As a Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist, I have the intuitive ability to assess original wounds and heal them quickly. Whether you are looking for short-term or long-term therapy, I can assess, go deep, heal, eliminate behaviors, and get you on track for a positive, hopeful future.
I personally know the brokenness: I was lost, ashamed, isolated, and traumatized. I was living in a fog and could not seem to understand who I was, or why I was doing the things I was doing that were going against my moral integrity. At 19 years old, I survived a horrific airplane crash that killed my dad & brother instantly. My mother was hospitalized for many months, and I was left without a stitch. I understand the firsthand experience of PTSD, survivor's guilt, grief, depression, and addiction. As a means to cope, I began drinking alcohol & realized I was living in a trance of brokenness.
With therapy, I was able to get back into college, and eventually get into graduate school. There, I was consumed by a flash of memories of my childhood trauma, which left me paralyzed, lost, and drove me even further into my addiction of alcohol & codependency. I was struggling in my marriage, raising my two young children, and felt utterly alone.
After graduation, I committed myself to healing the wounds of my childhood and beginning the process of finding myself. I have been able to unfold layers of myself, bit by bit, to gain more clarity into who I am, what I feel, and accept my experiences as wounds that have penetrated my very being; but also instilled a power to assist and guide others on their healing journeys.
As the brokenness & fog have slowly lifted, I have been able to see clarity in my relationship with Jesus Christ, as my one True Father, who has always been there for me. In this relationship, I have felt a sense of belonging to myself, to my family, to my friends, and to my community. The Holy Spirit now guides me to be the hope in your life, that you too, can belong again.
I graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Social Work from St. Catherine University. I hold a Master of Arts in Marriage & Family Therapy from Argosy University.
I am a Certified Clinical Trauma Professional with extensive training in the strongest evidence based modalities for treating and effectively healing trauma. I am trained & have studied EMDR, Internal Family Systems, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, Inner Child Work, Somatic Experiencing, Attachment Focused EMDR, Emotionally Focused Therapy & Cognitive Processing Therapy.
I have worked with children, teenagers, individual adults, couples & families. I have worked with diverse populations, including those living in inner cities to rural areas. I have worked with those experiencing addiction, legal & financial concerns, family crisis, suicide, and violence. I have worked with PTSD (war veterans, survivors of accidents, vicarious trauma, etc.), CPTSD (survivors of severe childhood physical, emotional and sexual abuse and neglect). I authored a book titled, Life is Beautiful: How a Lost Girl Became a True, Confident Child of God. Publisher's Weekly states, "Johnson's journey out of alcoholism and into Christian faith, are truly inspirational."