Rachel Larson (MA, LMFT, CNEP)
You’re here because you need help.
However, finding help can be very overwhelming. How do you know if you’ve found the “right” therapist? You want someone who gets it, is authentic, and has the expertise to help guide you toward your goals.
It would help if you had a therapist who is not too buttoned-up and who isn’t going to nod along or, worse, tell you what you should do without understanding the particularities of your situation.
You want someone who will help you understand why you think, feel, and act the way you do so you can make the right choices and create a sense of empowerment in your life and relationships.
So, what do you get with me?
First, I am human. I’ve likely experienced similar things for which you need help. After all, we’re all more alike than we are different. I’ve been married and divorced and am a mom of two teens.
I’ve experienced trauma, had challenging family relationships and friendships, grieved losses of essential people in my life, experienced infidelity, and lost my faith (and found it again in a whole different way). Over my 41 years, I’ve changed and grown a lot, and I expect to continue to grow through the rest of my life. Growth doesn’t come without pain and discomfort. I’m familiar with both.
As a therapist, I value authenticity and the relationship built between my clients and me. I am honest, sometimes irreverent, and willing to share parts of myself that might be useful to my clients. I am warm, engaged, and nonjudgmental.
Intuition and insight guide our sessions.
I believe my purpose is to be fully alive and deeply human (to borrow a subtitle from David Benner’s book, Soulful Spirituality). That means embracing who I uniquely am as I bring all of myself to my sessions while trusting the flow of help and healing from my relationship with my clients.
Sometimes, this means a random song lyric or on-the-fly analogy. At other times, it’s connecting what you just said to something else you said a few sessions back – leading to an aha moment.
About Me
Personal problem-solving is my vocation.
I’m licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist, which is a fancy way of saying that I see people and their problems within a larger context – their family, culture, and relationships – everything is interconnected and influences others.
My approach is eclectic, drawing mainly from Experiential and Emotionally Focused Therapy.
As a Certified Narrative Enneagram Practitioner, I often integrate the Enneagram into individual and couple sessions. I’m trained in EMDR to help clients who would like to heal from past trauma.
I’m also trained in Discernment Counseling to help couples decide whether they want to do the work to try to repair their relationship or if it’s time to part ways.
My life outside of therapy is multifaceted.
When not working, I spend time with my family and friends, reading fiction, snuggling with my dogs, walking in the woods, trying a new art-related project, gardening, or sailing around the lake.