Natasha A. Varela, LCPC, CADC

My professional journey began about 20 years ago, with my work in a residential care facility, supporting children, adolescents, and adults with severe and profound disabilities. I provided nursing care as a CNA, and then transitioned to being a QIDP (case manager) and activity aide. My passion for working with families and as a member of an interdisciplinary team stemmed from this incredible experience. I completed graduate school and training while maintaining full-time employment in this organization. As I transitioned to becoming a counselor in my post-graduate career, I began as a crisis therapist in a community mental health agency, where I provided on-call crisis screening and assessments, and then provided follow up crisis therapy services and support to children, adolescents, and adults. I was part of several teams over my time at this agency and transitioned to being in a dual role in administration and clinical care, leading and overseeing teams., while also providing direct services. My clinical practice later included being the Program Director for an outpatient addiction treatment clinic that provided medication-assisted treatment and intensive outpatient programming to individuals with primary opioid use disorders and alcohol use disorders. Most recently I was the Director for Child, Adolescent, and Family Services for a large non-profit agency, providing outpatient therapy services. Over the course of my clinical practice, I have gained much experience and specialization in the working with children, adolescents, adults, and families who are managing co-occurring disorders, such as: intellectual disabilities and mental illness; addiction and mental illness; and woman (and couples) during pregnancy and post-partum who are struggling with mental health. Initially in my practice, my treatment approach was primarily psycho-dynamic, and informed by Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), and play therapy. As I have been invested in continued professional development and training, I have expanded my practice throughout my career to incorporate Mindfulness-Based therapy, Yoga-Informed Psychotherapy, and Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy. The therapeutic style I bring to my work with individuals and families is strengths based, empathic, supportive, culturally sensitive, and trauma informed. I aim to create a space of mutual care and trust with clients, as well as offer a balance of providing encouragement and feedback for clients to move forward towards their hopes and goals. I am extremely passionate and grateful for the opportunity to work with individuals and families on healing from trauma and wounds that have been part of their lived experience. I aim to work collaboratively with clients and meet them where they are when they invite me to join them on their therapeutic journey.