Borderline Personality
Kristen Kern
Licensed Clinical Social Worker, LCSW, MSW
It takes courage and strength to reach out for support in life. I believe providing a caring professional environment where individuals feel comfortable and can be themselves is key to healing and growth.
I am a welcoming, supportive, and empathetic therapist who collaborates with each client to help them make positive changes in their lives. I specialize in providing client centered therapy for adults, seniors, and their loved ones.
I use a variety of evidence-based therapy techniques to support individuals facing the challenges of depression, anxiety, grief and loss, and other life transitions.
I focus on supporting each client in managing symptoms and improving their quality of life. I have over 15 years' experience helping adults and seniors learn the skills to make positive improvements to their overall health and wellness.
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I am trained in evidenced based interventions such as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Dialectial Behavioral Therapy (DBT) and use these in my work when appropriate. My main focus is in DBT, an approach that can increase mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness. I am also certified in EMDR, a proven trauma treatment that can help build a sense of safety, identify and change beliefs that are harmful, and to become less stuck in past pain.
Amy Kennel
Licensed Professional Counselor, LPC, MS
I joined Lifeworks Professional Counseling in May 2019 to help and support people going through a variety of problems. Since 2005, I have worked in community mental health settings where I did individual and group counseling, and conducted intake assessments. I received a BA in Art Therapy from Arcadia University in Glenside, PA. I received my MS in Mental Health Counseling from Longwood University in Farmville, VA, with honors from the Counseling and Education departments. I was also a member of the Chi Sigma Iota Honor Society for Counselor Educators.
The foundation to transformation and healing in therapy relies on mutual trust and respect.​ My past work experience with people in crisis honed my skills in holding space for difficult experiences and painful emotions. I provide encouragement, empathy, understanding, attention and acceptance, and give honest and caring feedback.
Through our work together, you can expect to establish goals and work
meaningfully towards achieving them. Our work may also include challenging
unhelpful thoughts, building and increasing a sense of safety, finding meaning
and purpose, improving your communication and connection with others,
recognizing unhealthy patterns, fostering hope and nourishing change, practicing
new skills, and adopting new habits. ​​You may also notice an improvement in
understanding yourself and expressing your feelings, managing emotions, problem solving, and an increased sense of resilience.
Tiffani Ashland
Licensed Clinical Social Worker, LCSW, MSW
I personally understand what it feels like to lose your way, lose people you love, or just to lose hope altogether. I've been there.
I strive to create a therapeutic space that is authentic, non-judgmental, flexible, and prioritizes each client’s individual needs and safety. I am an active therapist who values compassion, humor, and challenging clients in an empathetic and supportive way.
I use a holistic & strengths-based approach, drawing from mindfulness, solution-focused & cognitive behavioral therapies.
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I am experienced in treating older adolescents & adults with a wide range of issues, including anxiety, depression, mood disorders, trauma, ADHD, OCD, grief, and all types of relationship issues.
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I am a sex-positive therapist, experienced in helping people form and nurture healthy relationships with self and others.
This may include support with sexuality, gender identity, monogamous and non-monogamous, and open or polyamorous relationships.
Emily Currier
Supervisee in Social Work, MSW
C​reativity and a passion for nature were fundamental in my upbringing as a native Virginian. I attended Emory University in Atlanta and received my BA in Anthropology and Creative Writing. After roughly a decade spent pursuing a wide variety of interests and positions, I enrolled in Virginia Commonwealth University’s Master of Social Work graduate program because of my interest in social justice and creating equitable access to mental health resources.
For my clinical field placement, I worked with children and adolescents from 5 to 18 years old and discovered a love for play and art therapies. I believe art and creativity to be therapeutic for people of all ages, unlocking feelings and memories that people may otherwise struggle to verbalize. Along with a strengths-based perspective, I strive to create a supportive environment in which clients feel comfortable expressing themselves.
I admire the courage and resilience it takes to seek help when you are unwell, suffering, or feeling out-of-sorts. I am committed to celebrating client’s strengths and triumphs as well as acknowledging and working through their hard days and challenges.
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Caylyn Arbogast
RESIDENT IN COUNSELING, MA, EdS​
While pursuing my Master’s degree at James Madison University, I discovered a profound commitment to serving rural communities. This passion led me to an enriching internship in Page County, VA, where I have continued to serve ever since. My professional journey includes experience as a Crisis Therapist, mental health therapist, and therapist for Page County's Adult Recovery Court Program.
Currently, as a Resident in Counseling, I provide a range of therapeutic services to clients aged 6 and up, including individual, group, couple, and family therapy. My integrative therapeutic approach is designed to address diverse needs and is largely based on a Humanistic foundation with interventions that include Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), expressive arts, Play Therapy, and other evidence-based interventions.
I am a generalist who has worked with clients facing serious mental illness, depression, anxiety, eating disorders, identity challenges, trauma, intellectual and developmental disabilities, and comorbid substance use disorders.
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My clinical supervisor is Crystal Myers, LPC. She can be reached at (434)990-1744.
Having achieved my Master’s Degree in Social Work and clinical licensure later in life has reignited the passion I feel about being a helper. I bring to you both professional training combined with lived experience having served women and children at risk, adults with severe mental illness, children and adolescents with trauma, the elderly and end of life care, individuals in crisis, and coping with loved ones with substance use. Let’s work collaboratively to find the tools and treatment that are right for you.
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Danette kesner
licensed clinical social worker, lcsw, msw
Most of us experience difficult struggles because life is hard sometimes. You may be questioning your sense of worth and trying to find your voice. Or you may be experiencing the brokenness that accompanies the loss of a relationship or a loved one. You may be trying to manage the stress and anxiety that goes along with raising children and launching them into this wild world we live in. Perhaps you are trying to recover from the long-term effects of trauma or abuse, but doing any of these things on your own can be difficult.
My question to you is do you want to work through these struggles alone? If so, is it working for you? Or, are you open to having someone come along your side? As we work together, you may grow in confidence and a sense of worth with a voice that can speak to those things or people that threatened you in the past. You may find healing and hopefulness to move beyond your loss while holding onto the happy memories. You may also learn how to process and eventually cope with the pain of past trauma and abuse, while adding healthy ways to manage your stress, strengthening yourself and relationships.
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