Vanessa helps couples of all types, as well as parents and their children, to form secure attachments with each other. She helps clients experiencing relationship difficulties and treats clients who are experiencing pain due to a life circumstances. She works primarily with married and unmarried couples of all kinds, adult individuals, and families; children 10 and up may be seen individually, and children <10 are treated mostly through parent consultation and family sessions to promote the attachment bond between parent and child, using sand tray therapy and play techniques. Vanessa has a special interest in trauma and loss-related concerns - those associated with death, divorce, adoption, addiction, affairs, abuse, and relationship losses from birth to death. Vanessa strives for clients to feel informal and casual, like seeing a friend who has special training in neurological, emotional and psychological issues.
Co-owner of Secure Counseling Clinic, Vanessa has a Master of Arts in Counseling from MidAmerica Nazarene University. In her work as a couples' counselor, Vanessa is a Certified EFT Therapist for couples (International Centre for Excellence in Emotion-Focused Therapy, ICEEFT). Emotion-Focused Therapy is a highly-researched form of counseling, which combines love and the neurobiology of human relationships known as "interpersonal neuroscience." She also holds a Certificate in Interpersonal Neurobiology from Portland State University, she provides EMDR Therapy (Eye Movement Reprocessing and Desensitization, EMDRIA.org) for both children and adults and is a Level I AEDP clinician (Accelerated Experiential Dyadic Psychotherapy, www.aedpinstitute.org). For six years before obtaining her Master’s degree, Vanessa worked full-time with families in a spiritual setting and will use any spirituality in counseling when it is initiated by her clients. She is a TBRI Educator/Trainer and a TBRI Clinician trained by Texas Christian University's Karyn Purvis Institute for Child Development (2012), a program for behaviorally at-risk, domestic and internationally adopted, and foster-care children and teens. Vanessa has worked with families who have adopted in local KC and from over 25 different countries. One of Vanessa's favorite types of attachment work is with the dying and their families. Vanessa holds an End of Life Professional Doula Certificate from the University of Vermont and facilitates Dignity Therapy for terminally ill, dying clients. She completed her masters-level training at Solace House, a grief and loss supportive counseling center of Kansas City Hospice and Palliative Care.
Vanessa belongs to the American Counseling Association, International Association of Marriage and Family Counseling, the National Board of Certified Counselors, Chi Sigma Iota professional honor society, Kansas Counseling Association, Kansas Association of Marriage and Family Counselors, and the International Centre for Excellence in Emotion-Focused Therapy, EMDRIA, and the AEDP Institute. To contact Vanessa, call 913-735-4899 or email [email protected], or view her clinical availability online.
