Welcome! I'm Heidi and a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in Georgia. With over 10 years of counseling experience, I am excited for the opportunity to meet with you! My approach to counseling is centered on creating an empowering and validating space for my clients, then working together to help them meet their goals. Counseling is definitely a journey and I'm with you every step of the way. I specialize in areas like Anxiety, OCD, and Trauma, but truly just enjoy helping people live their most fulfilling lives. I blend elements from different counseling practices, such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Humanistic Therapy, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to find the best approach for each client. In addition to traditional talk therapies, I provide EMDR services for Trauma and Exposure & Response Prevention for OCD.
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
One of my top priorities in our first session is to make sure you feel understood and validated. It's a space and opportunity for us to connect, while exploring the factors that are bringing you into counseling. We'll review any assessments you took prior to that session and discuss what aspects of the assessments feel more or less relevant to you. Towards the end of the first session, we'll look at what your goals are for counseling and discuss how I can help you meet them.
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
I always prioritize the connection between counselor and client because I know this therapeutic alliance is so important for a successful counseling experience. I really enjoy building trust and rapport with clients, then empowering and challenging them to make important changes in their lives. I'm also seasoned in multiple counseling approaches which helps customize therapy to meet each client's needs.
Describe the client(s) you are best positioned to serve.
My expertise is working with adults, young adults, and college students. Most clients start therapy with an idea that they're struggling, but they may not understand why. We'll work together to better understand what you're experiencing that's causing distress, then create a plan to help you feel better and live a more fulfilling life.
About Heidi O'Connor
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VirtualMy treatment methods
Acceptance and commitment (ACT)
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy is a very empowering approach that focuses on things like values, acceptance, and mindfulness. The emphasis isn't on something being "wrong" with you, but on helping you feel your best by acting in ways that align with your values. An example of this would be someone who highly values adventure and experiencing new things, but their life has become very mundane. One of this person's targets for therapy would be identifying ways to experience more adventure. We would work together on creating change through other strategies like goal-setting, mindfulness, and acceptance. This approach to therapy is great for increasing life fulfillment.
EMDR
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is a remarkable therapeutic intervention that I primarily use in cases of trauma. When we experience trauma, it can overwhelm our brain's natural ability to heal. These memories become stuck and can overwhelm us over and over again. The goal with EMDR is to help make connections between the areas of our brains housing these stuck memories and the areas that house helpful experiences and wisdom, which gives our brains the space and opportunity to heal.
Exposure Response Prevention (ERP)
Exposure Response Prevention (ERP) is primarily utilized in the treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and other types of Anxiety. This approach focuses on breaking the anxiety cycle by "preventing the response". A common response to an uncomfortable feeling or thought is avoidance. We may try and distract ourselves, procrastinate tasks, etc. Another common response is called rumination and this is where we get stuck in a thinking spiral, usually with a lot of "what ifs". You may even see checking behaviors to get away from an uncomfortable thought such as getting lost in Google search after Google search with no real answer in sight. ERP seeks to increase a person's tolerance of uncertainty and those pesky "what ifs" that really feed OCD and anxiety.
Humanistic
My focus is always on utilizing the therapeutic intervention that best suits my clients and their needs. There are a number of therapeutic interventions that I enjoy incorporating into therapy, however, I believe that humanistic therapy is a key baseline for a successful therapeutic relationship. In this approach, the counselor holds unconditional positive regard for the client while we're focusing on highlighting their strengths and promoting self acceptance.