Services

Living Hope's areas of expertise

We are not only honored to work with clients therapeutically at Living Hope, but also passionate about it! It is an honor and a privilege to be an integral part of finding solutions with people to help them improve their lives and those around them. It is very important to us to create a safe place where you can explore the past, present and future in ways that will help facilitate you reaching your goals in counseling.

Therapy is continually focused on relationships and how they impact the quality of your life. As we work with you in couples/relationship therapy we will teach healthier methods to communicate, address conflict resolution, plus build closeness and understanding. We will focus on the specific challenges that you are experiencing in your relationship to increase trust and intimacy. It is imperative that both people in the relationship feel heard. In couples and relationship counseling we will facilitate new and more positive ways to replace old, negative patterns and behaviors while helping you move through hurts from the past to a healthier, happier connection for the future.

Individual counseling offers a compassionate approach to therapy, which encourages clients to explore the issues they want to address in a safe, non-judgmental way. Our goal at Living Hope is to help clients find the answers within themselves that resonate with their own truth. We are committed to creating a gentle approach that enables you to feel comfortable in your own therapeutic process. This will help facilitate healing body, soul and spirit. Specialties include anxiety, depression, grief and loss, emotional trauma and PTSD; chronic illness including emotional struggles such as guilt, shame, anger substance abuse, eating disorders, life balance and relationship issues; including marriage, family, friendship and intimacy problems.

At Living Hope Counseling we understand how critical it is to provide a safe environment for our clients to begin healing from their trauma and the pain it has caused in their lives. Whether the trauma is physical, sexual, or emotional, these events can overwhelm you, destroying your sense of being in control and altering your attachments to others. If left unaddressed, the resulting psychological trauma can lead you to a wide range of destructive symptoms like anxiety, depression, substance abuse, phobias, personality disorders, flashbacks, emotional numbing, and nightmares.

As level II EMDR trained therapists, Kristen Smith, Erica Gores and Ashley Worthington have the skills to help you work through and minimize the symptoms and consequences of a traumatic event. EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing) is a unique modality of counseling that helps people move through their traumatic experiences at quicker pace. Our desire is to help rebuild self-esteem and get back the personal power, trust and sense of connection that are taken away by a traumatic experience. Kristen Smith has been trained in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy level l, a somatic experiencing therapy that is used to treat trauma and attachment issues.

As a licensed addictions specialist, Kristen Smith addresses the practical, physical and spiritual aspects of addiction, setting the stage for long-term recovery and restored family life. Ashley Worhtington has extensive experience in the addiction community and has helped addicts and their families heal from addiction, as well. We are dedicated to providing the most effective treatment possible as we apply our expertise and care to your situation. We commit to be compassionate and understanding of each client's needs and to work together to provide healing, restoration and hope for the person or family whose life has been torn apart by addiction. Whether it’s help for alcohol, drugs, sex, work, food, or co-dependency, we are committed to help you fight your addiction and promote healing in your recovery process.

Kristen also works with individuals or couples who deal with sex addiction issues. She will often work with the female in the relationship to help her create healthy, safe boundaries within the context of the marriage or partnership. Processing and supporting the client in her grief and loss is a primary goal that Kristen focuses on. Promoting and assisting the couple to grieve together, helps restore and heal the damage created by this tough issue.