Mindy Allen

Greetings, my name is Mindy; nice to meet you! Please feel free to skip around in the next few paragraphs to find the information you are looking for; this first section is about my journey as a therapist, further down you'll find my approach to therapy and what you can expect in our first sessions. I graduated with my bachelor's degree from Seton Hill University in Human Services in December of 2008 and starting my first job as a therapist in January of 2009. I worked with individuals, couples, families, and groups who all had the same goals of simply living their life and feeling better. After working in outpatient mental health, addictions, and crisis work, I decided I needed more knowledge and understanding to really make an impact so I enrolled at Indiana University of Pennsylvania's Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program. During this time I completed an individual practicum and interned at an age 55+ behavioral health inpatient unit and graduated in May of 2016. I went on to work in Family-Based programs, School-Base programs, Residential Youth Programs for children with an intellectual disability and behavioral struggles, and most recently I was trained in EMDR and have worked for the past several years with individuals of all ages who have experienced sexual trauma.

My approach to therapy is very tailored to each individual client. I take a gentle and validating solutions-focused approach while applying appropriate modalities the client needs or could benefit from from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), a thinking/belief-focused 'top-down' strategy to EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing) and Gestalt body-focused 'bottom-up' strategy. Most often, it's some combination of both that is most helpful because when we think too much, we shut down into our feelings and when we feel too much we numb out back to thinking; both extremes can lead to unwanted behaviors. The idea is to strike the balance!

A client's very first session is about the client consenting to the service, understanding confidentiality in therapy, and creating a crisis plan based on the client's own knowledge of their circumstances and support system. After those important points are completed, the rest of the time is spent working together to find out what the client needs from a therapeutic alliance to see improvement.