Melissa Hansen, M.A., LPC- Executive Director (540-932-1471)

Sarah Simmons, LCSW, LLC- Outreach Coordinator (540-932-8399)

Stephanie Sterling M.A. LPC- Clinical Coordinator (540-932-9722)

Alan Melton, D.Min., LPC (540-932-9721)

Bevin Yowell, LPC (540-425-3891)

Residents:

Amy Huffman, MSW – Resident in Counseling (540-425-3128)

Brittany Centeno, M.A. in Counseling – Resident in Counseling (540- 425-3364)

Melissa Hansen, M.A., LPC- Executive Director

I entered this field because I wanted to help people in a way that fits who I am, what I have to offer, and in which I believed that I could be the most effective. It isn’t glamorous but it is beautiful work – I love what I do!  I love it so much that I often feel more energized when I get home than when I leave in the morning. I like working with individuals but I also enjoy guiding couples toward a deeper understanding of each other, and therefore toward intimacy and new life in their marriage.  Working on relationships is very difficult and often painful but the benefits are worth every bit of work.  Even healthy relationships can benefit from deepening their knowledge of and care for one another.

I received my Bachelor of Arts in Social Work from Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts and my Master’s in Mental Health Counseling from Capella University, Minneapolis, Minnesota. In early 2018 I became a Board Certified TeleMental Health Provider through the Center for Credentialing and Education. In 2020 I became a Virginia Board of Counseling Approved Supervisor for counseling students and residents. You may reach me directly at the office: 540.932.1471. You can also register for a teletherapy appointment with me at: pcsi.securepatientarea.com

Sarah Simmons, LCSW, LLC- Outreach Coordinator

Early in my practice I was intrigued by Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Essentially, it is the process of becoming aware of how one’s automatic thoughts can effect how you feel. Also, how one’s automatic thoughts (assumptions, distortions, belief systems) can affect their functioning. Over the years I have worked to develop a balance of skills that allow me to help clients explore, more deeply, the origin of some of their belief systems or early life events that have influenced their thinking patterns. While also providing psychoeducation and tools to begin to restructure these unhealthy or dysfunctional thoughts. I have found this easily applicable to many areas of practice including depression and anxiety, parenting support, grief and loss, trauma, and major life transitions. I also employ tools of mindfulness, guided imagery, positive psychology, and motivational interviewing. I am also certified in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) which I actively use in my practice.

I am honored at the opportunity to build relationships, hold space for people’s most difficult events and challenges, and help guide their process of self reflection, awareness, and change. It is a privilege to be a part of the life journey for so many wonderful people. Healing takes courage. I like to think it is my job to help you find it and use it. Everyone has courage, sometimes you just have to dig deep.

Stephanie Sterling M.A. LPC– Clinical Coordinator

I felt led to this profession many years after a very positive experience with a counselor in my teenage years following my younger brother’s diagnosis of leukemia. It was in the presence of a counselor where I was given a safe space to explore and tell the story of that experience in a way that was life-giving despite being in the midst of fear and sadness.

My professional identity as a therapist is a relational one. While I do believe that therapy designed to help someone understand themselves better, therapy that assists one in figuring out what makes them “tick”, helps them learn where their reactions to things come from, what behaviors create problems for them, and understand where those behaviors originate can be tremendously beneficial, I feel strongly that as human beings we cannot FULLY understand ourselves outside of the context of our relationships. I explore with clients the possibility that the symptoms they may be experiencing stem from difficulties in relationships or from feeling “disconnected” from the people they care about. We are social creatures who developed attachment bonds early in life with those who primarily cared for us. As we grow older, without being aware of it, we seek to connect to others who replicate positive relationship experiences while simultaneously seeking to correct negative relationship experiences in order to experience healing in ourselves through our relationships. Problems arise when the negative experiences remain unhealed and unresolved causing significant amounts of distress. I think this fits well into my identity given that this perspective recognizes the blend of observable human behavior and how behind the behavior is a story trying to be told. It is a story of attachment and our desire to have secure bonds with others and about our distress when we do not experience that security.

I love the relationship that is forged between myself and my clients. I often find that what is so healing about psychotherapy is the experience provided to the client by the therapist. I explain to clients that my expertise is in the understanding of my client’s bonding needs and how those needs manifest in life and behaviors, but that the relationship is the vehicle through which a client gains experience of how safety and security should feel.

There has been a lot of “buzz” recently in the counseling profession regarding trauma and our former understanding of it in light of more current research. Through advancements in brain imaging and through our ever increasing knowledge of how the brain develops and forms under different emotional and relational circumstances, we are gaining more knowledge and understanding about the effects of trauma on this development and the lasting consequences of that trauma, especially in our relationships.

In addition to the therapy that I do, I am also the clinical coordinator for Valley Pastoral Counseling Center. In this role, it is my responsibility to take care of all of the inquiries we receive regarding access to the counseling services we offer. I am also responsible for keeping up to date on the changes in the health care laws and insurance regulations, and I am responsible for obtaining and facilitating the coordination of continuing education for all of the therapists in the office.

My “Niche” in Counseling

As a beginning therapist, I often heard from colleagues and others in the profession that I needed to find a “niche”, a particular population of client that I could specialize in treating, since the counseling profession encompasses such a broad range of areas in which to develop skill. This particular task seemed quite daunting, if not impossible at first, since as a beginning therapist I felt barely qualified to make such a decision. What also made that task nearly impossible was that at that time EVERY kind of presenting problem for therapy interested me. Over the years that changed as I engaged in exploration of many areas of interest. Settling on a specialty ended up being a rather passive process, much to my surprise. Instead of me finding “IT”;”IT” found me.

I was asked several years ago to facilitate a marriage enrichment seminar that was to be held over a two day period for a local church. To be sure I had enough information to present for two days, I dug into several resource materials in an effort to plan both a lecture and a set of exercises for the weekend retreat. This was the beginning of what would become a passionate desire to help couples in crisis regain and maintain connection in their relationships. The primary resource I re-discovered in the process of preparing for the marriage seminar was a book written by Harville Hendrix called Getting the Love You Want. In his book Hendrix discusses the basic tenets of a form of marital counseling he termed Imago Relationship Therapy (IRT). IRT is a method of couple’s therapy that integrates the major theories of personality, behavioral science, physiology, and spiritual discipline. It emphasizes the use of your primary love relationship as the vehicle for both marital and individual growth and looks at how the conflicts experienced between partners is actually healing trying to take place and should NOT be viewed as evidence of incompatibility.

Through the process of using the techniques and teaching couples in crisis the skills and tools of Imago Relationship Therapy, I have experienced tremendous change in the way I do couples therapy and have witnessed the ability a couple has to experience connection with one another despite serious conflict. As my practice with the use of Imago has evolved, I have also incorporated Emotionally Focused Therapy into my work with couples. Emotionally Focused Therapy, or EFT, is very similar to Imago in theory, the primary difference being the emphasis placed on accessing the emotion required for couples to experience connection. Emotions are responsible for one human being’s ability to connect with another human being. Without emotions, humans would be reduced to mere logical beings, computing with one another as robots might.

Additionally, I have discovered that many clients who have experienced trauma in their lives respond very well to the use of EFT in addressing issues of emotional distress and relationship detachment. With current research showing increased numbers of people suffering with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, Acute Stress Syndrome, or complex trauma, EFT has become an empirically proven form of therapy.

Given the variety of factors that contribute to a couple’s (or an individual within a couple) source of distress in their lives, I have found a blend of EFT and IRT to be the most effective form of couple’s therapy. I have seen couples take a relationship on the brink of destruction and transform it into a beautiful connection between two people. More importantly, IRT and EFT aren’t just for couples in crisis. I have seen couples who have what they consider to be a good relationship with one another utilize the therapy I do to work through the places where they are stuck in disconnection as partners. I have seen couples with no complaints about their relationship use the tools to move into a level of connection, intimacy, and personal healing and growth beyond anything they could have imagined. And even though both IRT and EFT were created for relationship restoration, I have found them to be effective in working with individuals who are seeking to alleviate depression, anxiety, and other symptoms often related to the relationship problems they are experiencing.
If you are experiencing disconnection in your relationship with your significant other and are interested in restoring connection and intimacy, please do not hesitate to contact me to see if IRT and EFT are a good fit for you.

Alan Melton, D.Min., LPC

Secondly, I am a “try to understand yourself” counselor. Once I have established this accepting, non-judgmental and caring relationship with the client.  I seek to help them to understand themselves.  To understand what makes them tick.  To see how their childhood experiences in their family growing up have continued to influence them today.  To discover if there were painful traumas in their past that need to be explored and worked through.  The reason for this type of insight is that without knowing who we are and why we have come to do what we do, we cannot find the will to make changes in our lives toward a happier and more fulfilling existence.  Self- awareness and inner knowledge of yourself is the best way to solve your problems and heal your soul.

This type of therapy is my specialty. It can take time.  The reason it takes some time is that time is required for real personality growth and change.  You did not get the way you are overnight.  It took a lifetime.  So, it will take sufficient time to make the changes you desire.

Childhood traumas and less than desirable experiences often remain with us for years to come. My relational approach seeks to discover the various traumatic experiences such as emotional abuse or neglect, sexual abuse or neglect, spiritual crises, and abandonment and loss. The outward symptoms of these traumas will be felt as anxiety and depression.  But it is what lies underneath these surface symptoms that needs to be healed.

In my work as a counselor, I mainly see adults in individual therapy, but I also see older adolescents, and I enjoy working with couples as well.

A final service I offer is the supervision of mental health professionals and LPC residents interested in improving their skills in psychodynamic psychotherapy.

So, if you are a client seeking such relational therapy or a mental health professional or LPC resident in search of supervision, please call me at 540 932 9721. Thank you.

Bevin Yowell, LPC

~Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and freedom. ~Viktor E. Frankl

Growing up a PK (pastor’s kid) I learned the value of family, community and spirituality.  This led to furthering my education in psychology, sociology, and theology. I earned an undergraduate degree in Human Relations with a concentration in Social Work and a minor in Sociology from High Point University and a master’s degree in professional counseling from Liberty University.  

Searching for the most effective treatment modalities led me to study and work within multiple mental health treatment organizations as well as numerous geographical locations including rural and urban areas in Virginia, Washington DC, Maryland, North Carolina, and Florida. After 25 years in the mental health field, I’m happy to offer short term solution focused individual and group therapy, neurofeedback, licensure supervision and life coaching. 

Amy Huffman, MSW – Resident in Counseling

I am a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Social Work and am currently a clinical supervisee. Prior to graduate school, I spent over 15 years working with families and children in New England and Central Virginia, focusing primarily on parenting, early childhood adjustment, attachment repair, and crisis intervention. I am building a clinical practice now that emphasizes a client-centered relationship, exploring spirituality, attachment patterns, cognition and mindfulness as a means to greater self-awareness and psychological health. It is a privilege to be a fellow traveler on your journey to wellness.

Brittany Centeno, M.A. in Counseling, Resident in Counseling

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.”

– Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, S.J.

I hold a master’s counseling degree from Eastern Mennonite University and am currently a Resident pursuing licensure. I have been working in the field of mental health and supporting others in loving themselves more fully as well as those around them for 7 plus years. It is my deepest belief that as humans we exist in a world that is often full of unnatural hardships and oppression which can lead us away from our true selves. I do not think a person ever fully loses touch with this true self within them but that at times we may each require relationships and social support to find our way back to the innate source of love and goodness that is at each of our cores. Extending this love and care to ourselves as well as others is where our most powerful growth blooms. 

The pathway to our most authentic selves is different for everyone. Collaboratively locating the path that feels most supportive for each unique person and trusting the wisdom that you already bring is important to me. The effort it takes to seek the support you deserve is an accomplishment in itself. It is my hope that we can celebrate these moments of self empowerment together and deepen self discovery through warm, authentic conversation. I have training in psychodynamic, interpersonal, contemplative and cognitive behavioral therapy. Somatic experience is something I find to be immensely helpful as I do believe that our bodies speak to us and that it takes intentional efforts of slowing down to hear what it is we are being told. If we can learn to listen and respond to these messages, we can increase our healing and gain tools that can support this relationship between body, mind and spirit throughout our lifetime. It is a gift to be trusted with your story and I hope I can hold it tenderly in light of all the contexts that have shaped it.