I am cisgender, female assigned at birth. I was born in Houston and raised in San Marcos, TX. I am from a Southern, poor and working class family of Ashkenazi Jews. My orientation to counseling is informed by paradigms of change and healing that I have been immersed in for many years, including Vipassana meditation in the tradition of S.N. Goenka and Sayagyi U Ba Khin, mutual accompaniment, yoga, mind-matter-body connection and the somatic phenomenon of trauma, DBT, ancestral and intergenerational legacies, Mexican Indigenous and African Indigenous spiritualities, social psychoanalysis and liberation arts. My counseling work is also deeply informed by all of my clients over the years who have taught me through their suffering and healing, what works, what doesn't and how I may best accompany my clients. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​  

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

In our first session, we will illuminate a landscape together that includes the beginning of our path forward. This session is for sharing and inquiry, and for building a rhythm of dialogue. It is also a great time to release held-on-to emotions and thoughts, as you feel safe to do so.

What treatment methods and tools do you utilize?

I listen deeply and follow my intuition, while you are the expert. I don't give advice, though believe it is my responsibility to ask generative questions that help you reflect and sense movement. I don't follow modalities of "treatment" because I don't believe you are sick and in need "treatment"/fixing. I've worked in counseling for a long time, so the "tools" I utilize come from listening into and being present in the session. I am trained in modalities that I believe are highly useful and they certainly come into sessions with me, however I do not follow any script or predetermined assumptions about you or what "should" happen.

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

My biggest strength is my trust and ease that allows me to be deeply present and connected to clients. This means I am responsive to what is happening in each moment. I think in links and patterns, which has proven very helpful for clients in my work. This allows me to understand relational dynamics quickly and identify trauma responses, which helps clients change relationships and create a path forward in healing from trauma. The depth and breadth of my work and academic careers make me very diverse and complex. What I offer and who I am in sessions initiates deep change, I am not a surface-level or small-talk therapist.

About Kristina Yarbrough