Colette Heiser

I received my Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a Minor in Sociology in 2011 from the University of North Carolina at Asheville. I received my Masters in Social Work from Western Carolina University in 2023. I am currently a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW #C020124) through the North Carolina Social Work Certification and Licensure Board (NCSWCLB). I have three years of counseling experience with a background supporting a wide variety of client concerns including anxiety, depression, crisis situations, domestic violence and healthy relationship issues, and safety planning and harm reduction. I welcome clients of all ethnicities, genders, religions, and sexual orientations.

My approach to counseling is deeply rooted in a person-centered approach, utilizing harm reduction, non-judgement, authenticity, and humanity. As a therapist, my job is to create a relatively safe container for those I work with to identify how they feel, what they want, and what challenges they face. I incorporate evidence-based interventions including CBT, DBT, harm reduction, intersectional feminist theories, Motivational Interviewing, expressive arts, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR), psychoeducation, and the empowerment model. I have some experience supporting families and couples in navigating conflict and communication issues and believe that healthy communication is a major building block of a beautiful and healthy life.

My approach to therapy seeks to empower individuals I work with to be kinder to themselves, to identify and challenge core beliefs and thought patterns that are holding them back, and to advocate with and for individuals in reaching their highest potential. Counseling offers an opportunity for individuals to observe and explore without judgement their innermost truths, while also allowing space for new ideas, strategies and information to support the individual in changing their lives. I believe that a hyper-capitalistic and oppressive world teaches us to view our lives in “all-or-nothing” or “binary” thinking. The goal is to support those I work with in interrupting and challenging these unconscious beliefs and to find freedom, space, and liberation in “the inbetweens.”