Robbie Haggard
I’ve been a therapist for nearly 20 years, and my style is conversational, engaged, and direct. I won’t just sit quietly and nod—I’ll ask questions, share what I’m noticing, and help you consider perspectives you may not have thought about before. I work primarily with adults dealing with anxiety, relationship and interpersonal difficulties, self-esteem and identity concerns, and major life or career transitions. I’m especially well suited for people who are thoughtful and self-aware but still find themselves repeating patterns like people-pleasing, difficulty setting boundaries, fear of rejection, conflict avoidance, overthinking, or taking responsibility for other people’s feelings. I also have extensive experience working with LGBTQ+ adults.
I’m a Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor (LPC-S) and former ER nurse with a holistic, client-centered approach to therapy.
I’m a good fit if you want to understand not only what’s happening in your life, but why certain patterns keep happening. We’ll look at your relationships and circumstances while also being curious about your own assumptions, reactions, and choices—and what you actually have the power to change. My approach is integrative, insight-oriented, and practical, drawing from cognitive-behavioral, dialectical-behavioral, relational, and other evidence-based approaches. I tailor therapy to the person rather than trying to fit everyone into the same model. If this sounds like the kind of therapy you’re looking for, bring what’s happening in your life right now and we’ll start there. Together, we’ll make sense of what’s going on, identify what you want to change, and begin figuring out how to get there.
First session
You don’t need to walk into your first session knowing what you’re supposed to say. You can start with “I’m not really sure where to begin,” and we’ll begin there. It’s my job to ask the questions that help us understand what brought you in and what might be useful for us to work on together. I’ll want to learn about what’s happening in your life now and enough of your history to put it into context, but the first session won’t just be an interview. We’ll start doing therapy. I’ll ask questions, offer observations, and begin making connections when I notice them. If something stands out to me, I’ll talk with you about it. My goal is for you to leave that first session with something useful—not simply the feeling that you spent an hour telling a stranger your life story. You should have a clearer sense of what I heard, what may be contributing to what you’re experiencing, and where we might begin working on it. Sometimes you may even leave with a different way of thinking about the problem or something specific to notice, try, or practice before we meet again. After that, sessions usually begin with what has happened since we last met and what feels important to talk about that day. We’ll build on what we’ve already learned without forcing every session into a predetermined agenda. Over time, we’ll connect what’s happening now to larger patterns, practice new ways of responding, and adjust our focus as your needs and goals change. Starting therapy doesn’t require having the right words, knowing exactly what you need, or being certain that therapy will help. Bring whatever is happening in your life right now, and we’ll start there. By the end of that first conversation, we should both have a better sense of what you need and whether working together feels like the right next step.
Strengths
You may start therapy knowing that something isn’t working but not yet understand why. As we talk, you may begin noticing connections you hadn’t seen before—a familiar reaction, an assumption you make automatically, or a relationship pattern that keeps showing up in different forms. My job is to help you slow those moments down, connect the dots, and understand what they mean for you. In sessions, I use guided questions, cognitive reframing, perspective-taking, pattern mapping, and role-play. We might challenge all-or-nothing thinking, rehearse a difficult conversation, find language for a boundary, or identify something specific to practice between sessions. I also use analogies and real-life examples to make complicated ideas easier to understand and remember. I’m direct, but never for the sake of being confrontational. If I notice a contradiction, a recurring pattern, or a place where you have more choices than you realize, I’ll bring it into the conversation with curiosity and respect. Therapy works best when the fit works for both of us. If you’re looking for an engaged therapist who will listen closely, think with you, offer honest feedback, and help you turn insight into meaningful change, I’d be glad to meet you and see if we work well together.
Ideal clients
I work best with individual adults—particularly LGBTQ+ adults—who are generally functioning in their lives but find themselves struggling with anxiety, relationships, boundaries, self-esteem, or recurring interpersonal patterns. You may be successful, responsible, and insightful, yet still overthink interactions, second-guess yourself, become anxious when relationships feel uncertain, or find yourself repeating patterns you thought you understood. I particularly enjoy working with clients who are psychologically curious. You want to know not only how to feel better, but why you react the way you do. You may struggle with people-pleasing, conflict avoidance, reassurance-seeking, difficulty expressing your needs, emotional reactivity, or taking too much responsibility for other people. You may even recognize these patterns already but need help understanding what keeps them going and how to respond differently. I’m also a good fit for adults navigating depression, identity and belonging, family-of-origin issues, relationship changes, and significant life or career transitions. My approach works especially well if you want a therapist who will actively engage with you, remember the details, offer another perspective, and respectfully point something out when I think it matters. You don’t have to come to therapy with a perfectly defined goal. Bring the thing you keep thinking about, the relationship that keeps frustrating you, or the reaction you don’t quite understand. We’ll start there, figure out what’s underneath it, and decide together what would be useful to change.
Treatment methods
Interpersonal
I use interpersonal therapy to help you understand the patterns that develop in your relationships and how those patterns affect the way you feel, think, and respond. Rather than using formal IPT as a structured protocol, I integrate an interpersonal perspective throughout our work. Sessions usually begin with what has happened since we last met and what feels important for you to talk about that day. Often, a recent conversation, conflict, or emotional reaction gives us a natural place to start. We can slow the interaction down and look at what happened, what you assumed it meant, what you needed or feared in the moment, how you responded, and how that response influenced what happened next. Over time, those individual situations often reveal larger patterns in how you communicate, handle conflict, set boundaries, seek reassurance, withdraw, or take responsibility for other people’s emotions. From there, we focus on what you can actually influence and develop more intentional ways of responding in your relationships.
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
CBT is based on a simple idea: how we think about what happens can have a powerful effect on how we feel and what we do next. I use CBT as part of our conversation rather than relying heavily on worksheets or following a rigid formula. Sessions usually begin with what has happened since we last met and what feels important to talk about that day. As we unpack a situation, I may help you slow down and notice the story your mind quickly told you about it. What do you actually know? What are you assuming or predicting? Is there another explanation that fits the facts just as well? The goal isn’t to convince yourself that everything is fine or replace negative thoughts with positive ones. It’s to become better at recognizing when fear, anxiety, or past experiences may be shaping the way you see something, so you can think about it more accurately and decide how you want to respond.
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
I use IFS-informed work to help you understand the different parts of yourself that can become activated in difficult situations. Rather than saying, “This is just who I am,” we may identify a frightened part, an angry or protective part, a part that wants reassurance, or a part that wants to shut down and avoid being hurt. In session, we’ll get curious about what that part is reacting to and what it is trying to accomplish. Often, reactions that seem irrational or frustrating make more sense when we recognize that they developed as ways of protecting you. We can acknowledge what that part is feeling without allowing it to make every decision. I use this alongside cognitive and interpersonal work to help you step back from an automatic reaction and access a more grounded adult perspective. The goal isn’t to eliminate parts of yourself—it’s to understand them, let them have a voice without giving them complete control, and strengthen your ability to decide how you want to respond.
Dialectical Behavior (DBT)
DBT is designed to help you manage intense emotions, tolerate distress, navigate relationships more effectively, and respond to difficult situations without automatically acting on what you feel in the moment. I integrate DBT principles and skills into individual therapy rather than providing a formal, comprehensive DBT program. In session, we may slow down a situation and look at what happened, what you felt, what you wanted to do, and what you actually did. Depending on what you need, we might use **STOP** to create space before reacting, **Check the Facts** to determine whether the intensity of an emotion fits what is actually happening, or **Opposite Action** when an emotional urge is pulling you toward behavior that may make things worse. I also use mindfulness and distress-tolerance skills to help you experience difficult emotions without immediately reacting to them. For relationship difficulties, we may use interpersonal-effectiveness skills such as **DEAR MAN** to help you ask for what you need, say no, or set a boundary clearly. **Radical Acceptance** can be useful when the challenge is accepting a reality or another person’s choice that isn’t within your control. DBT-informed work can be especially useful if you struggle with emotional reactivity, impulsive responses, recurring relationship conflict, or difficulty tolerating uncertainty or distress. My practice is not a comprehensive DBT program with skills groups, between-session coaching, and a DBT consultation team, so clients who need that level of structured DBT treatment may be better served by a dedicated program. One of the DBT principles I value most is that two things can be true at the same time: your feelings can make complete sense, and you may still need to respond differently. Our work is figuring out when you need acceptance, when you need change, and how to put those skills into practice in your actual life. If you recognize yourself in some of these patterns and want practical tools for responding differently, we can start with what’s happening in your life right now and build from there.
Location
Virtual sessions
Identifies as
Top specialties
Other specialties
Doesn't specialize in
Licensed in
- TexasLicense 63601