As mental health providers, our goal is to establish an affirming, accessible, and healing environment that is as safe as possible. We are committed to serving individuals from all backgrounds, identities, orientations, ethnicities, abilities, and experiences with the dignity and care everyone deserves.

My name is Amy. I am the owner of Be Balanced Counseling. I am a licensed therapist specializing in adult individual therapy as well as adult DBT skills group therapy.  I would like to help you find balance in your life by working with you to identify your innate strengths as well as potential barriers that may be keeping you stuck. These may be thoughts, feelings, or past memories and/or experiences. I hold a B.A. degree in Business from Michigan State University and master's degree in social work (MSW) from Arizona State University. Before becoming a therapist, I spent several years in the corporate world working in semiconductors and volunteering for non-profit organizations. After my time in a corporate setting, I spent several years as a stay-at-home mom raising children and then returned to graduate school to pursue my passion in mental health.

I have specialized training in EMDR therapy (a specialized trauma therapy used to heal PTSD, C-PTSD, Single
Incident Trauma, and many other trauma related symptoms) as well as IFS (Internal Family Systems Therapy) and DBT (Dialectical Behavior Therapy) for treatment of disorders relating to emotional dysregulation and difficulty with interpersonal skills. Additional modalities and therapies I use include CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy), Solution-Focused therapy, Attachment based therapies, Mindfulness, and Somatic therapies.  I integrate these therapy modalities and techniques to assist you on your path to finding balance whether that be dealing with anxiety, depression, trauma, life stressors, or any of number of challenges we each face. 

I value continuous learning; therefore, I attend advanced trainings, seek professional consultation, and participate in peer consultation so I have up to date skills and knowledge to help you reach your treatment goals.  Additionally, I offer a down to earth and authentic therapy style which allows clients to develop trust and rapport with me, a key component to successful therapy. You are important and deserve to live your life in a way that is right for you and is in line with your values. I hope that my diverse life experiences, authentic style, and clinical expertise can help you.

I also am an approved clinical supervisor by the Arizona Board of Behavioral Health (AZBBHE), which allows me to provide clinical oversight, mentoring, and coaching to associate level clinicians during the residency years. I am fully licensed in Arizona and I have a tele-health license in South Carolina.

Jennifer Watson

M.S., M.Ed., LPC, NCC, P-SEP

Therapist

I am probably a lot more like you than you might think. I wanted to make changes and found the courage to ask for help. So I understand. I understand how hard it is to reach out, share your pain with a stranger, and do the work to be who you want to be. That’s why I do this work now.

I’ve always worked in the helping professions, and for more than 20 years, I’ve taught students from ages 13 to 80 how to think critically, write expressively, and speak confidently. That’s a fun and satisfying job, but about halfway through those two decades, I recognized that I was spending most of my time teaching anxiety management. Students, I realized, were struggling less with commas, citations, or critical thinking and more with stress, anxiety, and even the effects of traumatic experiences. They were struggling to succeed in school because they were struggling to succeed in life. As a teacher, I was limited in what I could help with outside the classroom. So I changed my scope of practice.

Now, as a licensed professional counselor, I teach adults (ages 18+) that they already have the capacity to heal themselves—we are all born with it. We just need to learn how or remember how. We can lose the ability to heal ourselves because of traumatic or overwhelming experiences, depression, anxiety, perpetual stress, having a neuro-divergent brain or just life in all its complexities. We forget that we have a nervous system designed not just for survival but also for thriving, for succeeding, for loving. And, as I help you to make space for all those things that may have distanced you from your natural capacity for thriving, I help you reconnect to yourself and your power to heal. My approach is based in Somatic Experiencing, draws on my EMDR training, and combines elements of DBT and CBT to give you not just the skills to succeed in life but the healing to succeed on your own terms.

Just as I once taught students to express themselves, I now teach therapy clients to heal themselves. My overarching goal for all my clients is to fire me. Not because I’m not good at my job—I am good at it and working to improve my skills every day. I want my clients to fire me because they don’t need me anymore.. Because they’ve not only healed themselves, they have gained the confidence to use the skills learned or remembered during their time in therapy.

And I’ve done that too. I’ve found the courage to ask for help, heal myself, and change my life. I am probably a lot more like you than you think.

If you’d like to hear more about how we might work together to reach your goals, please reach out to schedule a free, 15 minute phone consultation.