Find a therapist in Texas — covered by insurance

If you want positive results in your life and finally want someone to walk you through the emotions you’re experiencing, i’m your person.

My superpower is helping you find yours. My experience & training enables me to show you strengths you never knew existed within you. I specialize in helping you manage your anxiety and break through negative barriers that prevent you from reaching your goals.

I am a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with extensive experience supporting adolescents, adults, and older adults through life’s most challenging transitions. My background spans mental health therapy, crisis intervention, trauma recovery, child welfare, and geriatric care, which allows me to work with clients from a holistic, compassionate, and well-rounded perspective.

I use a strength-based, trauma-informed, and person-centered approach, meeting each client where they are and honoring their unique experiences. My clinical work integrates evidence-based modalities such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), DBT-informed skills, Motivational Interviewing, Solution-Focused Therapy, and mindfulness-based practices. I work collaboratively with clients to set meaningful goals, build coping skills, and create sustainable change.

I have experience helping clients navigate anxiety, depression, trauma, grief, stress, emotional regulation, self-esteem, relationship challenges, and major life transitions. I also bring a strong background in crisis support and safety planning, ensuring clients feel supported, grounded, and safe throughout the therapeutic process.

Above all, I strive to provide a warm, non-judgmental, and culturally responsive space where clients feel heard, respected, and empowered. Therapy with me is collaborative and paced to your needs, with a focus on helping you reconnect with your strengths and move forward with greater clarity and confidence.

I came to counseling after having already completed a successful career and was looking for something different. I completed graduate school in Texas and have since become licensed in both Texas and Colorado. The majority of my work is in general counseling and I also work with couples and families. I have worked for University of Texas schools as well as for the University of Alabama. While working in the UT system schools I helped with veterans issues and transition to civilian life. During Covid I provided counseling for military families and first responders.

I am a Licensed Professional Counselor who has been in practice for over 18 years providing compassionate, unbiased care to individuals of all ages. I love being a counselor and truly enjoy helping others. Whatever your concerns may be, I am here to help.

I believe that healing is not a one size fits all process. Every person arrives with a unique story, a distinct set of strengths, and their own way of making meaning in the world. I honor that individuality as I provide a therapeutic space where clients feel seen, supported, and empowered to grow at a pace that feels authentic to them. I believe in helping people and not fixing them because people aren't broken.

My philosophy begins inside the heart of my clients. As a former elementary teacher, I learned the valuable lesson that my clients will never care what I know or had to teach them until they knew I cared about them. This lesson is applicable in so many instances, and especially when I counsel. I enjoy getting to know every client on a personal level. I want to know them as a person, and especially what they enjoy most. That is one reason why I am passionate about Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. This technique incorporates what clients are interesting in learning about themselves, which is often to engage and discover their true potential, and in doing so, they are more at ease to have meaningful conversations.

I am a Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor practicing in Texas (67510). I earned a Doctor of Psychology (PsyD) from Walden University in 2024 and a Master of Arts in Counseling from St. Edward's University in Austin, TX in 2009. I have 15 years of experience as a substance abuse and child psychotherapist. I am also a Clinical Certified Sand Tray Therapist.

My internship was with the Hays Caldwell Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse's Intensive Outpatient Program for clients who were court mandated to receive treatment.

My dissertation was titled "Designing Organizational Systems to Support Achievement of Performance Goals in Student Mental Health"

Throughout life's journey, all of us face difficult challenges as well as times of reflection and growth. I have a passion for helping others through difficult times and love working with clients helping to facilitate insight and healing in their personal journey. In 2017, I opened Ponderado M Counseling Services, LLC on a ranch in La Grange, Texas. The counseling office is nestled around animals and the outdoors as they are used to create a unique therapeutic environment and opportunity for the client outside the traditional office setting.

I'm a therapist, a mom, and someone who genuinely loves the community I live in. Outside of my practice, you'll find me at local events, volunteering, and spending time with my family. That grounding shapes how I show up in session: warm, real, and without judgment. I work with people navigating anxiety, ADHD, OCD, bipolar disorder, depression, trauma, grief, anger, stress, questions of identity, and relationship struggles. Whatever you bring in, my goal is for you to feel heard and taken seriously.