ABOUT ME
Heya there, I’m Valarie, a Licensed Professional Counselor, often abbreviated to LPC.
In session, I’ll be asking for your willingness to be transparent. In that manner, I’ll start.
A Bit About Me
I am passionate about creating art, making music, and listening to audiobooks. I gravitate towards tree-lined walking paths, road trips, dark coffee, and deep conversations. I love family, house plants and my dog, Olive, who you might see from time to time sneaking in a cuddle during our session.
I am a seeker of self-awareness, a life-long learner and a wounded-healer, or what Carl Jung describes as someone who transforms their hurt into healing and helping others.
I value building relationships based on non-judgment, honesty, understanding, respect and compassion. The connection between us actually has a name. It’s called the therapeutic alliance, which is a foundation needed for achieving your mental health goals.
With that, I want to acknowledge that some people have mustered up the courage to try counseling only to find an incompatible (for them) therapist. Then they forfeit the whole idea thinking all counselors are the same, as if one size fits all. Some people might not realize that it’s okay and super important to shop around for the right fit. As a therapist, I’m trained to understand that I might not be everyone’s cup of tea, so no pressure if I’m not the counselor for you. I took legal vows to provide you with the best help, even if that means helping you find another therapist.
My Story
I am a deep listener by nature. Deep listening, as described by Thich Nhat Hanh in an interview with Oprah, is “the kind of listening that can help relieve the suffering of another person. You can call it compassionate listening. You listen with only one purpose: to help him or her to empty his heart.”
Becoming a counselor has always been on my radar, though I never chose it as a career path. That’s because somewhere along the way I started telling myself the lie (and eventually believed it) that I was not smart enough for grad school.
Instead, I pursued music, art, and a career in the non-profit world in which I was passionate about what I did and how it served my community, but my heart kept bringing me back to my true calling – helping others heal through deep listening.
The faulty belief I carried around for so long was finally laid to rest in May of 2022 when I graduated with a Masters in Clinical Mental Health from Fort Hays State University.
Who I am as a Counselor
- I am passionate about my own healing journey and consider it an honor to be able to offer personal insight combined with professional, evidence-based techniques to help you overcome challenges and achieve goals on your healing journey.
- I am non-judgmental and create a safe space to explore whatever is holding you back from wherever you want to be.
- I offer tools to help you understand and overcome your challenges by discovering your strengths.
- I extend professional understanding of situations to encourage awareness and compassion towards self and others.
- I am non-directive and believe that your answers reside somewhere inside of you. My mission is to help you find those answers. Together, we’ll explore your own unique solutions based upon your own unique experiences.
- I am Rogerian, which means that I use empathy, genuineness and unconditional positive regard (loving without conditions) to help others heal.
- I am narrative, meaning that you are the author of your own life and can shift your story by highlighting the positive and not always focusing on the negative.
- I am existential in that I seek meaning in both the monumental and the mundane.
- I am mindful and teach techniques to increase your sense of peace & purpose.
Mental Health Healer, Heal thyself.
Academic Credentials
- Bachelors of Art, Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado, 2002
- Certified Massage Therapist, Colorado School of Healing Arts in Denver, Colorado, 2008
- Masters in Clinical Mental Health, Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kansas, 2022
