Elizabeth Starnes

I’m a Licensed Professional Counselor-Supervisor (LPC-S) in Texas, a Board Certified Registered Art Therapist (ATR-BC®), and a Registered Expressive Arts Therapist (REAT). I offer online therapy for adults navigating trauma, anxiety, grief, and life transitions, providing a compassionate space to explore your experiences, emotions, and sense of self at your own pace.

My approach is person-centered, trauma-informed, and somatically aware. This means we work collaboratively, honoring your experiences and choices while paying attention to how emotions and stress show up in both mind and body. Together, we explore patterns, process difficult experiences, and develop ways of responding that support your needs and goals.

Sessions may include talk therapy expressive arts, visual journaling, mindfulness, or awareness of body sensations. I also draw on cognitive strategies to help you explore how thoughts and beliefs influence your emotions and responses. Creative processes can offer another way to express what feels difficult to put into words and discover meaning in your experiences. You don’t need artistic experience, and we choose approaches together based on your comfort and interests.

Alongside my clinical practice, I supervise developing therapists and teach at the graduate level. I value a therapeutic relationship in which you feel heard, respected, and supported as you move toward greater self-understanding and meaningful change.

My approach to therapy is person-centered, collaborative, and tailored to your needs. I integrate talk therapy with expressive arts, including visual journaling, to support verbal and nonverbal ways of processing experiences. Creative approaches can help you explore emotions that feel difficult to access or put into words. They are always optional and guided by your comfort and interests.

I draw on CBT-informed strategies to help you recognize and reconsider patterns of thinking that contribute to anxiety, stress, or emotional distress. I also incorporate awareness of body sensations to explore how emotions and stress are experienced physically. A parts-informed perspective allows us to approach different aspects of your experience with curiosity, recognizing that conflicting feelings and needs can each deserve attention and understanding.

My work is trauma-informed, with an emphasis on choice, pacing, and respect for your experiences. We may begin by strengthening coping skills, emotional awareness, and a sense of stability while deciding together what feels helpful to explore.

My goal is to support greater self-understanding, more compassionate ways of relating to yourself, and meaningful changes in your daily life and relationships.

Your first session is an opportunity for us to get to know each other and explore what brings you to therapy. We’ll talk about your current concerns, relevant background, and what you hope to gain from our work together. You can share at a pace that feels comfortable—you don’t need to tell your whole story in the first meeting.

I’ll ask questions to better understand your experiences, strengths, and support system, while making room for your questions about me and the therapy process. We’ll begin identifying goals and discussing how we might work together in ways that fit your needs.

We may also discuss your interest in expressive arts or visual journaling. No artistic experience is needed, and creative approaches are always optional.

My goal is for you to leave with a clearer sense of what working together could look like and an initial feeling of being heard, respected, and supported.