Joleene Watabe

Hi there, I'm Joleene Watabe. I am a licensed professional clinical counselor and I work with clients in Utah, California and Ohio through Telehealth. I am passionate about helping people to live healthy and more fulfilling lives. I work with adolescent and adult clients and specialize in trauma, grief, anxiety, depression, relationship issues, life transitions, religious/spiritual issues and I am LGBTQ+ friendly. I conduct therapy with a customized approach that uses a combination of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Person-Centered Therapy, EMDR, IFS, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, and Solution-Focused Therapy.

I decided to become a therapist after I experienced a traumatic event in my life, went to counseling for myself, and improved my life through therapy. This led me to want to help others to learn the things that I learned. I gained empathy for anybody who has struggles (which is all of us) and developed a passion for helping others to be able to overcome mental illnesses and any self-inflicted suffering. I began my journey to become a counselor by being trained in facilitating grief support groups and soon after went back to graduate school so that I could get licensed as a counselor. I worked in community mental health for several years which included being part of the county crisis team and working with our substance abuse recovery program. I also worked as a therapist through my church. In 2017 my life took a sudden turn when my husband passed away suddenly, which eventually led me to return to a focus of grief and trauma. For the last four years, I have worked through private group practices treating a variety of issues. Being the oldest child, I have a propensity to want to help others. I enjoy helping people to find healing and more peace in their lives.

I believe that counseling is a collaborative relationship where my job is to make a safe place for you to do the work you need to do and help you understand the principles of healing. I want to empower you to understand yourself better and make the choices that get you the things you want in life. Your job is to learn how to be honest with yourself and open and curious about how to improve your life. I tailor my treatment approach to fit my client's needs with the belief that you know what is best for you but may need my help to identify what is keeping you from understanding how to heal. I use principles from EMDR, IFS (Internal Family Systems), and Somatic Therapy to look at your issues through the lens of what your nervous system is doing and telling you, as this will help us to find the resources and coping skills that you need to develop so that you can find stability and confidence.

My approach to goal setting is client-centered. I will help you articulate what it is you hope to get out of counseling and talk about things that might help you achieve those goals. We will work together to define specific things you would like to improve and how you will know when you have improved.