Anna received her Master of Arts in Counseling from St. Edward’s University in 2017 after completing her undergraduate degree in Psychology at Louisiana State University. Anna has accumulated 3 years of experience in a psychiatric inpatient hospital setting both as a pre-graduate practicum student and as a post-graduate clinician providing psychotherapeutic care to humans in crisis. Thanks to her background in this high acuity setting, Anna is very familiar with what it looks like to truly join a client in their darkest hour. This setting has also benefitted Anna’s professional development by providing extensive training in suicidality risk assessment and management, trauma-informed psychotherapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) methodologies.
Today, Anna brings her expertise as a trauma-informed psychotherapist as well as lived experience as a yogic practitioner into her work at Transcend by providing a form of therapy that focuses on the mind-body connection. Anna’s approach incorporates a framework of Polyvagal Theory, Somatic Experiencing, Attachment Theory, and CBT to highlight the neurobiological underpinnings of what “safety” means to us and how a lack of safety can affect our relationships, beliefs about ourselves, and beliefs about the world.
In session with Anna, you can expect her to bring a sense of realness and genuine warmth to the room, which she believes is integral for healing and growth. Without a sense of safety with another, one can't be expected to be vulnerable, and it's only in moments of vulnerability that growth occurs. She has been known to roll out a yoga mat and get on the floor with clients to join them in preparatory breathwork or somatic exercises pre-infusion. This down-to-Earth approach makes Anna a great fit for working with adolescents and young adults, which is a population she specializes in at her private practice outside of Transcend.