format that best fits their needs and lifestyles. This flexibility can be particularly beneficial for those with busy schedules or mobility challenges.
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Flexible Scheduling: Recognizing that life can be unpredictable, Gwen provides flexible scheduling options. This adaptability helps clients maintain consistency in their therapy, which is crucial for effective treatment.
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Private Self-Pay Model: Gwen’s practice operates on a private self-pay basis, ensuring confidentiality and a personalized experience. This model allows her to focus solely on her clients' needs without constraints often associated with insurance providers. Gwen reserves a number of spots in schedule allowing for flexibility with pricing. Please do not hesitate to discuss financials with Gwen - with the possibility of fee structure similar to co-pays for insurance. Gwen can also provide a super-bill upon request for out-of-network insurance.
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Treatment Approach
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Evidence-Based Practices: Gwen employs treatment methods that are backed by research and evidence, ensuring her clients receive effective care. This approach is crucial for addressing a variety of mental health and addiction issues.
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Goal Tracking and Accountability: One of the key aspects of Gwen's therapy is the emphasis on accountability. She works with clients to set achievable goals and regularly tracks their progress, helping them stay motivated and focused on their recovery journey.
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Specialization
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Addiction and Co-Occurring Disorders: Gwen has significant experience working with clients who struggle with addiction and co-occurring mental health challenges. She understands the complex relationship between these issues and provides comprehensive support tailored to each client's unique situation.
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Trauma therapy: Gwen has extensive training in EMDR - Eye movement desensitization reprocessing therapy and is a trained developmental trauma somatic therapist.
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Overall Philosophy​​
Gwen's therapeutic style is grounded in empathy, understanding, and a commitment to helping her clients navigate their challenges. She strives to create a safe and supportive environment where individuals can explore their feelings, develop coping strategies, and work towards lasting change.​​​​
My Story
About Gwen
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Researching and pursuing therapy/counseling/coaching can be scary or overwhelming - congratulations for taking this step. I hope to share some information about myself and welcome you to a free consultation to discuss any questions you may have and get to know each other. When you arrive for a therapy session, I will provide a safe and supportive environment and offer a variety of psychotherapy services including therapy for anxiety, depression, trauma, relationship issues, and alcohol and drug recovery. You can choose from in-person and/or tele-health therapy options so you can schedule therapy as best fits your needs. When you reach out, I will do my best to get back to you in 24 hours so we can schedule a consultation. I would like to share some of my life story and how my experiences have empowered me to help you on your journey of self-growth.
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My first career started at a "help desk" for a financial software firm after studying finance at The University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana. I worked for a firm in the Chicago area that provided opportunities to speak and train people across the United States. I loved working with people and learning about various cultures which led me to take on opportunities in Los Angeles for a year and then London where I traveled and worked with people across Europe learning about their cultures. I developed a love for connecting with people from various backgrounds and traveling/hiking in nature.
Taking on these opportunities to travel gave me experience building self-esteem and it now enables me to help you in taking action steps to broaden your own experiences, increase awareness and curiosity about yourself and others, and get out in nature and move. I can share with you the inner work of understanding what truly gives you meaning in life, what are your values and how do you build a life that matches these values. I will help you move over hurdles of living for other people's expectations whether these are conscious or unconscious. You will feel more alive as you peel off layers built up for self-protection and you are liberated being your authentic self. You will gain confidence to build the life you dream of living.
During my early twenties, I coped with my own anxiety and self-worth issues with tendencies toward perfectionism and workaholism. I learned coping skills of yoga, exercise, and mindfulness to manage my urges to escape what I was feeling and on my focus on being accepted based on my accomplishments and people pleasing. If you struggle with similar issues, I can help you learn to manage similar tendencies by sharing coping skills and mind-management techniques so you can learn to manage your work and relationship stress and feel more comfortable in your own skin. You will learn to develop an internal measure for your value as a human rather than changing who you authentically are to please others.
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After returning to Chicago from London in my mid-twenties, I earned an MBA at University of Chicago while continuing to work with another financial firm specializing in valuation of strategies and companies. What I learned along the way further validated that my passion is for connecting with people and learning about what brings them meaning in life. I have learned to be open to relationships with people young and old and with diverse backgrounds. In graduate school for business I was in school with primarily men. In graduate school for counseling, many of my peers and friends were my children's age. I loved learning from my peers whatever their walk of life and learned a humility ("just right humility") in the process. Curiosity about all people from around the world provides me with the cultural competence to connect with you in session to build a strong relationship which is critical for effective therapy. I want to learn about you and your experience in your world.
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In the next chapter of my life, I married my soulmate and together we raised 4 beautiful children who are adults now. I started practicing yoga regularly when my children were toddlers and realized that I was feeling great benefits from connecting to my body with breath and slowing down for moments of the present. Learning to connect my body and mind with breath proved to drastically improve my wellbeing - more than talking through issues at that time in my life. I learned to teach my body it was safe and could relax. I was empowered by using breath work and meditation to soothe my emotional state and let go of tension stuck in my muscle and fascia. I only wish I had started my yoga practice prior to having children! If you are interested in a stronger mind-body connection, I can help you with somatic therapy - working with your own body intuitively to connect with your own nervous system and learn the benefits of breath and movement.
If you are detached from your body due to trauma experiences, or your nervous system is stuck in overdrive with home and/or work stress, I can help you learn to build awareness of your body and release tension that your muscles and fascia are holding. You will learn to notice what is going on in your body with acceptance. You will grow in your ability to allow your nervous system to move more fluidly from an amped up state to a relaxed state or pull out of a shut down state empowered by your ability to impact your autonomic system with your own breath and movement.
As my children were getting older and life events led to a new struggle in our family, my yoga path led me to a teacher training where I learned and practiced meditation. I felt fearful at the time and my life felt like it was moving in slow motion. In seeking help, I was encouraged to pursue meditation and yoga teacher training by my therapist. My training led to me learning about the healing powers of "exercising our brain" in meditation. This gave me hope for myself to grow and heal as well as hope for others who struggle with their mental health. Not everyone connects with meditation or mindfulness. If you are open to it, I will help you gain skills that match what works for you - there are many ways to learn to build awareness and understanding of your brain. We will work together to help you notice when you have negative or unrealistic thoughts and work to notice, accept without judgment, and work to refocus on more helpful thoughts. Research has shown that what we resist persists. If we push an idea down, it tends to get bigger and have greater power over us. Self-compassionate awareness and acceptance often subdues the negative thoughts that the brain likes to produce to keep us safe. Then we can refocus on thoughts that help us move forward.
Yoga/meditation training inspired me to become a therapist and I started graduate school for counseling in Chicago - and then transferred to Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN. When I worked at a treatment center during my internship and prior work, I saw patients stabilize and pursue living healthier lives proving to be a powerful experience. In this next season of my career, my goal is to help clients like you find ways to do less of things that are not helpful and more of the things that bring you meaning, help you build healthy relationships, and help you find peace and even joy. I can help you whether your nervous system is often "shut down" in freeze or "in hyper alert" or flight mode. You will learn to notice what is going on holistically within you and practice tools to get out of chronic nervous system habits with an ability to ride the waves of your negative and positive experiences. You will learn to identify and notice when old habits of protection show up and ways you can practice trying something new and more adaptive to what you are experiencing today.
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I hope to share the knowledge and hope I have gained from becoming empowered to build my own awareness of self and work to be the best version of me. I have gained skills and experience working with people from varied backgrounds with challenges with mental health across a spectrum from anxiety, depression, PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), Bipolar, Schizoaffective Disorder, and many patients who also battled addiction (often a result of mental health struggles). Working with this diverse client base has given me a strong foundation as a therapist. These diagnostic labels describe common symptoms - which to me is their biggest benefit - understanding symptoms that bring clients to treatment or therapy rather than labels. This broad experience allows me to understand what you are struggling with today. We will work together with you sharing your story, your issues/struggles/trauma - what brings you to therapy. We will work side by side to develop a plan of treatment with goals you share with me. We will make a plan of action and track your progress together - your input is critical here. You are the expert of you!
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Research shows that the biggest factor for change and healing in therapy is the relationship between the client and therapist. This relationship benefits when based on safety, trust, collaboration, curiosity, authenticity, unconditional acceptance, cultural competence and clear boundaries. My strengths lie in creating this working alliance with you - this modeling and practice of healthy relationships will help you emulate these traits in relationships you grow and repair if needed outside of therapy. I hope to build a strong relationship with you in our work and help you live your life to your full potential. Please see tab for "Gwen's Clinical Background" for more information on my education, training and clinical modalities I use in therapy.