Merging lived experience with clinical expertise.
Everything you’re experiencing has a reason behind it. Let’s untangle the threads together.
COMPLEX TRAUMA & ADDICTION THERAPY
Leigh Owens, Integrative Psychotherapist
Simply by virtue of being here, you are one step closer to a new you. A you who feels empowered and on a path to better well-being.
As an Integrative Psychotherapist, my goal is to help you reclaim your power of choice and take back the joy that’s always been yours. I understand pain and what it’s like to go from a place of brokenness to wholeness. While we can’t change what may have happened in the past, we can work together to better understand and resolve the challenges you’re dealing with in the present.
I believe in treating the whole person, going deeper more than your surface-level symptoms. By incorporating complementary therapeutic techniques, we will unearth the behavioral patterns and negative beliefs that may be holding you back from what we all deserve: a life worth celebrating.
You are not your diagnosis, and you can recover. I’m living proof.
GRACE, FAITH, AND COMPASSION
“The addiction process is physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional. I integrate a range of therapies that address all four layers.”
LEIGH OWENS, RECOVERY THERAPIST
I believe in your capacity to heal.
Credentials and Memberships
Institution
University of Georgia
Lincoln Memorial University
Extensive Self-Study of Janina Fisher’s Parts-Based Model
Stepping Stones-IFSCA, Internal Family Systems
CeCe Sykes & Dick Schwartz and which other teacher?
Robert Falconer
Jenna Riemersma and Mike Elkin
Any additional trainings
The EMDR Institute, founded by Dr. Francine Shapiro
From where?
Marilyn Murray Training
Education
Bachelor of Science, 1988
Masters of Education in Mental Health Counseling, 212
Somatic Interventions in Trauma Treatment
IFS Level 1, Basics, and Advanced Trainings
IFS and Addiction + IFS and Disordered Eating Trainings
IFS and Unattached Burdens Training
2 IFS Consultation Groups, 1 Year of IFS Consultation Focus
that we could like to include
Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing, EMDR
Mindfulness and Dialectical Behavior Therapy, DBT
The Murray Method, Levels 1 and 2
INTEGRATIVE THERAPY, COUNSELING, LIFE COACHING
My Specialties
If you’re looking for support through a difficult situation or you’re just ready to turn over a new leaf in your life, I’m your guide. I bring personal experience into my clinical practice, utilizing the same processing modalities, somatic techniques, and healthier coping mechanisms that helped me.
Early childhood trauma, anxiety, depression, codependency, eating disorders, addiction, and deeply-rooted pain are experiences I know well-that’s why I’ve made them my specialties. In our sessions, we replace judgement with compassion and shame with grace to slowly restore your faith in recovery.
I incorporate non-pathologizing, proven therapeutic models including IFS, EMDR, and the Murray Method. These techniques allow a clinical interweave between talking and feeling, helping you get out of your head and into your body. Together, we will untangle the roots of the coping mechanisms that are holding you back to uncover the real, true you that is full of goodness.
Nationally Certified Counselor, NCC
Tennessee Licensed Professional Counseling Association, TNLPCA
American Association of Christian Counselors AACC
FAQs
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It’s unlike any other branch of therapy, and it’s not always easy-but it is safe. Trauma therapy encompasses a range of techniques that can help you deal with the emotional (and physiological) response caused by a traumatic event. It focuses on soothing the nervous system, processing traumatic memories, and supporting your mind and body during that processing. You don’t have to be formally diagnosed with Complex PTSD or PTSD to benefit from it, but many of my clients have this type of background.
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I use techniques with a strong evidence base for effectively treating the effects of trauma. IFS, or Internal Family Systems, helps identify your protective or wounded inner parts and grow your healthy sense of self. The Murray Method helps you understand how childhood trauma from the past may be impacting you in the present. EMDR, or Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing, uses specific eye movements (or bilateral stimulation) to help reduce “the charge” of traumatic memories. My approach is always trauma-informed, keeping you within a safe range of tolerance.
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Trauma therapy isn’t easy, but it is safe. When you are actively processing traumatic memories or experiences, there may be a period of time where you feel worse before you feel better. This may mean an uptick in anxiety, overall tension, or nightmares. Emotions that have been suppressed eventually have to be felt and released, so this is to be expected. Many clients have said they’d rather experience short-term discomfort in the processing phase over the long-term distress that comes from ignoring, denying, or burying the trauma that occured. We move at your brain’s pace-sometimes uncomfortable, but never distressing and always in a spirit of love and compassion.
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In your first session, we’ll talk about the biggest challenge you’re experiencing, and how it’s affecting you. This will help outline our goals for subsequent sessions, and help me tailor the techniques we use. I use a combination of modalities: sometimes we will simply talk, and sometimes I’ll ask you to tune more into your body. I believe the best approach is experiential, so you can expect a mix of “talk therapy” with somatic, or body-based, techniques, and a setting filled with love, compassion, and understanding.