In what ways have your personal experiences influenced your work with your clients?
I have been a counselor for about 20 years and helped people struggle with life's challenges. When my son was born - my husband experienced an episode of psychosis and was diagnosed with a severe mental illness. There is a lot more to the story, but over the next 4-5 years I spent a LOT of time cycling through various stages of growth and having the rug pulled out from under me. I came to a point where I stopped grappling for something to hold on to and instead leaned into myself. When I truly reconnected with myself, I found my way out of that cycle. Once we stabilized, I reopened my counseling practice - and expanded to offer life coaching. I leaned into my passion of helping others find and EMBRACE who they are, strengthening skills to step forward into their journey and authentic presence. Things happen, life will throw curveballs - I want to use my experience and lessons learned to give value and insight to others to help increase their resilience.
In what ways does your personality influence your approach to therapy?
I have a strong commitment to family and value my roles as a mother, wife, daughter, sister, and friend. I identify as Christian and have learned through many transitional phases of my own the importance of faith; and how even doubts can bolster confidence in faith. With an innate love of animals and fondness for felines, cats have adopted me, and I've given them life-long homes. As a mental health advocate, I will go above and beyond to help my friends, family, or clients. If I cannot, I put the same effort into finding the resources and support needed. I am is a crafter and enjoy exploring crafts with unique appearances, mediums, and geeky themes. When time allows, I enjoy playing games and visiting friends in virtual worlds, such as World of Warcraft and Animal Crossing. Friends know me to be caring and genuine; what you see is what you get. I am a foodie with a love language in memes. My research focuses on virtual settings and the development of life skills and relationships within virtual venues. The influence my personality has on my therapeutic approach has been that I am an outside-the-box therapist. I like to be creative, and mix and match techniques in ways that are most applicable and effective for each client. I am by nature quite open and accepting, and this translates to my practice as a therapist as well. It is easy to welcome clients into the therapeutic space because I genuinely care and am sincerely in it for my clients and to be helpful. My clients are the heart and soul of what I do. It is a great privilege to walk beside clients and support them in their journey. Without them, I would not be able to do what I do; they are part of my journey too.
How do you determine therapy goals with clients? What does that process look like?
I"m going to answer three questions in one. I had a client who was surprised and exclaimed how fun therapy was, and how she wished she'd come sooner - and I think that is a big barrier to people coming, they don't know what to expect. In the first session with me, I like to spend time getting to know each other. It is literally just chatting, interests and hobbies, life experiences, what is going on right now that brought you to counseling, and I answer any questions that you have. If we can set goals that day then great - if not we can initiate that to think on for the next session. That first session is about getting to know you and letting you get to know more about the therapeutic process. When we set goals, I like to be very specific. I ask questions such as, what would it be like if you did meet this goal? How would you know that you were making progress toward this goal? What differences might you notice? This allows us to get a solid idea of the goal, and things that signal progress - all unique and specific to the client. Once we identify the goal and how we'll know we're on track, it's like a road map for us and we set up where you feel that you are right now, and where you'd like to be by the end of a certain length of time. Each session we'll do a check-in to see how it's going and if we're on track. There's no pressure, it's a plan to follow and we can always change it up, add another goal, pause a goal, or change a timeline, the overall goal is to make sure that you are achieving the results that you want from your sessions. If not, we shift gears to better reach those results.
Specialties
Self-Esteem
Self-esteem is the degree to which a person feels confident, valuable, and worthy of respect. Feeling low self-esteem can influence overall well-being and be linked to anxiety and/or depression.
Creative blocks & writer's block
Inability to access inspiration or internal source of creativity. Not a diagnosable condition but connected to mental health disorders like anxiety. Experienced most often by writers, musicians, performers, and other artists.
Life coaching
Process designed to equip people with tools, motivation, and inspiration necessary to make positive change and maximize personal and professional potential. Life coaches are generally helpful during life transitions or for goal setting and completion.
Life transitions
Positive and negative change can be difficult, including things like moving, breaking up, adjusting to parenthood, or changing careers. It’s normal to feel stressed, however, life transitions can inhibit people from living healthy lifestyles.
Coping Skills
Coping skills are tools and techniques one can learn, practice, and use to handle difficult emotions, decrease stress, and establish or maintain a sense of internal order.
General Expertise
Depression
Depression often causes people to feel sad, empty, or hopeless, and can cause a lack of interest in life. It can also affect a person's thinking patterns and physical health.
Anxiety
Anxiety can mean nervousness, worry, or self-doubt. Anxiety disorder is a mental health disorder that entails excessive, repeated bouts of worry, anxiety, and/or fear.
Work Stress
Workplace issues are a common source of stress and can include interpersonal conflict, communication problems, gossip, harassment, discrimination, low motivation and job satisfaction, performance issues, and poor job fit.
Relationship Issues
Refers relationship issues with a partner or spouse. Can include issues related to relationship distress, relationship satisfaction, communication, intimacy, etc.
Self-Esteem
Self-esteem is the degree to which a person feels confident, valuable, and worthy of respect. Feeling low self-esteem can influence overall well-being and be linked to anxiety and/or depression.
Fees
$125
First Session
$125
Individual Therapy
Types of Therapy
Individual Session
Clientele
Adults (25-65)
Treatment Approaches / Modalities
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
Mindfulness Practices
Adlerian Therapy
Coaching
Eclectic Therapy
Existential Therapy
Family Systems Therapy
Gestalt Therapy
Humanistic Therapy
Jungian Therapy
Narrative Therapy
Person-Centered Therapy
Positive Psychology
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy
Training / Certifications
Master Enneagram Coach from Your Enneagram Coach
Licensure
AL, LPC, 3136
Education
Ph.D., General Psychology, Capella University 2020
M.A., Community Counseling, University of North Alabama 2006
B.S., Sociology, Athens State University 2003
B.S., Behavior Science, Athens State University 2003
Work History
I have worked with individuals and families since 1998. This includes providing services in a therapeutic setting since 2005, treating trauma, mental health, and in private practice to provide support as clients faced life's challenges. I enrolled in a doctorate program to further solidify my counseling expertise and broaden my understanding of the statistics and methods involved in conducting scientific research. I moved to Los Angeles to complete the research required to complete the doctorate program. For the last seven years, I've focused on research and data collection using virtual methods, which has led to increased knowledge of being creative and resourceful when working across long distances. I am interested in social dynamics, virtual interactions, and developing relationships or life skills within online gaming worlds. I am also interested in the Enneagram Personality types, how they can help identify areas of development and personal growth, and how they may assist companies in employee interpersonal interactions and work productivity. I most enjoy working with clients in areas of reconnecting with their core, embracing their authentic self, and strengthening their skills to step into their purpose. Heather completed her research and doctorate program in 2020. She is back in Alabama and excited to take on the world. Armed along with her education, she is a nationally certified counselor through the NCC and is licensed by the Alabama Board of Examiners in Counseling to practice therapy in the state of Alabama. She is a member of the American Psychological Association, Division 46. With her solid experience, education, and training in counseling and research, Heather founded Creative Processes to provide her expertise and insight gained over the last 20 years to individuals, families, and businesses and support them as they work through change.
Location
118 E Mobile St 309, Florence, 35630, AL