Heather Cawley

Life brings moments that ask more of us than we feel equipped to give. A child struggling in ways you can’t quite reach. A teenager whose pain has become impossible to ignore. A new mother navigating something nobody warned her about. An older adult facing loss, transition, or the particular weight of what comes next. I work with people across all of these moments — children, teens, adults, older adults, and the families holding it all together — and I bring the same steady, genuine presence to every one of them.

My clinical background spans more of the human experience than most. I spent years at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, one of the most respected pediatric institutions in Arizona, working with children and families through some of the most complex medical and emotional terrain a family can face. I’ve also worked in hospice and palliative care, sitting with people and families at life’s end. Having been present at both ends of that spectrum shapes everything about how I understand what people need when things are truly hard.

What you’ll notice about working with me is that I’m exactly who I appear to be. No clinical distance, no performance of expertise, just a real person with deep experience who is genuinely invested in you. I’m forward and compassionate in equal measure — I’ll be honest with you, I’ll move toward the hard stuff with you, and I’ll stay grounded while we do it. That combination, I’ve found, is what makes the work actually move.

I draw on EMDR, DBT, TF-CBT, Art Therapy, Play Therapy, Polyvagal Theory, and CBT — a broad toolkit built over more than a decade and always shaped around who you are, not a formula. Whatever brought you here, we’ll build an approach that actually fits.

My approach starts with you — your history, your nervous system, your strengths, and what hasn’t worked before. I’m fully certified in EMDR, DBT, Polyvagal Theory, and Art Therapy, and I draw on TF-CBT, Play Therapy, and CBT depending on what the moment calls for. For children, Play Therapy and Art Therapy create a language for what words can’t always carry. For trauma, EMDR works at the level where trauma actually lives — in the body, in the nervous system, below what talking alone can reach. I fine-tune my approach as we go, because good therapy adapts. It doesn’t just execute a plan.

The first session is straightforward. I want to know who you are, what’s brought you in, and what you’ve already tried. I’ll listen more than I talk, ask questions that open things up, and be honest with you about what I’m noticing. You won’t leave with a stack of homework or a rigid treatment plan. You’ll leave knowing whether this feels like the right fit — and with a beginning sense of what we might work toward together. I’m easy to be around. That tends to make the first session easier than people expect.