My Approach to Helping
Hi there! My name is Linda Wilbourn, a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) based in the Texas Hill Country and working with clients in the state of Texas via telehealth. I work with adolescents and adults and specialize in anxiety, stress, trauma, and emotional dysregulation using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, and Mindfulness to help clients learn strategies and gain tools to propel themselves toward healing and get to where they wish to be with their lives.
My approach to therapy is to meet clients where they are and help them build their own unique path to healing, based on their particular style. I most frequently use Acceptance and Commitment Therapy with Mindfulness-Based Practices, which help clients commit to a valued direction while gaining strategies to accept the difficult and uncomfortable feelings that come up in working toward their goals. I consider therapy as a collaboration between client and therapist along the client’s path toward healing.
Experience has shown me that my style and approach is a good fit for teens and adults who may struggle with anxiety and trauma, depression, stress, or navigating life transitions. These may be brought on by life’s pressures in the present, but linked to past experiences. I work to help clients learn skills to manage and gain an acceptance of the difficult memories and emotions that come up for them and cause them to struggle in navigating toward their goals.
My therapy space is a “Judgement Free Zone.” People tell me they appreciate my communication style because I come across as calm and accepting and they feel safe expressing anything they want or need to. I strive to listen intently and pull out areas to explore further by asking questions to gain a closer understanding of a client’s needs.
I decided to become a therapist after several years as an artist for a textbook publisher. I have always been interested in psychology and helping people find a better life for themselves through more effective ways of thinking and behaving. I was always the friend who people came to with their challenges and problems and I wanted to be that for as many people as I could. It is such a special feeling and an honor to be allowed into people’s lives to help them heal. Also, having experienced the healing work of counseling myself and with my family off and on throughout my life, I decided to return to school for my master's in counseling to make it my life’s work.
I consider goal setting to be a collaborative effort between the client and myself to pin down an understanding of what you ultimately would like to have accomplished by the end of your therapy. We would consider what would be different in your life and how you might be behaving differently, once our time together is finished. We will take some time to get to know each other and become comfortable with what it means to be in therapy before we dig very deep into goal setting. Then, we will track your progress, throughout your time with me to make sure we’re on track for where you have set out to get to.
What you can expect from our first session together is for us to spend the majority of our time talking about what prompted you to seek therapy at this time in particular, what has been going on in your life lately, and what emotions you have been experiencing. I will listen a lot and ask you questions for clarification and a better understanding of what may be happening for you and how we might go about developing a treatment plan. A large part of the first session is building a connection between the two of us. I will get a sense of what works for you, as everyone is different.