I help people who have been impacted by addiction overcome the traumas they experienced growing up in an uncertain, distrustful, and chaotic home environment. If you are someone who grew up in a dysfunctional environment, are battling addiction yourself, and/or are struggling with how to handle a loved one’s issues with substance use, then you know the emotional turmoil that sets in.

 Adult children of alcoholics, spouses, and family members are often haunted by feelings of extreme loneliness, perfectionism, avoidance of their feelings, relationship difficulties, issues around trust and control, codependency, anxiety, and various other family conflict.

 I support my clients to reconnect with themselves while showing them how to restore their relationships by using a personalized step-by-step approach that guides them in healing their emotional and family wounds.

 In addition to my work with individuals and families navigating these challenges, I am qualified to treat a wide variety of mental health issues including depression, anxiety, adhd, anger management, stress management, poor or ineffective communication patterns, relationship difficulties, family conflict, gambling, grief and loss, trauma (both PTSD and C-PTSD aka complex emotional trauma), and other mood and anxiety disorders.

Peggy Burns

LPC

My passion for being a therapist comes from a life-long dream I had of helping people transition from a difficult time in their life to a life that can become full of joy again. I work with clients who are experiencing the loss of a loved one or the loss of a job, dreams, divorce and other challenges. I also work with women who have postpartum depression, a traumatic pregnancy or birth and recovery. I also work with clients who are suffering from anxiety and depression that can stop us from living the best life we can. Life is hard, can give you challenges, questions the meaning of life, can make you angry, bitter and hard to get through each day. 

I know what you are going through, what you are feeling and what you are ignoring. I write about this from personal experience from the many losses I have had in my life—my daughter, siblings, parents and many friends.  Grieving takes time and, in the beginning, we’re consumed with the details: wakes, funerals, memorial services. This can feel like it’s giving us a purpose, keeping busy, honoring our loved one. But what happens when the service is over? Friends and family have gone home, they’re living their lives and we’re left with our memories and our grief. A question I often hear is how can I begin my life without my loved one? 

The clients I work with know that I am listening to them, acknowledging them, and ready to work with getting them to live in the present to a more fulfilled life. Life is full of transitions, and I am here to help guide you through them. I am here to help you come out on the other side of it. Life is worth living and it will be again by working through the struggles and pain and becoming whole again.

We can get through the day. We can talk it out, find a way to overcome the grief, the sadness, the loneliness we feel. It will become less painful, less heartbreaking. You will not always feel as bad as you do today.

I am here, ready to help. 

Kathryn Barkley

LCSW, MSW