Francia Pierre
I’m a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and EMDRIA Certified Therapist™ who provides thoughtful, trauma-informed therapy for adults navigating anxiety, trauma, grief, burnout, life transitions, and the emotional weight of being responsible for too much for too long. I founded Pipit Mental Health to create the kind of therapeutic space I believe people deserve: calm, collaborative, and grounded. My approach is steady and direct while remaining compassionate and respectful of your pace. Together, we work to understand the patterns, experiences, and emotional responses that may be keeping you feeling stuck or overwhelmed. I integrate eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy with attachment-based, cognitive behavioral, mindfulness-based, strengths-based, and parts-informed approaches. I believe therapy should be both reflective and practical, helping you gain insight while developing tools that support meaningful change in everyday life. My goal is not to "fix" you. It is to help you better understand yourself, feel more grounded in your choices, and develop a stronger sense of trust in yourself as you navigate what comes next.
First session
Your first session is an opportunity to slow down and begin making sense of what brought you to therapy. You do not need to have the right words or a perfectly organized story. We will talk about what you are experiencing, what has been happening in your life, what you would like to be different, and any relevant history that can help me understand the bigger picture. I will also explain how I work and answer questions you may have about therapy, including trauma-focused approaches such as EMDR when appropriate. Together, we will begin identifying the concerns and patterns that may be contributing to how you are feeling and discuss what you would like our work to focus on. For some clients, the first session may also include beginning to identify tools for grounding, emotional regulation, or managing current stress. You should leave with a clearer understanding of what therapy with me can look like and a preliminary direction for our work together. You do not have to tell me everything in the first session. We will move at a pace that supports emotional safety and makes sense for you.
Strengths
One of the strengths I bring to therapy is steadiness. I work to create an environment where clients can slow down, feel respected, and explore difficult experiences without feeling rushed or judged. I also bring a trauma-informed perspective that helps me look beyond the immediate symptom and consider the patterns, experiences, relationships, and nervous system responses that may be contributing to it. As an EMDRIA Certified Therapist™, I have specialized training in trauma treatment and understand the importance of pacing, emotional safety, and readiness when doing deeper work. My style is collaborative and supportive, but I’m also comfortable being direct when it is helpful. I won’t simply tell you what you want to hear. I’ll help you thoughtfully examine patterns, consider different perspectives, and identify what may need to change. I also believe therapy should translate into real life. Alongside deeper processing and insight, I incorporate practical tools and strategies that can help you navigate stress, relationships, emotions, and transitions outside of the therapy room. Most importantly, I see you as the expert on your own life. My role is to help you better understand yourself, build self-trust, and move toward changes that feel meaningful and sustainable.
Ideal clients
My ideal client is an adult, particularly a woman, who has spent a lot of time being capable, responsible, and dependable for others. She may look like she is managing well from the outside while privately feeling anxious, overwhelmed, emotionally exhausted, disconnected, or unsure of what she needs. Many of the clients I work with are navigating trauma, anxiety, chronic stress, burnout, grief, relationship or attachment patterns, or a significant life transition. They may have learned to cope by staying busy, pushing through, taking care of others, or putting their own needs last. Eventually, those strategies may stop feeling sustainable. You do not need to arrive with everything figured out. You may simply know that something needs to change. I work especially well with clients who are curious about themselves, willing to reflect on patterns, and interested in making meaningful changes rather than simply managing symptoms. We may explore how past experiences influence present-day reactions, relationships, beliefs, and nervous system responses while also developing practical ways to feel more grounded in daily life. My goal is to help you move from simply getting through life to having more awareness, choice, self-trust, and a way of living that feels sustainable.
Origin story
I became a therapist because I’ve always been drawn to understanding people: their stories, relationships, experiences, and the ways they learn to cope with what life asks of them. Over time, I became especially interested in the experiences that shape how we relate to ourselves and others. I’ve seen how people can become highly capable, dependable, and accustomed to taking care of everyone around them while quietly carrying stress, grief, anxiety, or unresolved experiences of their own. That understanding is a big part of what drew me to trauma-focused therapy. I believe many of the patterns people struggle with today make sense when we understand where they came from. Therapy can create an opportunity to slow down, develop that understanding, and begin responding to life from a place of greater awareness and choice. I’m particularly passionate about helping adults who are used to holding everything together create space for themselves without shame or judgment. I want therapy to feel like a place where you can take off the “I’m fine” role, be honest about what is happening beneath the surface, and begin creating changes that are actually sustainable.
Ongoing work together
Our ongoing work will be collaborative and tailored to your goals, history, and readiness. We may spend time building emotional regulation and grounding skills, understanding patterns and triggers, exploring relationships and attachment, processing unresolved experiences, or developing new ways of responding to stress. When trauma processing is appropriate, EMDR may be incorporated into treatment. We will not move into deeper processing simply because it is available; pacing and readiness matter. As therapy progresses, we will regularly check in about what is changing and whether our work continues to match your goals. Progress may look different for each person. You might notice that situations that once felt overwhelming become more manageable, that you recover more quickly after stress, or that you have greater awareness of your emotions and needs. You may also begin responding differently in relationships, setting boundaries with greater confidence, trusting yourself more, or recognizing old patterns without automatically repeating them. Progress is not about never feeling anxious, sad, triggered, or overwhelmed again. It is about having more understanding, flexibility, choice, and confidence in how you respond when difficult things arise.
Treatment methods
EMDR
I use eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy as part of an individualized, trauma-informed treatment approach for clients who have experienced distressing or overwhelming experiences that continue to affect how they feel, think, relate, or respond to stress. EMDR is not something I rush into. We first spend time understanding your concerns, establishing treatment goals, and building the emotional regulation and grounding skills needed to support the work. When appropriate, we then use EMDR to help the brain reprocess experiences that may feel unresolved or continue to trigger strong emotional or physical responses. Throughout the process, I pay close attention to pacing and readiness. My goal is not simply to revisit difficult experiences, but to help reduce their emotional intensity and support a greater sense of perspective, safety, and choice in the present. I also integrate EMDR with other approaches, including attachment-based, cognitive behavioral, mindfulness-based, strengths-based, and parts-informed interventions when they support your goals. The treatment is collaborative. We work together to determine what is appropriate for you rather than following a one-size-fits-all protocol.
Location
Virtual sessions
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Licensed in
- FloridaLicense SW20663