About Me
Hi, I’m Joellen (she/her).
I’m drawn to therapy that goes beyond symptom management or surface-level coping. My work focuses on understanding the emotional and relational experiences that shape how we move through the world—especially the ones that can leave us feeling disconnected from ourselves, uncertain in relationships, or caught between awareness and meaningful change.
Many of the people I work with are reflective, emotionally perceptive, and used to carrying a great deal internally. Even with insight, they may continue struggling with the same emotional reactions, internal conflicts, or relationship dynamics.
Therapy with me is a space to slow down, explore what’s beneath those experiences, and begin building a more grounded, compassionate relationship with yourself and others.
How I work
My work is grounded in Schema Therapy, attachment theory, and a relational approach. I look beneath surface-level coping to understand the patterns shaping how you think, feel, and relate—to yourself and others. We won't just focus on what’s happening, but why it keeps happening, and how to change it at its core.
I take a collaborative, flexible, and strengths-based approach. I pay close attention to how your history, temperament, and relationships have shaped the way you interact and move through the world.
You bring your lived experience and I'll bring my expertise in building a therapeutic relationship that supports healing, creates corrective emotional experiences, and offers a clear, grounded path forward.
My goal is for you to feel deeply understood and steadily supported as we work toward meaningful, lasting change.
Who I work with
I specialize in anxiety, OCD, and complex trauma.
I often work well with:
Highly sensitive individuals
Neurodivergent clients, including those with ADHD, autism, and learning disabilities
LGBTQIA+ clients
More broadly, I connect with people who know what it feels like to move through the world as an outsider. Those are my people.
My background
My journey into this work hasn’t been the most conventional. At sixteen, I dropped out of high school after several years of struggling with what was later diagnosed as panic disorder with school phobia. In the years that followed, I struggled deeply to find a sense of stability or purpose. I often coped by intellectualizing my emotions or numbing myself from them altogether.
Throughout that process, I began my own therapy journey—working through some of the most difficult, exposing, and rewarding parts of healing. Over time, I found my way back to school, ultimately earning my graduate degree and building my own practice.
I know what it’s like to feel deeply, overthink, and struggle with patterns that don’t easily shift. That lived experience shapes how I show up as a counselor.
I’ve been on the other side of therapy. I understand how vulnerable it can feel to open up to someone, and how important it is to work with a therapist who truly sees you—not as a set of symptoms, but as a whole person.
Outside the therapy room
I live with my partner, Edward, and my cat—Butters, who is very committed to her routine and often reminds me to slow down.
Outside of work, I love getting lost in books and creating with my hands through sculpting, cross-stitch, and crochet. I’m drawn to moving in ways that feel playful and freeing, like rollerblading and hula hooping.
I also enjoy live music and quiet moments in my hammock to reset.
Let’s connect
If you’re ready to understand yourself more deeply and begin shifting patterns that have felt stuck for a long time, I invite you to reach out.
We can start with a consultation and see whether this feels like a good fit.
Trainings
2024 Schema Therapy for Individuals with Travis Atkinson (currently pursuing certification under the supervision of Joan Farrell)
2023 Emotionally Focused individual Therapy - Level 1
Education
2023 Masters of Education in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from University of Houston
2019 Bachelors of Science in Psychology from University of Houston
License
LPC Texas License #91839