My name is Noe Rios and I’m a Licensed Professional Counselor in Texas. I received my Masters in Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling with a focus on mental health, and have been practicing 9 years with combined experience in mental health and substance use problems. My therapeutic style is direct and pragmatic, a blend of CBT and solution-focused work – it emphasizes building insight into how life circumstances may be contributing to the way that you’re feeling, taking a practical approach to solving problems, and exploring alternate perspectives that may be more helpful. I’m also a Christian and believe that faith can play a significant role in healing and moving forward, but I leave this to the discretion of the client.
In our first session together, here's what you can expect
The first few sessions we discuss the problem that led you to seek counseling and begin goal setting. You share what you’re comfortable sharing. The aim is to get to know you as a whole person so that I can better understand where you are mentally, emotionally, socially, and how you’re functioning at present. This also helps to identify strengths, needs, and barriers to being where you want to be.
The biggest strengths that I bring into our sessions
I believe in you. I chose to enter the mental health field after seeing how loss affected my loved ones. I have also walked some rocky paths, and I know what it’s like to feel stuck. This helps me relate to people on a human level, without judgment and not just as a professional. I’m down to earth, and my goal is that you feel heard and understood.
The clients I'm best positioned to serve
I work with adults who are tired of feeling stuck and want to do something about it – they are open to change and moving forward in life. My clients are willing to engage in self-exploration, open to finding solutions, and they understand that sometimes a therapist’s duty is to bring something to their awareness that may cause discomfort. My areas of focus are depression, anxiety, and workplace/life adjustments. I also have experience working with substance abuse problems, and both victims and perpetrators of intimate partner violence.
Person-centered (Rogerian)
Sometimes just talking about what you're feeling or what's happening helps clarify things and bring solutions to light. After all, you're the expert on you! In this approach I'm here to listen more than anything, and sometimes ask a few questions that might help you clarify and bring forth what you might already know.
Supportive
Your feelings are valid, and I'm not here to dispute that but rather to remind you that it's okay to feel what you feel. Supportive Therapy is about listening, putting myself in your shoes and encouraging you. Based on your situation it can also involve some education, targeted problem-solving and exploring alternative ways of considering an experience or belief.
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
CBT is somewhat aligned with Supportive Therapy but can be a little more structured. The basic premise of CBT is that the was we think impacts the way we feel, and if this is negative it can translate into living a life that is less than fulfilling. I use CBT to help a client gain awareness of automatic thoughts that can lead to negative emotion and the resulting core beliefs that often lead to self-sabotage. Together we explore if there are negative thought patterns that have been working against you, consider other ways of thinking that can lead to other ways of feeling, and sometimes practice how to do things. There can also be homework, but don't worry, it's not for a grade!
Solution Focused Brief Treatment
Just like it says, we focus on the problem and finding solutions in the present. We don’t focus so much on past causes, but more instead on current circumstances and where you want to get.
Cognitive Processing (CPT)
CPT is geared more toward trauma/PTSD or some other major negative experience. I use CPT to provide some education and, similar to CBT, we explore the resulting thoughts and emotions that develop and sometimes maintain symptoms that negatively impact you. You might share or write the how you currently understand the reason for why the event occurred and the impact it has had on beliefs about yourself, others or the world. I then support you in processing the trauma and support you in reaching a place where you can break the pattern of avoiding thoughts and feelings associated with it. We explore the unhelpful thoughts related to the trauma and start working on building the skills to identify and address unhelpful thinking, and you continue practicing how to evaluate and modify the negative beliefs that arose from the trauma.