Karen Collins is a psychotherapist in private practice in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. She is originally from Ohio and graduated from The Ohio State University. She has worked at inpatient adult and adolescent psychiatric hospitals in Ohio for 8 years along with managing her private therapy practice and teaching at The Ohio State University. Then in 2012, she said good-bye to the cold weather and moved to Jupiter, FL where she began working at the West Palm Beach VA Medical Center for 10 years. Her career at the WPB VA Medical Center offered her the opportunity to work with Veterans in the following capacities over that 10 year period; as a Mental Health Therapist, Program Manager of Post Deployment Clinic and the Care Giver Support Program, Supervisor of Homeless Programs and Supervisor over programs serving Veterans with serious mental health conditions. In addition to working at the WPB VA Medical Center, she worked in private practice in Jupiter, FL. In March of 2022, she left the WPB VA Medical Center in February to focus completely on her private practice which moved with her from Jupiter to Palm Beach Gardens, FL. She has published two books, one on relationships and another on managing depression. She has written a couples interactive co-journal and is also working on publishing other journal series for situation-specific healing journals for life events such as healing post affair, moving forward after the end of a relationship, healing after death of a partner; to name a few. She has published multiple articles on relationships, depression, improving well-being, thriving during and after a serious health issue and reducing acute stress response. She has a YouTube Channel, “Therapy with Karen Collins” where she posts peaceful places, guided meditations, provoking ideas to consider and a segment on managing acute stress response and improving overall well-being to teach how to prevent over-responding to stressors. She has provided therapy virtually for over 11 years (long before it was trending as a popular method) and she is a MDLIVE provider joining that company in the beginning of their virtual platform launch. The past few years have proven that virtual therapy is an effective method of providing therapy removing additional barriers such as drive time, inconvenience, lack of child care, etc. to accessing needed services.
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
In our first session, I will be learning about you and what you want to achieve in our time together. You can share as little or as much as you feel comfortable doing. I understand that it may be difficult to share very person details about yourself to someone that you just met. I like to have a starting point to best understand you that we can build from as we move forward together.
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
I specialize in coaching couples in how to develop healthy relationships, I am trained through Level III in Gottman Method Couples Therapy. For individuals, I specialize in treating depression, anxiety, life adjustments, anger issues, stress, grief and loss, healing from chronic and terminal health conditions, trauma, ADD/ADHD, other mental health conditions and interpersonal relationships.
About Karen Collins
Appointments
Virtual
My treatment methods
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
Therapy should not be long term in most situations. Though my approach is very relaxed, I am purposefully focused on the desired outcome and heading there from the first point of contact. I want you to be enjoying your life more as soon as possible. Most of us have experienced life events that requires healing from rather that be traumas, difficult circumstances, health issues, relationships or other hardships. Creating a healing environment for your mind and body sets you up to be as healthy mentally and physically as possible.
I utilize Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Solution Focused Therapy interventions, hypnotherapy and other alternative healing methods to assist clients in developing the best mental and physical health outcomes possible. I go beyond basic CBT offering an integrated approach that is tailored to your unique needs. Treatment is comprehensive offering lasting results as you will learn techniques that you will be able to apply to future issues and situations. I focus on specific identified issues utilizing your strengths across multiple modalities including behavior, emotions, thoughts, sensations, images, interpersonal relationships and biological processes. In this approach, you do not have to dig into your past and analyze everything that you have ever been through. You will learn how to use your thoughts to bring more peace into your life and heal to improve your overall well-being and life satisfaction. My approach quickly assists you in effectively moving forward away from emotional baggage that may be holding you back so that you will be able to enjoy your life more now.
My Psychotherapist Training
Earned BSSW and MSW from The Ohio State University
Completed 3 Internships in Medical and Psychiatric Settings
Completed 2 years of Supervised Practice after graduation with MSW
Independently Licensed in 3 states (FL, OH, TN)
My length of time practicing as a psychotherapist is 18 years
MindValley Certified Hypnotherapist and Certified Life Coach
Trained with world renowned Paul McKenna for 5 Months
Gottman method
My Gottman Method Couples Therapy Training-Completion of all three levels of training available totaling 51 hours of training in addition to being independently licensed to practice as a psychotherapist:
Level I-11 hours
Level II-An additional 20 hours
level III-Another 20 hours of training all by John and Julie Gottman, PhD
In addition-I am Certified as a 7 Principles For Making Marriage Work Leader (Additional 8 hours of training)
My Relationship Philosophy
I believe that relationships begin and end when they are supposed to. It is likely that none of us get into a committed relationship hoping that it will not last, but the reality is that it may not last forever. If you trust that people come and go in your life as they are supposed to, you are better able to focus on the growth from the relationship experience and leave one another even better than you found each other. If a partner decides to move forward without you, it simply means that he or she has figured out before you did that it is not a lifetime fit, love and care can and should still guide you through the transition forward. As you gain relationship experience, you may look back and think differently about a relationship, maybe even see “red flags” that you didn’t recognize, missed or ignored during that time. But that’s okay, it is all part of your beautiful story. Try not to judge yourself for past partner choices that you can now see in a different light and may no longer choose as a partner. Each relationship you are in has a purpose for you, it is up to you to find that purpose for yourself and grow from it. If you are married, having the mentality that you are in this together, no matter what you are going through, it is about how you as a couple are going to navigate it, nobody is thinking about leaving, having one another’s back and working as a team no matter how difficult life gets. Your relationship is your love story, you can establish the dynamic that you want and write your love story exactly how you want it to be.
