Elizabeth Starnes

My therapy practice is dedicated to women and helping them heal and gain insight. Society has put many expectations on women through social media and our culture. It is causing enormous stress and anxiety due to not being able to live up to such extremes. Does anyone have the space to just be? To discover what they want or need. To accept themselves, whether that is fat, skinny, tall, short, married, single, and many more categories. After all, we have only one life. Do you feel pressured to be perfect? It is exhausting. Part of our human experience is to create stories, however many times they are inaccurate and cause us unnecessary pain and heartache. Our stories are missing the facts and are developed through traumatic experiences we don’t want to live again. So, we create the story to justify our response and avoid heartache. Yet, the opposite happens. We indirectly create more heartache and pain. We create anxiety and stress running from whatever past story we are terrified of. This is so common in trauma. Avoidance is the best approach, or so we think. My approach is to be client-centered, meaning move at your pace and respect your process. Change is so difficult otherwise you wouldn’t be considering reaching out for help. I do not pressure clients nor do I set the agenda. You decide the direction of the session. My role is to be present with you, to reflect any patterns I hear, and to help you challenge any stories that are repeating and causing you pain. I have been described as authentic, warm and empowering by my clients. I have a slight goofy personality that uses humor at times. Sometimes we need to laugh at the irony of life. I share my own struggles when appropriate to help you understand that you are not alone. My therapeutic approaches are cognitive theory based – using both Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques and Cognitive Processing Therapy. In addition, I do encourage clients to use expressive arts in therapy which looks like art journaling each week, picking a song that will illustrate your experience, a drawing, or collage. There are so many more choices. No matter which you choose we aim to add some sort of writing to deepen the experience. Saying that, no client is pressured to do art. We work at your pace and comfort level. My areas of interest are trauma/PTSD, anxiety, self-esteem issues, body image, and grief/loss. Outside of therapy work, I enjoy being outdoors, gardening, walking, listening to music, and spending time with adult children and my grandsons. I hope you find the perfect therapist to meet your needs. Feel free to reach out for a free 15 minute consultation to see if we could be a good fit.