Individual, Couples & Group Psychotherapy • Dating Coaching • Austin, Texas
We heal and become our true selves by learning to trust, care for and stay connected to who we are-especially in moments when it’s hardest to.
THERAPY WITH HEATHER
Engaging in therapy is a courageous process that I know both personally and professionally.
My private practice is a community full of amazing people choosing to grow into their full selves, doing whatever healing is needed along the way. It’s a place where clients find it easier and easier to move towards their desires and vulnerability, transforming how they feel and act in their relationships. While I provide active support in times of crisis and stress, clients also learn how to trust (and love) themselves, allowing them to become even more resilient in the future. The habitual patterns that caused suffering in their lives become full of choice, purpose and connection.
As a therapist, I am known for being kind, direct, and non-judgmental in my approach. I pay attention and engage in a reciprocal and authentic relationship with my clients and am known for being really good at putting what is happening for clients, or in their relationships, into words. I study myself and my work just as diligently and with just as much humor, love, and care. We will work together to build a relationship that feels supportive even when what is being discussed and felt is difficult. I believe as humans, we heal, grow, and know ourselves through being able to connect in healthy relationships. As such, we will focus on our relationship as well as on your relationships outside of therapy.
Because therapy spaces have not always been inclusive and have also perpetuated harm within oppressive systems, it is important to me that my work continually focuses (and re-focuses) on intentional self-interrogation, activism and training. In doing so, I am committed to challenging stereotypes, recognizing oppression as part of what is affecting clients daily, and empowering people of all experiences. My practice is intersectionally inclusive.
All parts of you will be respected and welcomed here.
SERVICES OFFERED
Adult Individual & Couples Therapy
Most behaviors and feelings have been part of us for many years and it takes time to grow in the ways we would like. I am here to dive deep with you as you move through those changes. I work with individuals and couples weekly (or bi-weekly) for 50 – 80 minute sessions depending on the client and the goals identified.
$180 for 50-minute Individual, Couples or Family session*
*cost prorated for longer sessions as needed
If you are interested in Individual or Couples Therapy, please email me at heatherlteel@gmail.com
Interpersonal Group Therapy & Dating Coaching
Group Therapy provides a dynamic and safe space to explore how we relate to others as well as ourselves.
Current Groups:
Interpersonal Process Groups: These groups are fun, uplifting and supportive, but also challenging, because they provide a place to learn deeply about ourselves and how we work in relationships. It’s important to have a place outside of your work or romantic relationships to grow in. It’s too hard on important relationships to not do our own therapeutic work, but its extra hard on them when they are the only places we are doing it. And every one of us has learned patterns from our families that come out when we get into a group or relationship. Process groups provide close connections that matter, with a lower stakes working environment. Learn More Here.
Dating Group: As we know, modern day dating brings up so many feelings! Whether you want help starting the process or want to make dating more fun and fulfilling, this therapist- led coaching group will become the life-giving space you need to help you confidently seek and create the thriving relationships you are wanting. Learn More Here.
Supervision & Consultation
This is a space for personal and professional development for LMSW and LCSW therapists with a focus on the belief that the work we do on ourselves leads to greater emotional capacity with our clients.
As therapists, our most important tool is ourselves. Learn More Here.
I do not currently accept insurance, however, I can provide you with an invoice to assist with filing for reimbursement if you choose to do so.
Payment is accepted via an online service.
Reduced fee services are available on a limited basis.
ABOUT HEATHER
The path I took to this work (and the practice I have now) was anything but linear – like so many of the best things in life.
My professional career started as a classroom teacher in Houston, at a school called YES Prep Public Schools. In my 20’s, I spent weekdays in the classroom teaching and weekends volunteering at Planned Parenthood. I would come to realize that, while I didn't love all aspects of teaching, I did love my teens, their families, and the work I did supporting women in the Planned Parenthood clinics. That love led me to social work grad school in Austin.
From what I have observed, the grad school experience teaches us in many ways in and out of the classroom. For me, I look back on that time with joy. I got to bike to school every day and work at The Continental Club for fun (and extra $$). I was then fortunate to earn an internship at the UT Counseling and Mental Health Center as a group and individual therapist with a focus on the treatment of anxiety, couples work and trauma recovery. It was there amongst my peers, mentors, and so many books and articles that I realized I had finally discovered my life’s work! As a teen and in college, I always felt envious when friends knew what they wanted to “do.” I finally understood that experience as I entered into deep clinical work with clients and saw their lives change. I finally found something I wanted to be really good at and couldn’t get enough of.
Following graduation, I worked for the Seton Mind Institute as a group therapist for individuals dealing with high acuity mental health concerns (anxiety, depression, bipolar I and II disorder, anger issues, and personality disordered behavior). I intensively trained in Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) and began providing mindfulness-based skills-building groups for adolescents and their families. At the same time, I slowly began building my private practice (2011) out of a beautiful office nestled in downtown Austin, TX. Nowadays, the bulk of my sessions are held virtually, though I still offer in-person sessions occasionally, when I have availability in Austin.
I consider one of the most important parts of daily life as a therapist, to be a continued commitment to training, learning and unlearning. For me, this has involved weekly reading, consultation and personal therapy; as well as participation in training intensives and specialized certification courses. I trained for eight years with the Center for Group Studies in New York, which is an intensive group program focused on using modern analytic principles (think Freud mixed with a focus on relationships and attachment). I’ve also trained extensively with PACT (psychobiological approach to couples therapy) and RLT (Relational Life Therapy). I won’t list all the other training I’ve done over the years, but will say a favorite training I attended this year focused on ethical self-disclosure for therapists from an anti-oppressive framework. That one lit me up!
Currently I am a member of the American Group Psychotherapy Association, participate weekly in two groups (an anti-racism reading group and a weekly training group), and work with a somatic-experiencing therapist who uses Reiki and a shamanic lens to provide support and healing. I'm learning a lot from her and other mentors about our connection to earth, community, and one another.
Outside of work, I get dirty traveling in remote places, participate in a feminist dance group weekly and cherish connection with my human and animal family (after also having enough solo time!)
My recent inspirations include: Atsuko Okatsuka, Braiding Sweetgrass, Love on the Spectrum, the badass Lucinda Williams and any type of work with horses.
CONTACT
If you are interested in therapy or dating coaching, please reach out to me via email.
Phone: 281.460.2988
Email: HeatherLTeel@gmail.com
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.”
― Mary Oliver