Hi, I’m Regina Hancock, M.ED., LPCC-S I’m an experienced Counselor who can help shape your perspective into a healthy and productive one. Whether it’s your relationships, or anything else that’s important to you, I’ll help you develop the habits and skills to effectively deal with the challenges and emotional moments you may encounter in life. I have been a therapist since 2016 and I obtained my LPCC in 2019. I have since obtained my LPCC-S. I am very excited to be able to help others and assist them in becoming a better version of themselves. I am a Lindsey Wilson College graduate; I first attended LWC in 2002-2007 I obtained an Associates of Arts degree in Early Childhood and Development and a Bachelors of Arts in Christian Ministries. I went back to LWC in 2014-2015 and obtained a Masters of Education in Human services and counseling. I am currently pursuing a PHD in Counselor Education and Supervision from The University of the Cumberlands.
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
In your first session with me, I'll focus on creating a welcoming environment and beginning to understand your unique situation. Here's what you can expect: The session will begin with some brief paperwork covering confidentiality, my policies, and your rights as a client. I'll explain these clearly and answer any questions you might have. I'll invite you to share what brings you to therapy at this point in your life. While I'll have some specific questions to help me understand your situation better, I want to hear your story in your own words and at your own pace. We'll discuss your current challenges, when they started, what makes them better or worse, and how they're affecting different areas of your life. I'll also ask about your strengths, support systems, and what's working well for you. I'll inquire about your goals for therapy – what changes you hope to see and how you'll know therapy is helping. This helps us establish clear directions for our work together. Toward the end of the session, I'll share my initial thoughts about how we might work together, including potential therapeutic approaches that might be helpful for your specific situation. You'll have time to ask questions about my approach, experience, or anything else you're wondering about. I believe therapy works best when it's collaborative, so I welcome your input throughout the process. Finally, we'll discuss practical next steps – scheduling future sessions and any initial strategies you might try between sessions. Throughout our first meeting, my primary goal is for you to feel heard, respected, and hopeful about the possibility of change. The first session is as much about you getting a sense of me and how I work as it is about me learning about you.
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
My greatest strengths as a provider stem from my integrative approach and genuine commitment to the therapeutic relationship. First, I excel at creating a safe, nonjudgmental space where clients feel truly seen and accepted. This foundation of trust allows people to explore difficult experiences they may have never shared before. My natural empathy helps me connect with clients from diverse backgrounds and circumstances, meeting them where they are in their journey. I'm particularly skilled at balancing compassion with helpful challenge. While I provide unconditional positive regard, I also gently help clients recognize patterns that may be keeping them stuck. This balance creates an environment where growth feels both supportive and possible. My adaptability is another key strength. Rather than applying a one-size-fits-all approach, I draw from multiple therapeutic modalities to tailor treatment to each client's unique needs. This flexibility allows me to shift approaches as we discover what resonates most effectively. I bring a strong foundation in evidence-based practices while remaining attentive to the unique aspects of each person's situation that might not fit neatly into standardized protocols. This balanced perspective helps me provide care that is both scientifically sound and personally meaningful. Finally, I'm deeply committed to ongoing learning and growth in my own practice. I regularly seek consultation, engage in continuing education, and reflect on my work to ensure I'm providing the most effective care possible. This commitment to my own development directly benefits the clients I serve.
Describe the client(s) you are best positioned to serve.
Based on my training and approach, I am best positioned to serve clients experiencing anxiety, substance use issues, depression, and trauma through an integrative therapeutic approach. My work with anxiety disorders spans from generalized anxiety to specific phobias, social anxiety, and panic disorder. I help clients understand their anxiety patterns, develop mindfulness of anxious thoughts, and build practical coping strategies to manage symptoms while addressing underlying causes. For substance use issues, I offer a compassionate, non-judgmental approach that acknowledges the complexity of addiction. I help clients explore the function of substance use in their lives, identify triggers, develop alternative coping mechanisms, and create sustainable recovery plans aligned with their values and goals. With depression, I support clients in recognizing negative thought patterns, gradually increasing meaningful activities, rebuilding connection, and developing self-compassion. I'm particularly sensitive to how depression can distort one's sense of possibility and work to hold hope when clients temporarily cannot. My trauma-informed approach recognizes how past experiences shape present functioning. I create a safe therapeutic environment where clients can process traumatic memories at their own pace while developing resources for emotional regulation and reconnection. My therapeutic style draws from multiple modalities: - ACT helps clients develop psychological flexibility, connect with personal values, and take committed action even amid difficult emotions - CBT provides structured techniques to identify and modify unhelpful thought patterns and behaviors - Person-centered therapy establishes the foundation of unconditional positive regard, empathy, and genuineness essential for healing - My eclectic approach allows me to tailor treatment to each client's unique needs, preferences, and cultural background This integration of approaches allows me to meet clients where they are and adapt as their needs evolve throughout our work together.
About Regina Hancock
Specializes in
Licensed in
Appointments
VirtualMy treatment methods
Acceptance and commitment (ACT)
In my experience with Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), I've found it to be a powerful approach that helps clients develop psychological flexibility and live more meaningful lives aligned with their core values. ACT differs from traditional cognitive therapies by focusing not on changing difficult thoughts or feelings, but rather on changing one's relationship to them. I implement ACT in my practice through six core processes: 1. **Acceptance**: I help clients open up to unwanted private experiences (thoughts, feelings, sensations) without defense, creating space for these experiences rather than fighting against them. This often involves metaphors like "leaves on a stream" to illustrate letting thoughts come and go without getting caught up in them. 2. **Cognitive defusion**: I teach techniques to change how clients relate to their thoughts, helping them see thoughts as mental events rather than literal truths. Exercises might include repeating a negative thought until it loses meaning or saying "I'm having the thought that..." before difficult thoughts. 3. **Present moment awareness**: Using mindfulness practices, I guide clients to connect with the here-and-now rather than dwelling in the past or worrying about the future. This builds their capacity to notice their experiences without judgment. 4. **Self-as-context**: I help clients access a transcendent sense of self—the "observing self" that remains constant despite changing thoughts, feelings, and experiences. This perspective helps create distance from difficult internal experiences. 5. **Values clarification**: Through experiential exercises, I assist clients in identifying what truly matters to them across domains like relationships, work, health, and leisure. This creates a compass for meaningful living. 6. **Committed action**: I support clients in setting goals informed by their values and taking effective action, even when faced with difficult thoughts and feelings. I've found ACT particularly effective for chronic pain, anxiety disorders, depression, and situations where avoidance patterns have become entrenched. The emphasis on values-based living resonates with many clients who find that pursuing what matters most provides motivation to face difficult experiences. What I appreciate most about ACT is how it balances acceptance with change—helping clients accept what cannot be changed while committing to actions that can transform their lives in meaningful ways.
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
As a practitioner of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), I've found it to be a highly effective, structured approach that focuses on identifying and modifying unhelpful thought patterns and behaviors that contribute to psychological distress. In my practice, I implement CBT through several key components: 1. **Cognitive restructuring**: I help clients identify negative automatic thoughts and cognitive distortions (such as catastrophizing, black-and-white thinking, or overgeneralization). We then work together to challenge these thoughts and develop more balanced, realistic alternatives. This often involves using thought records to track triggering situations, automatic thoughts, emotions, and evidence for and against these thoughts. 2. **Behavioral activation**: For clients with depression or avoidance patterns, I use behavioral activation to gradually increase engagement in rewarding activities and break cycles of withdrawal. This involves setting small, achievable goals and monitoring mood in relation to activity levels. 3. **Exposure techniques**: For anxiety disorders, I implement systematic exposure to feared situations, objects, or thoughts in a controlled, gradual manner. This helps clients learn that their anxiety naturally decreases over time (habituation) and that feared outcomes often don't materialize. 4. **Skills training**: I teach practical coping skills such as relaxation techniques, mindfulness practices, assertive communication, and problem-solving strategies that clients can apply in their daily lives. 5. **Homework assignments**: Between-session practice is critical in CBT. I assign specific exercises that reinforce skills learned in therapy and provide opportunities to test new ways of thinking and behaving in real-world situations. I've found CBT particularly effective for treating anxiety disorders, depression, trauma-related disorders, and specific phobias. The time-limited, goal-oriented nature of CBT also makes it accessible for clients who prefer a more structured approach with measurable outcomes. The collaborative nature of CBT—working together as partners to understand and address psychological difficulties—empowers clients to become their own therapists over time, developing skills they can continue to use long after formal therapy has ended.
Eclectic
An eclectic approach to therapy has been invaluable in my practice because it allows me to draw from multiple theoretical frameworks and techniques to meet each client's unique needs. Rather than adhering strictly to one school of thought, eclecticism enables me to customize treatment by integrating elements from various therapeutic modalities. In my practice, I implement eclecticism by: Conducting thorough initial assessments to understand each client's specific challenges, strengths, cultural background, and preferences. This information guides which therapeutic approaches might be most beneficial. Creating individualized treatment plans that incorporate techniques from different modalities such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), psychodynamic approaches, humanistic methods, mindfulness practices, and solution-focused strategies. Remaining flexible and responsive throughout the therapeutic process. If one approach isn't resonating with a client, I can shift to alternative methods rather than trying to fit the client into a particular theoretical framework. Using evidence-based interventions selectively, drawing on research to inform which techniques might be most effective for specific presenting issues while considering the unique aspects of each client's situation. I've found this integrated approach particularly effective for clients with complex presentations that don't fit neatly into single diagnostic categories. For example, with a client experiencing both anxiety and relationship difficulties, I might combine CBT techniques to address anxious thoughts with attachment-based approaches to explore relationship patterns. The eclectic approach honors the complexity of human experience and acknowledges that healing often requires multifaceted interventions. This flexibility allows me to meet clients where they are and adapt as their needs evolve throughout the therapeutic journey.
Person-centered (Rogerian)
Person-centered therapy (also known as client-centered or Rogerian therapy) is an approach I find particularly valuable in clinical practice due to its emphasis on the therapeutic relationship and the client's inherent capacity for growth. The core of person-centered therapy rests on three essential conditions: 1. **Unconditional positive regard**: Accepting clients completely without judgment, regardless of their thoughts, feelings, or behaviors. This creates a safe environment where clients feel valued and respected. 2. **Empathic understanding**: Striving to deeply understand the client's subjective experience from their perspective. This involves active listening and reflecting back the client's feelings and meanings accurately. 3. **Congruence/genuineness**: Being authentic and transparent in the therapeutic relationship, which helps build trust and models honesty. In practice, I implement person-centered therapy by: - Creating a warm, accepting atmosphere where clients feel safe to explore difficult feelings - Using reflective listening techniques to demonstrate understanding - Following the client's lead rather than imposing an agenda - Trusting in the client's natural tendency toward positive growth and self-actualization - Avoiding interpretation, diagnosis, or advice-giving that might undermine the client's autonomy I've found this approach particularly effective for clients who need space to process complex emotions, those who have experienced judgment or conditional acceptance in other relationships, and individuals working through identity issues or life transitions. The non-directive nature of person-centered therapy empowers clients to discover their own solutions and develop greater self-awareness, which often leads to more sustainable change than directive approaches might achieve.