EVERY HUMAN DESERVES TO FEEL
SECURE.
About Our Private Practice
Our practice is accepting new clients.
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All scheduling​ and billing is electronic/online. Our clinicians real-time availability is published for convenient scheduling at anytime of the day or night. We see clients Monday through Saturday - mornings, afternoons, and evenings. We offer in-person and virtual sessions.
We have two locations in the metro to meet the needs of clients everywhere: Downtown in the Library District and in Leawood at College/Nall Avenue.
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Our practice has coaching nationally available for clients who are outside of Kansas and Missouri.
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Counseling and coaching intensives (more than 2 session hours back-to-back) are scheduled privately on an as-needed basis.
Since opening Secure in 2010, we have helped thousands of individuals and families, and every story is unique. One thing we have found to be the same is that emotional security brings out the beauty in anyone. Secure's clinical practice was born out of friendship between co-owners Ben and Vanessa, who lived and worked in the same circles of Kansas City and finally met in grad school 15 years ago. Ben and Vanessa’s collegial relationship has always been based in a firm belief in attachment science - that all humans can and want to be emotionally, mentally, physically safe. We believe that good therapy means integrating what the medical community knows about the brain and the body's systems, what the social sciences community understands about human behavior across the entire lifespan (prenatal to post-death), and what each of us experiences in our own realities that shape our individual stories. Each client is different, and each story is epic.Both Vanessa and Ben will continue to be part of the Kansas City metro community for many years. The majority of our work is clinical, directly with clients, but we do supervise a limited number of other clinicians who share our desire to bring emotional security to all humans.
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We live what we teach. We share what we’ve learned along the way - both our professional knowledge and our lived experiences. Read more about our shared history here.
Board-Certified
Professional Counseling
Downtown
820 Baltimore, Suite 400A
Kansas City, MO 64105
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Looking onto Kansas City's 1880's historic neighborhood, our downtown office is right in the heart of the city, one block from the amazing KC Central Library, surrounded by coffee, tex-mex, deli, and bakery!
Parking is designated and free.
Leawood
11111 Nall Avenue, Suite 112
Leawood, KS 66211
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Just south of Highway 435 at the corner of College and Nall, a one minute drive from Town Center Plaza and Children's Mercy South Hospital.
Beginning in mid-2024, our licensed clinicians will be available for counseling in any state in the Counseling Compact (any dark blue state on this map). We currently provide coaching nationwide, as well as educational and training opportunities for the public, students and practitioners. Serving clients from everywhere in Kansas and Missouri - adults, children, teens, couples, and families from all walks of life with a wide range of presenting issues.
All humans receive excellence in clinical care by combining neuroscience, human relationship attachment research, and compassion. Our treatment philosophy has been validated with over 90 years of research showing its effectiveness for many problems across the lifespan and cross-cultural populations. Our emotional attachments to other people carry us through pain. We will do the hard work with you, so you are not alone. Let us help you feel secure.
RESOURCES
Our favorite links, videos, books, and descriptions of the therapy models we provide.
Meet our professionals, read about their specialties and credentials.
WHO IS ATTENDING?
Every human deserves to feel secure.
INDIVIDUALÂ COUNSELING
Meet one-on-one with your counselor and focus on your individual goals and needs. Often this work involves addressing feelings of depression, anxiety or other stressors, grief and loss, divorce support, isolation therapy, and recovery from trauma across the lifespan. There are several interventions our clinicians offer - see our attachment-based Therapy Resources section to read about the different types of work that is available (talk therapy, EMDR, AEDP, EFIT).
COUPLES/ROMANTIC PARTNERS
COUNSELING (EFCT)
Couples of all types - dating, cohabitating, married - find that their attachment bonds are nurtured when we work towards understanding negative patterns, building self-awareness and observation skills day to day, then learning new ways to ask for needs to be met and for connection. In therapy, conflict dances are reframed as fear dances, whether it's regular everyday communication issues or triage for infidelity, substance use, painful interactions, or life and death moments. We find language for fears, empathize, begin to reconnect, then work through traumas you have together or from the past. Read more about the EFT modality to know what you're signing up for!
FAMILY/CHILD/TEEN/PARENT
COUNSELING
Your teen might need a trusted adult to talk to. Your child might need a place to play therapeutically through trauma, mental health, or developmental needs. As a parent, you may need help with strategies and insight into your own emotional responses to your child. Your whole family may need help navigating conflict, parenting consultation, divorce and coparenting, raising a child with special needs or an especially hard history, we help families connect organically (see EFFT). This work can be challenging for parents, and our clinicians have eight children between them of their own - we'll walk alongside you and have a deep respect for your relationship with your child. Your child's secure connection to you is what is best for their emotional health.
CONNECT WITH US
Secure Counseling Clinic is committed to exceeding your needs. Don’t hesitate to reach out today. The direct line to Vanessa Knight is 913-735-4899. The direct line to Ben Taussig is 913-735-5128. Our fax number is 866-755-4670.
11111 Nall Avenue, Suite 112
Leawood, KS 66211
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820 Baltimore Avenue, Suite 400A
Kansas City, MO 64105
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