Adults

COUNSELING IN SOUTH AUSTIN & ONLINE ACROSS TX

Your story matters. We’re here to be a mindful and authentic presence.

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True healing takes more than surface-level change. That’s why we take an integrative approach—working from the inside out to support true transformation.

As adults, we are constantly in a state of giving, whether it’s to our work, our family, school, etc. and sometimes we forget to also make time for our own self-care and self-reflection.

Perhaps you do make time for yourself but still find yourself struggling or navigating difficult life circumstances. We all need moments where we feel connected, validated, and understood to help bring awareness to our own needs. But seeking support can be a daunting and overwhelming process.

At Mindful Connections Counseling, we understand and acknowledge the doubts clients may face when seeking a therapist. During our first meeting, we aim to help you understand the process of therapy and begin a collaborative, safe, and judgment free relationship. Our approach is gentle but informative and honest. We find it important to coordinate treatment planning with our clients and keep you informed on the approaches we utilize every step of the way.

Our therapists are particularly suited to work with clients who:

  • Have experienced a trauma or multiple traumas
  • Are going through difficult or big life transitions
  • Are struggling with anxiety
  • Are struggling with grief and loss
  • Are experiencing struggles related to low self-worth or shame
  • Are seeking to understand and heal from intergenerational trauma
  • Are looking to better understand and implement boundaries
  • Identify as persons of color and come from diverse backgrounds

Approaches we utilize

At our practice, we believe it is important to first establish a strong working therapeutic relationship with our clients and will make every effort to ensure we are going at your pace. We will typically spend the first few sessions learning more about your background, current symptoms, and setting goals for therapy. We also use the first couple of sessions to discuss our approaches to therapy and creating a treatment plan together with you. Our therapists are trained in the following approaches:

Through talk therapy, our therapists offer a safe, supportive space where you can explore your thoughts, feelings, and challenges. Through open conversation, you’ll process difficult experiences, gain insight, and build coping skills.

EMDR is an evidenced based, structured therapy that helps people heal from trauma and distressing life experiences. It uses guided eye movements and other forms of bilateral stimulation to help the brain reprocess painful memories, so they feel less intense and no longer get 'stuck' in the present.

Ego state therapy is a form of talk therapy that helps you explore and understand the different 'parts' or aspects of yourself—each with its own feelings, thoughts, and roles. By getting to know these inner parts, you can heal emotional wounds, reduce inner conflict, and feel more whole and balanced.

Somatic experiencing (SE) is a body oriented approach that focuses on resolving trauma that is stuck in the fight, flight, freeze, or fawn responses that result from the shock of a trauma. An SE therapist is trained to guide clients through a framework called SIBAM which means sensations, images, behavior, affect, and meaning. Through focusing on these elements that have resulted from a trauma, clients often experience a deeper understanding of the body-mind connection and an improved ability to release and discharge trauma held deep in the body.

CBT is a goal-oriented approach that helps you identify, challenge, and change unhelpful thought patterns and behaviors. Through CBT, you’ll learn new ways to think and respond to negative thoughts.

Sandtray therapy is a creative, hands-on approach where you use miniature figures and a tray of sand to build scenes that reflect your inner world. It allows you to express thoughts and feelings that might be hard to put into words, making it especially helpful for processing emotions and experiences in a safe, symbolic way.

ACT helps you build a healthier relationship with difficult thoughts and feelings, rather than trying to avoid or control them. ACT utilizes mindfulness and values-based action to help you live a more meaningful and fulfilling life.

Trauma Focused Therapy

We provide trauma informed services for children, teens, and adults. We understand the sensitive nature of trauma therapy and aim to support our clients every step of the way. You may be wondering how trauma therapy differs from individual therapy. Trauma therapy involves very specialized trainings and consultations on the part of the therapist and focuses on prioritizing a client’s felt sense of safety. Trauma therapists understand that trauma has a profound effect on a client’s nervous system and their ability to feel safe, even when they are out of the trauma and away from the physical danger of the threat. Thus, a trauma therapist’s priority from the very first outreach is offering a safe space to their client and focusing on building a client’s inner resources.

During trauma therapy at our practice, our initial goal is to ensure you experience a safe and trusting relationship with your therapist. We will work together to ensure your therapy journey is moving at an appropriate pace and ensure you develop your own resources to offer all your parts safety and control prior to discussing difficult aspects of your trauma. Part of the initial process is providing you with education on the nature of trauma, related symptoms following trauma, and the therapeutic interventions so that you are well informed throughout the course of therapy.

Defining trauma…

Often, we find that our clients may be referred to us for symptoms of anxiety, depression, OCD, low self-esteem, or another diagnosis when in fact, these symptoms were caused by a trauma or series of traumatic experiences. In order to define what is trauma, it is important to note that a trauma is unique to each individual. What may be a trauma for one person, may not be a trauma to another. We can best describe trauma as something that happens to you, that is outside of your body’s ability to process, control, and navigate. Our body’s way of responding to a trauma is below our awareness meaning our body reacts automatically in response to a distressing event without us thinking or planning our reaction. This includes fight, flight, freeze, and fawn responses. Even if you experienced a trauma early in life, you can experience overwhelming and negative memories, emotions, or sensations during various moments in your life as a result of this trauma.

Our Approach to Trauma Therapy

Through our experience and training, we have found that an integrative approach to treatment is often the most effective approach. This means we do not utilize solely one treatment model, but instead keep each client’s individual background and symptoms in mind and draw from different approaches. These approaches include the following:

  • Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
  • Somatic Experiencing
  • Sandtray Therapy
  • Ego State Therapy

The cadence of adult therapy