College students
College asks a lot of you all at once, and it usually takes a while to notice how much. A lot of what students bring in isn't a crisis. It's the low hum of it all: the pressure, the comparison, the not-quite-knowing who you are outside of what you're achieving. Sometimes it's homesickness you'd never admit to. Sometimes it's a relationship, or a family thing, or a question about what you actually want that you can't ask anyone back home.
We're about five minutes from UT, and telehealth is available when you're back home for breaks.
There's a particular kind of loneliness in being surrounded by people all the time and still feeling like nobody actually knows what's going on with you. Everyone looks like they've figured it out. Your friends are dealing with their own stuff. Your family is far away, or too close to the situation, or the last people you'd want to worry. So you handle it, and you keep handling it, and after a while you forget there was ever another option. Therapy is a place where you get to stop doing that for an hour, where you can say the honest version instead of the version that keeps everyone comfortable. You might see yourself in some of this:
Anxiety that arrived with the workload and has not left.
A breakup, or a friendship group that turned.
You're not sure how much of what you're doing is what you want versus what is expected.
You feel lonely or lost.
Everybody around you appearing to manage, which makes it harder to say.
Something's going on with your family at home and you're carrying it from a distance.
The first session is mostly just meeting each other. Your therapist will ask what brought you in, what's been going on, and some background about your life: family, school, relationships, what your day-to-day actually looks like. You don't need to have it organized or know what your "issue" is. Plenty of people start with "I don't really know, things just feel off," and that's a fine place to begin.
You're in charge of how much you share and how fast. Nothing you say gets back to your parents, your school, or anyone else. What you talk about here stays here, with a few narrow legal exceptions your therapist will explain up front so you're not guessing.
By the second or third session, you'll have a better sense of whether this therapist feels like a fit, and you'll start to see some shape to what you're working on. If it's not clicking, say so. Finding the right person matters more than staying with the first one you met, and nobody's feelings will be hurt.
The consultation. A free twenty minute phone call. You describe what is going on and we will help you get connected to the right therapist.
The first session or two: Mostly history and orientation. What has been happening, how long, what you have already tried, and what you actually want to be different.
After that: The goal is that you feel welcome, safe, and unjudged, and comfortable enough to open up, so we can help you get the care and healing you need.
Ellen Johnson
MA, LPC | Clinical Director
There's no single approach, because what a 19-year-old needs in their first semester is different from what a senior figuring out what comes next needs. But a few threads run through most of it.
Some of the work is practical: real skills for managing anxiety, sleeping better, handling a panic response before an exam, or getting through a week when everything's due at once. That kind of thing matters, and it's often where we start.
Some of it is understanding. Why you react the way you do. Why certain situations flatten you and others don't. What patterns you brought with you from home without realizing they were patterns.
That's often where family systems work comes in: looking at the role you played growing up, what your family expected of you, and how much of your current pressure is actually yours. A lot of college-age work involves separating your own voice from the ones you grew up with, especially when it comes to what you should study, who you should be, and what success is supposed to look like.
And a lot of it is about relationships: friendships, dating, roommates, family. What healthy actually looks like, how to say what you need, and how to tell the difference between a hard relationship and one that isn't good for you. Most people never got taught this directly, and it's one of the more useful things to sort out now rather than later.
Summers and breaks
Sessions carry on through the summer and through breaks, which is one of the main reasons people start here rather than on campus. If you are going to be somewhere else for a stretch, say so and we will work out what makes sense, whether that is continuing virtually or pausing and picking back up when you are around.
The campus counseling center is free, and it's genuinely a good place to start. But sometimes the session cap runs out before the work is done, or the next opening is weeks away, or you'd just rather keep this separate from school. That's usually what brings people here.
Not unless you want them to. Once you turn 18, your therapy is confidential, even if a parent is paying for it. Your therapist won't share what you talk about, and they won't reach out to your parents unless you're in danger and safety requires it, which your therapist will explain to you directly, not spring on you later. If you're under 18 or have specific concerns about privacy given your situation, bring it up in the first session so you know exactly where things stand.
Yes! We can work with anyone living in Texas.
Yes. Whether that means continuing virtually or pausing until you are back depends on where you will be located. Either way you are not starting over with somebody new.
It is a large part of who this practice sees, and it is not something you would have to explain from scratch. Chapter-level work, including talks and group sessions after something has happened, is something we do as well. Ask on the consultation or have your chapter get in touch.
Appointments Monday to Friday, 8am to 8pm, in person in Central Austin (across from Pease Park) or virtually across Texas. Weekends are sometimes available, so please ask if that works better for you.
No. The practice does not bill insurance directly. We can check your out-of-network benefits for you, by hand, before you commit to anything. If you are on a parent's plan, that is the plan we would check.
Say so on the consultation. Some of the team are working under supervision toward full licensure and see clients at a reduced fee, and it is a normal thing to ask about rather than an awkward one.
Twenty free minutes with someone who knows the team. You describe what's going on, and we tell you honestly whether this is the right place. Rates, insurance, and timing are all part of that conversation, not a surprise later.
Book a free consultationPick a time that suits you, sometimes as early as today.
We talk through how we can help and answer your questions
You leave with a recommendation to work with someone on our team, or a referral to another resource in the area. Either way, you won't be back at square one.
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