Hi! My Name is Bethany Wade. I am a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist who enjoys working with clients who are in a place to grow and learn more on how they can improve their mental health, their relationships, and life choices. I want to support you in the goals you bring to therapy, and hope to have a collaborative working relationship. Starting therapy, particularly after an experience where you may have felt hurt, misunderstood, can be overwhelming. Especially, if trust has been broken or opening up to people can be difficult for you. Whether you are coming in with depression, grief, anxiety, relationship or family struggles, I believe therapy is the right place to start exploring solutions to achieve clarity and healing in your life.
Areas of Expertise:
I specialize working with individuals and families who have attachment wounds, anxiety, mood disorders, such as depression and bipolar disorder, grief, and life transitions. I have experience working with women through attachment issues, postpartum mental health, and navigating a number of other challenges we experience in life. I am also a LGBTQ ally, who has experience and supports individuals who identify within this community and are looking for help with life struggles and mental health needs. I have 5+ years of experience working in residential settings, as well as private practice providing individual and group therapy.
What is your main goal working with a client:
Since I have been a client myself, I believe it is important to first establish a trusting, positive relationship and rapport with my clients. What each person brings into therapy is valuable information, and everyone deserves to feel safe, be heard, and be seen. My hope to build a trusting relationship with my client, so that can be the foundation to get the goals met in therapy. Your time in therapy is valuable, and the changes you want to have made in your life are important. I hope to empower and encourage you to make whatever changes and work through challenges you may be dealing with in your life. Whether you are dealing with mental illness, a trauma survivor, or wishing to better your relationship with someone in your life, working together as a team would be my biggest goal as your therapist.
What is your approach and what methods do you employ?
I use empirically supported approaches such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Interpersonal theories. I believe the majority of our struggles begin and end with attachment. Meaning, our earliest attachments inform how we view the world and how we respond to it. As we get older we may have behaviors and ways of thinking that don’t serve us anymore, and we need to learn ways to heal those attachment traumas that may be influencing our depression, anxiety, substance misuse etc. I am also DBT informed, and may utilize the coping skills in therapy if it would benefit my client.
What age groups do you often work with?
I have experience working with children, teens, adults, couples, and families. I find that I most often work with women, teens, and young adults in my practice.
Are you passive or active in session, what can a client typically expect sessions to be like while working with you?
My hope is to create a safe environment for my clients to speak freely and be themselves. I tend to think I am active and direct in therapy, without telling people how to live their lives. In starting therapy, you will most likely experience myself gathering information you are willing to give me in hopes to set a good foundation for our work together. If a client wants direct feedback, I am happy to provide that if I see that it is therapeutic and meets the goals the client has for therapy. I strive to go at your pace, and I believe it is beneficial to provide tools, education, and challenging feedback in sessions.
It is common in therapy to receive validation and empathy for events in their lives and life experiences. Through processing these emotions it can help to build insight for my clients to live authentic lives, and be their true selves. In my experience, clients who have the courage to process their emotions to build insight, receive feedback for change, and are willing to look at different perspectives get the most out of their work in therapy.
What is your background and what are your credentials?
I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (License # MT 4564). Through my graduate program I received my master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy, as well as a certificate in sex therapy. I have received training in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Level 2 in Gottman Method for couples, and informed in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy.
What was the reason you decided to get into counseling?
Over the years, I knew I wanted to use my relational and interpersonal skills in my career and help others. While going through my own therapy, I realized through mentors and guidance from my therapist that this may be a career I could be successful in. While in my undergraduate program I felt that this was the career for me and was motivated to put in the time and my own intrapersonal work to move forward in becoming a licensed therapist.
Tell us about your education
I earned my Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a minor in Business from Oral Roberts University, and my Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from Richmont Graduate University.
