My name is Elizabeth and I am a licensed professional counselor (LPC) in the states of Texas and Arizona. I am also a certified school counselor and transitioned to full-time mental health counseling after working as a high school counselor. I have been working as a counselor for 9 years, primarily in the school setting. I have helped my students with issues such as family problems, academic struggles, relationship issues, trauma/abuse, ADHD, autism, LGBT-issues, depression, anxiety, perfectionism, grief, and suicidal ideation. Before working as a counselor, I was an elementary teacher for 6 years. I have experience working with adults and adolescents. I love seeing my clients understand themselves better and improve their mental health. I feel comfortable counseling people from a variety of backgrounds, especially those whose backgrounds are different than my own. My entire professional career has been spent with a primarily Hispanic population, but I am comfortable with other cultures, as well. I am a big fan of CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and Solutions-focused therapy, but I try to cater my counseling to each client, so I often incorporate different counseling philosophies as needed. I believe my clients are the experts on their own lives and I want to work with them to improve their contentment, coping skills, and mental health. I believe it is important and beneficial to have a nonjudgmental, unbiased person to talk to. This is one of the best parts of counseling. I often use humor to lighten the mood when counseling. I find this helps grow my relationships with my clients. Congratulations on making the first step towards getting help. I would love to work with you.

What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?

My first session is primarily a chance to get to know my client and understand their life and background better. This gives me a context to help them work on their therapy goals. We will talk about how therapy works and what their expectations are of the process. At the end, I like to give some thinking exercises that can help with the issue they are seeking therapy to resolve.

Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.

I am caring and good at remembering lots of random information about people. My clients feel truly known by me. I like to use humor when possible as I think it can often help to lighten the mood a bit. I have also traveled quite a bit, so I feel comfortable with many different types of people. I am good at putting myself in others' shoes.

About Elizabeth Hightower Stanley